Describing FOOD in English 🍕 | Food Vocabulary, Textures & Flavors

Learn English vocabulary for describing food! In this lesson, we cover an extensive vocabulary list for talking about taste and texture of food (both pleasant and upleasant.)

📚 VOCABULARY COVERED:

Basic Taste Descriptors:

• Sweet, Sour, Spicy, Salty, Bitter

• Delicious, Yummy, Tasty, Bland, Tasteless

Rich & Heavy Foods:

• Rich (NOT the same as "rico" in Spanish)

• Cloying / Sickly Sweet

• Heavy, Caloric, Fatty

Savory & Umami Flavors:

• Savory

• Umami (Japanese word for savory/meaty flavor)

• Meat-forward, Earthy

Fresh & Bright Flavors:

• Zesty (citrus, ginger)

• Tangy (pleasant sour flavor)

• Refreshing

• Citric, Acidic

Strong Flavors:

• Pungent (garlic, onion, blue cheese, wasabi)

• Bittersweet

Pleasant Textures:

• Creamy, Velvety

• Silky, Smooth

• Crunchy, Crispy

• Fluffy, Tender

Unpleasant Textures:

• Gritty (hard, rough pieces)

• Mushy, Soggy

• Stale (not crispy)

• Rubbery (tough, chewy meat)

Negative Descriptors:

• Disgusting, Nauseating

• Repulsive

• Rancid (rotten tasting)

• Vomit-inducing

✓ "Pig out" = eat a lot
✓ "Finger-licking good" = delicious
✓ "Junk food" = unhealthy food high in fat/sugar
✓ "Hearty meal" = filling, nutritious, homemade
✓ "Rich food" ≠ "delicious food" (it's heavy & creamy)

🎯 USEFUL PHRASES: