食べる
ta-be-ru
食べる is a mouth opening and taking it inside
The picture The mouth opens, food goes in, and chewing carries it inside the body. 食べる chews something inside; 飲む sends it down the throat without chewing.
Where the picture shows up in 食べる
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A meal goes inside
昼ご飯はもう食べました。
hiru-gohan wa mō tabe-mashita
I already had lunch.
The lunch box is empty and that much now sits in the stomach.
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The mouth never opens
朝は何も食べません。
asa wa nani mo tabe-masen
I don't eat anything in the morning.
You walk past the breakfast table and your mouth never opens once.
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It passes through fine
辛いものが食べられますか。
karai mono ga tabe-rare-masu ka
Can you eat spicy food?
Hot broth goes through the mouth and the face does not flinch.
食べられる covers both 'able to eat' and 'fine to eat'.
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Lining an empty stomach
薬の前に何か食べてください。
kusuri no mae ni nani ka tabete kudasai
Please eat something before the pill.
A piece of bread is laid on the floor of an empty stomach first.
Taking medicine is 飲む; 食べる would picture chewing it.
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Doing it away from home
今日は外で食べましょう。
kyō wa soto de tabe-mashō
Let's eat out today.
The kitchen light goes off and the mouth opens at a table in a shop instead.
All of it in one picture
食べる is one picture: an open mouth taking food inside. A meal has gone in, and you have eaten; the mouth never opened, and you skipped it; something spicy passes through with no trouble, and you can eat it; lay something on an empty stomach first, and that is eating before a pill; do the same act away from your own kitchen, and it is eating out. Pills are not chewed, so they take 飲む instead.