Ethan had 7 of his friends over. He ordered cheese pizzas and mozzarella sticks for the 8 of them. In all, there were 64 pieces of food. If each person had 5 slices of pizza, find the number of mozzarella sticks each person ate.
Each person ate _____ mozzarella sticks.
Since each person had 5 slices of pizza, the total number of pizza slices consumed is 5 * 8 = <<5*8=40>>40 slices.
If there were a total of 64 pieces of food, and 40 slices of pizza, there were 64 - 40 = <<64-40=24>>24 mozzarella sticks.
Therefore, each person ate 24 / 8 = <<24/8=3>>3 mozzarella sticks. Answer: \boxed{3}.