What is the name for the chemical process by which your body breaks down food to release energy?

Digestion?

Breaking down of food occurs in multiple places

1) salivary amylases break down simple sugars

2) pepsin in the stomach breaks down some proteins

3) digestion is completed in the duodenum of the small instestine by pancreatic amylases, lipases, and peptidases (trypsin and chymotripsin) which break down sugar, fats, and proteins respectively.

bile produced by the liver also aids in the digestion of lipids, serving as an emulsifier.

Energy is released by the digestion of food, but is absorbed in the other parts of the small intestine (jujenum and ileum) by finger like productions called villi. Villi absorb amino acids (remnants of proteins), vitamins, and monosaccharides. The lacteal within the villi absorbs fatty acids and glycerol (remnants of lipids)