Abu Hurayrah Accompanied the Prophet (ﷺ) For Food
It's a common argument amongst some circles that Abu Hurayrah, one of the most famous Hadith narrators, admitted that the sole reason he followed Prophet Muhammad around so much (and hence knew a lot of narrations) was because he was poor, and that if he followed the Prophet he would always be assured of a free meal. The Hadith they cite as evidence for their claims is this:
Abu Hurayrah said: "I used to accompany Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) to fill my stomach, and that was when I did not eat baked bread, nor wear silk. Neither a male nor a female servant used to serve me, and I used to bind stones over my belly and ask somebody to recite a Quranic Verse for me though I knew it, so that he might take me to his house and feed me. Jafar bin Abi Talib was very kind to the poor, and he used to take us and feed us with what ever was available in his house, (and if nothing was available), he used to give us the empty (honey or butter) skin which we would tear and lick whatever was in it."
Bukhari 5432
Abu Hurayrah here tells us that he was attached to the Prophet for a reason he refers to as "filling his stomach," however there exists a mistranslation here that turns the Hadith to be completely out of context. Bukhari 5432 clearly contains a mistake related to translation because Bukhari 3708, a duplicate Hadith, is translated completely differently on Sunnah.com:
Abu Hurayrah said: "I used to keep close to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and was satisfied with what filled my stomach."
Bukhari 3708
To make better sense of everything; in Arabic, the sentence Li-Shiba'i Batnī (لشبع بطني) can be translated to "for the fullness of my belly" or "because of my satisfaction with what filled my stomach." This is an Arabic metaphor (according to Dorar.net) for his lack of busyness and his possession of too much free-time, and this is exactly why he was limiting himself to what he resides in the way of seeking knowledge and accompanying the Prophet, not asking for extras, despite his destitution.
The Hadith itself has nothing to do with him using the company of the Prophet as a bait for people to fill his stomach or quench his thirst, but only to emphasize that he was a completely poor person who can't provide for himself, and instead of wasting his life on begging, he has sacrificed the rest of his life to the company of the Prophet. The reason he told us this Hadith was because people used to question the large number of his narrations unlike anyone from the ancient companions, despite his delay in his conversion to Islam and the short period he spent in the company of the Prophet, as is emphasized on Abu Hurayrah Narrated Many Hadiths. Therefore, Abu Hurayrah has never used the Prophet as a bait for food, or any other worldly gain for that matter.