Food is one of the best things about life. For those of us who are learning English, we probably want to travel and try all of the different foods from other countries. So when we’re telling our friends and family about the amazing food we ate, we want to be able to describe it in great detail. Let’s take a look at how we can use adjectives to do that.
Food adjectives to describe tastes
Salty – Tastes of salt.
Bitter – Having a sharp often unpleasant taste such as beer of black coffee
Sour – Having an acidic taste of items such lemon, vinegar or yogurt
Sweet – Usually an enjoyable taste of sugar.
Bland – Doesn’t have flavor. Lacks sweetness, saltiness, bitterness etc
Spicy – Having strong flavors from spices like peppers.
Savory – Used to describe salty or spicy foods like meat or bread e.g. not sweet
Rich – Rich food has a lot of butter, cream, or eggs in it.
Refreshing – Light in taste such as cucumber or mint.
Greasy – Containing or covered with fat or oil.
Piping hot -Very hot.
Food adjectives to describe texture
Crunchy – Firm and makes a loud noise when it is eaten. For example, potato chips.
Crispy: Slight crunch at first but then gets softer. For example, cucumbers or french fries.
Tender: A soft texture that is easy to break down. For example, pot roast.
Flaky: A light texture characterized by layers that come apart during eating. For example, croissants.
Chewy: A food that needs much chewing to be eaten. It can be good or bad. Chewy cookies are good. Chewy steak is bad.
Smooth: A nice even texture without lumps.
Creamy: A smooth and rich texture that usually comes from the incorporation of dairy.
Fluffy: A light and airy texture.
Moist: A little wet.
Dry: Not wet or lacking moisture.
Food Adjectives to express your opinion
The previous adjectives describe tastes and textures. They will be the same for everyone. However, people who ask you about a dish or food item will want to know what you think. We find it is helpful to look at these adjectives in relation to each other.
The most extreme examples are “heavenly” and “disgusting.” You won’t use these unless you feel very strongly.
Asking questions about food
So now that we have many adjectives and understand their meaning, let’s take a look at how to ask and answer questions about food.
Questions of experience (perfect perfect tense)
When asking about experiences or what others have done, you can use the present perfect tense. In this case, when asking about food and cooking we’ll use this structure:
Have you ever + present perfect verb + noun (food item)
Note: While the word “ever” is not absolutely necessary to make the sentence correct. “Ever” means anytime in your life. So if you instead for example said “Have you eaten eggs” it may seem unclear.
Have you ever eaten + noun?
Have you ever cooked +noun?
Structures for other questions about food.
Note: In all of these sentences the noun that you can replace will be the name of the food you’re asking about.
What is your favorite food?
How does + noun +taste?
What does + noun+ taste like?
What kind of flavors does + noun have?
Do you enjoy eating + noun?
Do you like + noun?
What is noun’s texture like?
Followup questions
What is in + noun?
Is it + adjective?
Is it +adverb+ adjective.
Examples Questions:
Have you ever eaten octopus?
Have you ever cooked paella?
How does shepherd’s pie taste?
What does shepherd’s pie taste like?
What kind of flavors does shepherd’s pie have?
Do you like pizza?
What kind of flavors does pizza have?
Answering Questions about food
Note: Notice how when asking the question we added “ever” to mean anytime in your life. However, when answering, we don’t need to put “ever” in the sentence.
I have eaten + noun.
I have cooked + noun.
My favorite food is pizza.
It tastes + (adverb) + adjective.
Noun + is +(adverb) + adjective.
It has a(n) adjective flavor? Or
It has adjective, adjective, and adjective flavors.
It looks very + adjective.
It has a(n) + adjective + appearance.
Noun has a(n) adjective + texture.
I love eating noun because….
Examples:
I have eaten paella.
I have cooked paella.
My favorite food is pizza.
It tastes so delicious.
Hamburgers are very tasty.
It has a savory flavor? Or
Tiramisu has bitter, sweet, and rich flavors.
I love eating chips because of their salty flavor and crunchy texture.
Bringing it all together
Now that we have definitions for many food adjectives and we’ve covered the grammatical structures of questions and answers about food, let’s take a look at an example conversation.
Notes: Some foods are countable nouns and some are non-countable nouns. Sandwiches are treated as countable nouns. However, something like curry or soup would be treated as non-countable. It takes getting used to which foods are countable and non-countable, but it gets easier over time.
Model Conversation
Person 1: Have you ever eaten a lobster roll?
Person 2: No I haven’t. What’s in one?
Person 1: It has bread, lobster meat, mayonnaise and lemon juice.
Person 2: Oh. How do they taste?
Person 1: They’re so tasty! Lobster rolls have salty, sweet and creamy flavors. The saltiness of the lobster meat, sweetness of the bread and richness of the mayonnaise all complement each other so well.
Person 2: I can’t wait to try one!
Wrap up
After that example conversation, we bet you can’t wait to try a lobster roll either! Soon, you’ll be able to. FLS International’s Boston Campus is opening soon. Wondering why you should study in Boston? This previous blog by FLS International has a list of excellent reasons. Today, we’ve covered a list of many food adjectives that we commonly use in English to describe flavors, textures and opinions of our foods as well as how to ask and answer questions about food. If you’re looking for help with English or any other subject, FLS Tutors will tailor a plan for to fit your exact needs. Contact us for a free consultation today.
This blog first appeared on the FLS International blog
