Answer;
Throat.
Food could not reach the stomach without the esophagus and the throat.
Step-by-step explanation;
Esophagus is like a stretchy pipe that is about 25 cm long. It moves food from the back of the throat to the stomach.
At the back of the throat there is the trachea that allows air to come in and out of the body.
When food is being swallowed in form of a small ball of mushed-up food or liquids, the epiglottis flops down the opening of the windpipe to make sure the food enters the esophagus and not the windpipe.