Step 1: A person suddenly collapsing while eating, where a chunk of food jams the laryngeal opening, describes a classic clinical entity.
Step 2: That entity is cafe coronary, so named because the abrupt death during a meal resembles a coronary attack, although the real mechanism is airway obstruction and asphyxia.
Step 3: The distractors describe different mechanisms: gagging blocks the mouth with a gag, overlying is an adult accidentally smothering an infant, and burking pairs smothering with chest compression.
Step 4: A food bolus choking the airway is therefore best labelled cafe coronary.
\[\boxed{\text{Cafe coronary}}\]