Forced suppression of all cravings including harmless ones Let's say a person has a craving to eat a slice of cheesecake. This is obviously a sensual craving (kama tanha). The mental defilement (kilesa) to get a slice of cheesecake and eat it, is greed (lobha).

However, eating a slice of cheesecake (that was not stolen) does not break any of the five precepts. It also does not violate Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood, to the best of my understanding.

Questions:


Are there any karmic consequences from the harmless consumption of a slice of cheesecake? And why?
Should lay people forcibly suppress all their cravings (which includes the craving to eat a slice of cheesecake) or only those that violate the five precepts, Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood? And why?
Should monks forcibly suppress all their cravings (which includes the craving to eat a slice of cheesecake) or only those that violate the five precepts, Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood? And why?
For questions #2 and/or #3 above, if your answer was "no" to forcibly suppressing all cravings, then I guess entertaining and fulfilling such a craving (to eat a slice of cheesecake) is ok. Is that so?
Are there any negative consequences with respect to forced suppression of all cravings (including harmless ones)?
Are there any karmic consequences from the harmless consumption of a slice of cheesecake? And why?

Cheesecake is just food. All sentient beings are sustained by food. Sentient beings are not sustained by wishes. Suffering is sustained by wishes. So don't wish for the cheesecake, just eat it if it's there, sharing it kindly with others.

Should ... forcibly suppress all their cravings

Generally speaking, suppressing a craving just makes it stronger. 

But you can restrain or relinquish. Just observe the rise and fall in the five grasping aggregates: form, feeling, perception, choices and consciousness.  That craving is impermanent and is not your self, it is not yours, it is not you.

...however...

If you cannot muster any skillful thought, then desperate measures are called for as described in MN20:


  With teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth, they should squeeze, squash, and torture mind with mind.


Perhaps that would be overkill with...cheesecake?