About halfway through the race (sometimes twice depending on the length) the riders go through a feeding station. As they ride through they look for a support member of their team (soigneurs) who are holding out bags of drink and food called musettes. As they ride by they snatch at the bag, sometimes less successfully than others. Often there will be another team member a bit further down the road for another attempt.
Once they have the bag, they throw the drawstring around their neck and start pulling everything out to stuff into their pockets, water bottle cages, and in some cases just down the front of their jersey. When it's empty they chuck it and any empty bottles to the side of the road. they have to be careful to throw it clear of other riders, and are not allowed to just drop it straight onto the road where it may cause a crash.
There are a variety of other rules regarding when you can and cannot get food from the support cars, etc. One of the more interesting is that you are allowed to take food and drink from spectators on the sidelines, but you do so at your own risk. If a rider took a drink from someone on the side and later tested for a controlled substance, its their own fault.
A bit of history:
In 1959 Fedrico Bahmontes had outpaced the rest of the peleton on the climb up Pu-de-Dome, but broke a spoke half-way up. The support cars were stuck behind the peleton, so Bahmontes stopped at the top for some ice cream while he waited for the repairs to come to him.
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