Sometimes when you eat in a hurry, talk or laugh while eating, you may cough,get hiccups or a choking sensation. This happens when food particles enter thewindpipe. The windpipe carries air from the nostrils to the lungs. It runs adjacentto the foodpipe. But inside the throat, air and food share a common passage.Then how is food prevented from entering the windpipe? During the act ofswallowing a flap-like valve closes the passage of the windpipe and guides thefood into the foodpipe. If, by chance, food particles enter the windpipe, we feelchoked, get hiccups or cough.