Food and food products – B2 English Vocabulary

Food and food products

In this Pre-advanced Vocabulary Lesson about Food and Food Products, you will learn various terms and phrases used to describe food and its properties. Check the pictures, definitions and example sentences below to understand these terms better.

Adjectives

If something is 1 edible, it is safe and suitable for eating, and if it is 2 crunchy, it is hard and makes noise when you eat it.

• All the berries in our garden are edible.
• The apple was hard and very crunchy.

When fruit or vegetables are 3 ripe, they have matured and are ready to be eaten. If they are overripe, they are too mature and, though still edible, are not at their best. If they are 4 rotten, however, they have started to turn brown or black with age and can no longer be eaten.

• The tomatoes will soon be ripe and ready for us to eat.
• These pears are overripe, so we need to eat them today.
• Most of the carrots were rotten, and I had to throw them away.

If food is 5 raw, it has not been cooked.

• I prefer raw carrots to cooked ones.

If food is 6 bland, it does not have taste, so you may need to add salt or spices.

• Plain rice is very bland, so I usually add soy sauce.

If something is 7 expired or out-of-date, it is older than the suggested date that it should be eaten.

• The supermarket throws away all of its food that is out-of-date.

When food is 8 mouldy, it is old and starting to turn blue or green.

• The bread was a week old and had started to turn mouldy.

When something (e.g., bread) is 9 stale, it is not fresh, making it dry and hard to eat.

• I threw the bread away because it was hard and stale.

If food is 10 savoury, it is not sweet and tends to have a salty flavour.

• I tend to snack on savoury foods such as crisps, cheese, and crackers.

If food is 11 bitter, it has a sharp, not sweet, flavour. You may need to add sugar to balance its taste.

• I don’t like black chocolate, as I find it very bitter.

If something is 12 sour, it has a sharp, acidic taste and may be hard to eat. Lemons are sour.

• The grapefruit was sour and very hard to eat.

Verbs

When something 1 goes off, it turns bad and is no longer suitable for consumption. Meat, fish, and dairy products go off when they are old or have not been kept in the fridge.

• The fish was one week old and had started to go off.

When you 2 waste food, you throw away food that is suitable for eating, and when you 3 preserve something, you make it last longer by adding salt, vinegar, or sugar to it.

• I try not to waste food, so I only buy small amounts at a time.
• My mother used to preserve cucumbers with vinegar, sugar, and salt.

When you 4 peel fruits and vegetables, you remove the skin, and when they 5 ripen, they become ready to eat after some time developing.

• I peeled the potatoes, then boiled them for ten minutes.
• The apples need to ripen; they’re not ready to eat just yet.

When you 6 blend food, you combine ingredients with liquid in a blender to mix them into a puree.

• I like to blend strawberries and bananas to make a delicious smoothie.

When you 7 marinate food, you leave it in a sauce or dressing for a period of time before cooking to absorb the flavours, and when you 8 season a dish, you add salt, pepper, or spices to it while cooking to give it more flavour.

• You need to marinate the chicken in the sauce for a few hours before cooking it.
• The sauce tasted bland, so I seasoned it with salt and pepper.

When you 9 sauté something, you fry it quickly in very hot fat.

• I sautéed the vegetables in the pan with some olive oil and butter.

When you 10 thaw frozen food or when it thaws, you take it out of the freezer until it reaches room temperature.

• After taking the meat out of the freezer, I left it on the counter to thaw.

When you 11 chop something, you cut it into pieces, usually with a knife, and when you 12 dice something, you chop it into square-shaped pieces.

• I chopped the vegetables quickly, then threw them in the pot.
• Before cooking the potatoes, I diced them into small cubes.

Types of food products

1 Packaged foods are foods that you buy encased in a sealed cover for protection, and 2 processed foods are foods that have been put through unnatural chemical processes to make them taste better or last longer. 3 Wholefoods, on the other hand, are foods that have not been refined and contain no additives.

• I prefer the taste of homemade biscuits to packaged ones.
• I try to avoid processed foods as they are unhealthy and less tasty.
• We eat a lot of whole foods, such as brown rice, beans, and lentils.

4 Dairy products are foods that contain or are made from milk, and 5 baked goods are foods such as bread, cake, or biscuits that contain flour and are baked in an oven.

• I eat a lot of dairy products, such as yogurt, butter, and cheese.
• We bought biscuits and other baked goods from the cake stall at the market.

6 Cold or deli meats are preserved meats that you usually buy in slices and eat cold, while 7 canned goods are foods such as fruit, vegetables, meat, or fish that have been preserved in sealed metal tins.

• My favourite deli meats are salami and smoked ham.
• Beans and other canned goods usually last a very long time.

8 Root vegetables are vegetables that form part of the root of a plant and grow beneath the ground, while 9 leafy greens are the green leaves of plants that appear above the soil.

• I made a soup with carrots, potatoes, and some other root vegetables.
• Spinach and other leafy greens make a good base for a salad.

A 10 nut is a fruit with a hard shell, like an almond or pistachio, while a 11 seed is a small hard part of a fruit or plant from which the plant grows. Nuts and seeds are often classified together as a nutritious source of protein.

• Nuts and seeds are a good source of protein.

12 Dried fruits are fruits that have been dried to make them last longer.

• I usually snack on raisins and other types of dried fruits.

After completing the exercises in this lesson on Food and Food Products, you can use the unit’s Vocabulary Flashcards to revise and help you memorize the terms.