Word for tasty food

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Food nourishes us, delights us, and generally fuels our daily lives. In the era of social media, a gorgeously plated dish also makes for great content. However, coming up with something fun and exciting to say about that stunning 100 percent organic beet salad you just photographed for Instagram isn’t always easy. Sure, you could say it was yummy (accurate), but wouldn’t it be nice to break out some more interesting words to describe food the next time you upload a photo of your dinner to the ‘gram?

Expanding your vocabulary should be a life-long process. Words can be downright magical, which makes it all the more fun to discover new ones. Whether you’re helping a teen prep for their SAT, writing a short story, or just looking for new ways to spice up your social media captions, getting a crash course in descriptive words for food is a great place to start. Plus, learning the difference between apéritifs and a bouffage is sure to impress your foodie friends.

Fair warning: You might want to grab a snack before diving into this list of delectable food words, lest you get the borborygmus (stomach grumbles!). From unusual terms you may encounter on a menu at that fancy gastropub down the block to adjectives that will invoke just how happy those truffle fries really made you feel, we’ve got you covered. Ready to expand your food vocabulary and spice up your next food-centric post? Read on for a list of interesting, unusual, and downright delightful words you can use to describe the next meal you eat that’s so good it leaves you speechless.

Words to Describe Food Taste, Smell, or Texture

1. Acidic — sour or sharp in taste
2. Aromatic — having a distinctive smell
3. Astringent — sharp in flavor
4. Bitter — a sharp, sometimes unpleasant flavor
5. Bittersweet — a pleasing mix of bitterness and sweetness
6. Bland — lacking in flavor
7. Brackish — a taste of salty water
8. Buttery — having the taste of butter
9. Creamy — smooth, rich texture, usually used to describe something that includes dairy
10. Crumbly — the texture of food that crumbles
11. Delicate — a light taste or texture
12. Earthy — a flavor that reminds someone of fresh soil, usually applied to root vegetables and wine
13. Fiery — a dish that packs a spicy punch
14. Flaky — usually used to describe a pastry with many layers
15. Gamy — having the wild taste of game meat
16. Glazed — a sticky, flavorful coating
17. Honeyed — reminiscent of honey
18. Luscious — having a pleasant, rich taste
19. Mealy — containing meal; soft, dry, and friable
20. Mellow — a gentle, smooth flavor
21. Nectarous — like nectar, the drink of the gods
22. Pickled — a process that gives food a briny taste
23. Pungent — unpleasantly strong in taste or smell
24. Plummy — having the taste, smell, or flavor of a plum
25. Saccharine — overly sweet
26. Savory — food that’s salty or spicy, not sweet
27. Silky — a smooth taste
28. Tang — food with a tart taste
29. Treacly — excessively sweet
30. Zesty — having an invigorating flavor

Words Related to Food and Eating

1. Amuse-Bouche — a small sample platter, literally translates to “amuse the mouth”
2. Apéritifs — a savory dish, usually an appetizer
3. Balthazar — an oversized wine bottle that holds about 16 times a normal bottle’s volume
4. Banquet — a veritable feast
5. Caramelized — food that is cooked slowly until it browns and becomes sweet in taste
6. Compote — a chilled sauce
7. Confection — a dish made with sweet ingredients
8. Demerara — partially refined light brown cane sugar originally from Guyana
9. Gremolata — a seasoning containing grated lemon zest, minced garlic, and minced parsley
10. Grub — an informal word for food
11. Gourmet — high-quality food
12. Flavorsome — full of flavor
13. Full-bodied — a rich flavor
14. Hearty — robust, filling
15. Marinated — food that has been soaked in a flavorful liquid
16. Mirepoix — a mix of carrots, celery, onion, and herbs that seasons soups
17. Roux — a mix of butter and flour that turns into a paste-like consistency and is generally the start of a sauce recipe
18. Quidanny — a jelly or syrup made from fruit
19. Tartare — finely chopped raw fish or meat
20. Victuals — food or provisions

Beautiful and Descriptive Food Words

1. Ambrosial — fragrant, savory, sweet; “fit for the gods”
2. Bonne Bouche — a delicious mouthful
3. Borborygmus — intestinal rumblings
4. Bouffage — a grand banquet
5. Chiffonade — to cut into thin strips
6. Delectable — delicious
7. Divine — food that’s so good it’s heavenly
8. Dulcet — a British slang term for food
9. Forenoons — a light snack or brunch eaten between breakfast and lunch
10. Groak — to stare at people who are eating in the hope that they will offer to share their food
11. Gustatory — relating to taste
12. Gut-gullie — an old Scots dialect verb used to describe operating or eating greedily
13. Haute Cuisine — fine dining
14. Kickshaw — a fancy but insubstantial dish
15. Linnard — the last member of the group to finish their meal
16. Mouthwatering — food so good it makes you salivate
17. Omakase — a Japanese term that translates to “I’ll leave it up to you,” meaning you’re turning your food choice over to the chef
18. Orts — the small amount of food left at the end of a meal
19. Piquant — a flavor that is stimulating to the palette
20. Postprandial — occurring after a meal
21. Rassasy — a 15th-century word meaning to satiate someone’s hunger with food
22. Saporific — something that has the power to give you the sensation of taste
23. Sapid — having a strong, but pleasant taste
24. Scrumptious — delicious, yummy
25. Sobremesa — a Spanish term for when the food is finished but the conversation is still flowing
26. Speustic — a 17th-century word describing any meal or plate thrown together in haste
27. Tarnisher — an old Scots and Irish dialect word for a huge meal
28. Toothsome — tempting in taste
29. Uitbuiken — a Dutch term that translates to “outbellying”; when you relax, satiated, between courses or after a meal
30. Unctuous — oily

