Swallowing is regarded as the first step in nutrition; it transports food boluses and liquid from the mouth to the stomach and is a defensive response to prevent aspiration. Swallowing movements are produced by a central pattern generator (CPG) located in the lower brainstem. The swallowing CPG includes two main groups of neurons: one is located within the nucleus tractus solitarii and contains the generator neurons involved in triggering, shaping, and timing the sequential or rhythmic swallowing pattern and the other is located in the ventrolateral medulla and contains switching neurons that distribute the swallowing drive to various pools of related motoneurons. Swallowing movements can be triggered by either central inputs or peripheral inputs from pharyngeal and laryngeal regions, but the precise neural mechanisms of the swallowing CPG remain to be fully elucidated. This review discusses the fundamental knowledge of ingestion behaviors, with a focus on swallowing.