  Stars may be tidally disrupted if, in a single orbit, they are scattered too
close to a supermassive black hole (SMBH). Tidal disruption events are thought
to power luminous but short-lived accretion episodes that can light up
otherwise quiescent SMBHs in transient flares. Here we explore a more gradual
process of tidal stripping where stars approach the tidal disruption radius by
stellar evolution while in an eccentric orbit. After the onset of mass
transfer, these stars episodically transfer mass to the SMBH every pericenter
passage giving rise to low-level flares that repeat on the orbital timescale.
Giant stars, in particular, will exhibit a runaway response to mass loss and
"spoon-feed" material to the black hole for tens to hundreds of orbital
periods. In contrast to full tidal disruption events, the duty cycle of this
feeding mode is of order unity for black holes with mass greater than
approximately 10 million solar masses. This mode of quasi-steady SMBH feeding
is competitive with indirect SMBH feeding through stellar winds, and spoon-fed
giant stars may play a significant role in determining the quiescent luminosity
of local SMBHs.
