Lucy

Lucy, my 10 month old Calico often paws the ground around her food bowl, someone told me that this is because she doesn't like the food? also, when she jumps on my knee she pounds my knee with her front paws before lying still, any explanations for this behavour?

One of my cats also tries to "bury" his dish after he eats from it. And the pawing you is a sign of love and contentment. It harkens back to kitten behavior when they were nursing.

My cat digs around his food constantly, and he eats all his food and always has... He also puts a little water on the floor and 'cleans' the area... though he winds up making a bigger mess and wetting his dry food at times

I had a cat that did this. I was told that if they do it after they eat that they are trying to "bury" it to save it for later (something they would do out in the wild). If they do it before eating or after only taking a nibble then it could be they don't like it. Not an expert about it but that is what I heard and it makes sense to me.
As far as the pounding your lap before curling up, one of our cats does this. It just seems that he is trying to prepare the spot to curl up on. Funny thing is he does this on our concrete floors.