Food and Drink Vocabulary

Hook

At the supermarket, in a café, at a friend’s house for dinner: food words come up every day. Learn them in groups (drinks, fruit, vegetables, meals) and they are much easier to remember.

Notice

  • For breakfast I have bread, eggs and a cup of coffee.
  • I usually have rice and chicken for lunch.
  • My favourite fruit is mango.
  • We need some vegetables: tomatoes, carrots and onions.
  • Would you like tea or juice?

Which of these words do you eat or drink every day?

Rule

GroupWords
Drinkswater, coffee, tea, juice, milk, cola
Fruitapple, banana, orange, grapes, mango, lemon, strawberry
Vegetablespotato, tomato, carrot, onion, salad, beans
Meat and fishchicken, beef, lamb, fish
Otherbread, rice, pasta, eggs, cheese, butter, sugar, salt, soup, cake
Mealsbreakfast (morning), lunch (midday), dinner (evening), a snack (a small meal)

Useful verbs: have breakfast/lunch/dinner · eat · drink · cook. Talking about food: I like / love / don’t like… · My favourite food is… · I’m hungry / thirsty.

Watch Out

  • ✗ I eat breakfast at the 8. → ✓ I have breakfast at 8.
  • ✗ I drink a soup. → ✓ I eat / have some soup. (soup is eaten)
  • ✗ I am thirsty, I want a sandwich. → ✓ I am hungry, I want a sandwich. (thirsty = you want a drink)

Practice

  1. Name three drinks.
  2. Name three fruits.
  3. Is a potato a fruit or a vegetable?
  4. Which meal do you have in the evening?
  5. You want a drink. You are ___.
  6. You want food. You are ___.
  7. Odd one out: chicken, beef, carrot, lamb
  8. Complete: “I ___ lunch at one o’clock.”
Show the answers
  1. water, coffee, tea, juice, milk (any three)
  2. apple, banana, orange, grapes… (any three)
  3. a vegetable
  4. dinner
  5. thirsty
  6. hungry
  7. carrot (not meat)
  8. have

Your Turn

Write what you usually have for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then write your favourite food, a food you don’t like and a drink you have every day.

Connect

Check food words and their meanings in our Vocabulary Quiz (choose A1).

Try our Vocabulary Quiz →

Match food words to their definitions in our Match the Definition game.

Try our Match the Definition game →

CEFR A1 — Reading: I can understand familiar words on menus, labels and shopping lists.

Azizul Hakim
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