🍕 Food & Eating Vocabulary

Part 1: Food Collocations

Collocations are words that naturally go together. Native speakers use these combinations automatically!

Collocation	Example	Meaning
strong coffee	"I need a strong coffee this morning."	Coffee with lots of caffeine
fresh bread	"Nothing beats fresh bread from the bakery."	Newly baked bread
spicy food	"I love spicy food, especially Thai curry."	Food with hot spices
home-cooked meal	"I miss my mum's home-cooked meals."	Food prepared at home
light snack	"I'll just have a light snack before dinner."	Small amount of food
heavy meal	"That was a heavy meal, I'm stuffed!"	Large, filling meal

Collocation	Example
grab a bite	"Let's grab a bite before the cinema."
skip a meal	"I skipped breakfast this morning."
spoil your appetite	"Don't eat sweets now, you'll spoil your appetite!"
follow a recipe	"I always follow recipes exactly."
serve food	"Dinner is served at 7 PM."

1. I need a coffee to wake me up. (strong/powerful)

2. Let's a bite to eat. (grab/take)

3. I love eating bread from the bakery. (fresh/new)

4. Don't eat now, you'll your appetite! (spoil/ruin)

5. That was a meal, I can't move! (heavy/big)

Idioms are expressions with meanings different from the literal words. They make your English sound natural!

Piece of cake - Very easy
"The exam was a piece of cake!"
Spill the beans - Reveal a secret
"Come on, spill the beans! What happened?"
In a nutshell - Briefly, in summary
"In a nutshell, we need more money."
Bring home the bacon - Earn money for the family
"Someone has to bring home the bacon!"
Cry over spilt milk - Worry about something that can't be changed
"It's done now, no use crying over spilt milk."
Bite off more than you can chew - Take on too much
"I think I bit off more than I can chew with this project."
Food for thought - Something to think about
"That's interesting food for thought."
Have your cake and eat it too - Want two incompatible things
"You can't have your cake and eat it too!"

1. "The test was a piece of ." (cake/bread)

2. "Don't cry over spilt ." (milk/water)

3. "Come on, spill the !" (beans/tea)

4. "In a , we're moving to Spain." (nutshell/eggshell)

5. "That's interesting food for ." (thought/thinking)

Phrasal verbs are verbs combined with prepositions or adverbs that create new meanings!

Phrasal Verb	Meaning	Example
eat out	Eat at a restaurant	"Let's eat out tonight, I'm too tired to cook."
eat in	Eat at home	"We're eating in tonight and watching a film."
pig out	Eat too much	"I pigged out on pizza last night."
polish off	Finish eating everything	"He polished off the entire cake!"
pick at	Eat small amounts without appetite	"She's just picking at her food, she must be ill."
wolf down	Eat very quickly	"He wolfed down his breakfast and ran out."
cut down on	Reduce consumption	"I'm trying to cut down on sugar."
live on	Survive by eating only	"I can't live on salad alone!"

Eat out is very common - use it instead of "go to a restaurant"

Pig out is informal - don't use it in formal situations!

Wolf down suggests eating too fast - often unhealthy

1. Let's out tonight, I don't want to cook. (eat/go)

2. I need to down on chocolate. (cut/go)

3. He down his lunch in 5 minutes! (wolfed/ate)

4. We out on junk food last night. (pigged/ate)

5. She just off the entire pizza! (polished/finished)

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