Trendy Food Words

1. Aftertaste — a taste, typically an unpleasant one, remaining in the mouth after eating or drinking something
2. Artisanal — produced in limited quantities by an artisan through the use of traditional methods
3. Nosh — a British slang term for food
4. Piehole — a slang term for mouth
5. Scrummy — an informal way of saying scrumptious
6. Sec — a term borrowed from the wine world, used to describe something dry or un-sweet
7. Soused — food kept in vinegar or alcohol for a long time
8. Succulent — juicy, tender food
9. Umami — a savory taste
10. Yule-hole — the hole on your belt buckle you have to move to after eating an enormous meal (usually around the holidays)

Food Adjectives That Start With S

1. Saporous — a flavor that has an exciting or agreeable taste
2. Satin — smooth
3. Sauteed — food that is cooked quickly with high heat
4. Savorless — lacking taste or bland
5. Seared — food that is cooked at a high temperature until a brown crust is formed
6. Sharp — tart or acidic taste
7. Simmered — food that is cooked slowly at low temperature
8. Sizzling — food that makes a hissing sound while it’s cooking

This article was originally published on Oct. 7, 2021

The words below are some of the most important used to talk about how food tastes, the condition it is in, and how we cook. Practice the sentences and learn how to talk about your food. 

Food Condition

• fresh — Sushi always requires fresh fish.
• off — I’m afraid this cheese tastes off.
• raw — Sushi is made from raw fish as well as vegetables, seaweed, and rice. 
• ripe — Make sure the bananas are ripe so I can use them in the cake.
• rotten — This meat smells rotten. I think we should throw it away.
• tough — The steak was very tough. I could hardly chew it!
• tender — The lamb was so tender that it seemed to melt in my mouth.
• undercooked — The undercooked salmon was very poor.
• unripe — Many types of fruit are picked unripe and become ripe as they are shipped.
• overcooked — The broccoli was overcooked. It should have been crisper. 

Food Verbs

• bake — I’ll bake a cake for her birthday party.
• boil — You should boil these potatoes for forty-five minutes.
• cook — What would you like me to cook for dinner?
• fry — I usually fry some eggs and bacon on Saturday mornings.
• grill — During the summer I like to grill meat outside.
• heat — Heat up the soup and make some sandwiches.
• microwave — Microwave the macaroni for three minutes and eat.
• poach — Jennifer prefers to poach her eggs.
• roast — Let’s put this in the oven and roast for two hours.
• steam — The best way to cook many vegetables is to steam them for a few minutes.

Food Quantities

• bar — Melt one bar of butter for the sauce.
• liter — I’ll put a liter of water on to boil for the pasta.
• loaf — I bought three loaves of bread at the supermarket. 
• lump — Put of a lump of butter on top of the casserole to make it tasty.
• piece — Would you like a piece of chicken?
• pint — I drank a pint of ale at the pub.
• portion — Have you eaten your portion of vegetables today?
• slice — Please put three slices of cheese on my sandwich.
• spoonful — Add two spoonfuls of sugar to sweeten.

Food Taste

• bitter — The almonds were very bitter. I could hardly eat the cookies.
• bland — This sauce is very bland. It doesn’t taste like anything.
• creamy — I enjoy eating creamy tomato soup on cold winter days.
• crisp — The apple was crisp and delicious. 
• crunchy — Granola is a very crunch type of breakfast cereal.
• hot — The soup is hot. Let it cool down.
• mild — The spices are very mild. 
• salty — The sauce was much too salty. I think you should add some water and boil it down.
• savory — Savory crackers with cheese make a great snack. 
• sour — Lemons are very sour!
• spicy — Greg enjoys eating spicy Mexican food. 
• sweet — The cherry pie wasn’t too sweet. It was just right. 
• tasteless — The vegetables have been cooked for too long. They’re tasteless.

Food Types

• barbecue — Do you enjoy barbecue during the summer?
• buffet — We went to an Indian buffet and had all we could eat.
• four-course meal — My wife and I enjoy making four-course meals on special occasions.
• picnic — Let’s take a picnic to the park and enjoy the good weather.
• snack — You should eat a snack at four, but don’t eat too much.
• TV dinner — TV dinners are disgusting but fast.

Eating and Drinking

• bite — Don’t bite off more meat than you can comfortably chew.
• chew — You should chew each bite well before you swallow.
• swallow — If you swallow too much you might choke on your food.
• sip — It’s best to slowly sip a cocktail rather than gulp it down.
• guzzle — He guzzled a glass of water after he finished the job.
• gulp down — He hungrily gulped down the meal as he was very hungry.

Preparing Drinks

• add — Add two shots of whiskey and some rum.
• fill — Fill the glass with ice.
• mix — Mix in a teaspoon of sugar.
• pour — Pour your drink over ice cubes. 
• shake — Shake the drink well and pour into a glass.
• stir — Stir the ingredients well and enjoy with your favorite seafood. 

If you know all of these words, try the advanced level food vocabulary page to really expand your vocabulary. Teachers can use this lesson about food to help students plan a meal of their own. 

Слова по теме Еда на английском языке. Food vocabulary