eng8-V2· Vocabulary· ~13 min

Food Around the World

Words for food, dishes, cooking and taste.

This lesson will help you learn words about food from different countries. You will practise the names of food and dishes, verbs for cooking, and adjectives that describe how food tastes. These words are useful for talking about meals, reading recipes and sharing your food experiences.

Key terms

dish — a type of food served as part of a meal
cuisine — the style of cooking of a particular country or region
recipe — a set of written instructions for preparing a dish
ingredient — one of the foods you use to make a dish
season (verb) — to add salt, pepper or spices to food for flavour
spicy — having a hot, strong taste from chillies or pepper
Taste Adjectives and Common Examples
Taste AdjectiveExample Food
spicycurry, chilli, hot pepper
sweetcake, honey, chocolate
sourlemon, lime, vinegar
saltycrisps, sea water, soy sauce
bitterdark chocolate, black coffee
delicious / tastyany food you really enjoy

These adjectives describe how food tastes. Use 'delicious' or 'tasty' when you enjoy the flavour.

✎How to Choose the Right Cooking Verb
  1. 1Read the sentence: 'We ___ the potatoes in a big pot of water.'
  2. 2Think about the method: The sentence mentions water and a pot. You cook something in water using heat.
  3. 3Choose the verb: The correct verb is 'boil' — 'We boil the potatoes in a big pot of water.'
  4. 4Try another: 'She ___ the vegetables in a pan with a little oil.' This is 'fry' — cooking in hot oil.
🚫Common mistake

Don't confuse 'dish' and 'meal'. A dish is one type of food (like pasta). A meal is the whole eating occasion (like dinner). You can say 'Pasta is my favourite dish' but not 'Pasta is my favourite meal' unless you mean the entire dinner.

💡Note

The word 'tasty' and 'delicious' both mean food that tastes good. They are synonyms, so you can use either one.

⚠️Caution

The verb 'season' means adding flavour. As a noun, 'season' means a time of year (spring, summer, autumn, winter). Always check how the word is used in the sentence.

Rules

  1. 1A 'dish' is one type of food (e.g. pizza). A 'meal' is the whole eating time (e.g. breakfast, lunch, dinner).
  2. 2'Cuisine' means the cooking style of a country or region (e.g. Italian cuisine, Japanese cuisine).
  3. 3A 'recipe' is the written set of instructions. 'Ingredients' are the foods you use to follow the recipe.
  4. 4'Street food' is food you buy and eat outside, usually from a small stall or cart.
  5. 5Cooking verbs describe actions: fry (in oil), boil (in water), roast (in an oven), grill (over direct heat), chop (cut), stir (mix), season (add flavour).
  6. 6Taste adjectives answer 'How does it taste?': spicy (hot from chillies), sour (like lemon), sweet (like sugar), salty (like salt), bitter (like dark chocolate), tasty/delicious (it tastes good).

Practice

10 easy · 10 medium · 10 hard

10 random questions per test

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