<p>Physical drying is an emerging technology praised for its energy efficiency, environmental friendliness, and ease of control. However, advancing this technology requires a deeper understanding of the underlying physics. Currently, the principles of physical drying and its interactions with food are not well understood, and uneven drying remains an issue. This paper reviews the physical principles of the interaction between physical fields and food during the drying process, the application of physical fields in drying, and the theoretical models of physical field drying. It summarizes the main causes of physical rmity and the process of optimizing physical fields through numerical simulation methods. It explores the principles and models of multi-physical field hybrid drying and their enhancement of drying performance. Physical field drying is superior to traditional drying mainly because physical fields utilize mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves, and electric fields to act on both the interior and exterior of food, enhancing heat and mass transfer to achieve improved drying effects. A thorough understanding of physical field drying principles and theoretical models helps us comprehend various physical phenomena in physical field drying while optimizing and accelerating the drying process. The non-uniformity issues in physical fields can be resolved through numerical simulation methods to optimize physical field parameters and design. Finally, physical fields can compensate for their respective deficiencies through physical field combinations, further improving the drying effect of food.</p>