How to Talk about Food in English Beginner English
I’m YouTube or Facebook rolling yes okay
hi everybody welcome back to our weekly
live stream my name is Alicia and in
this week’s lesson we’re talking about
food we’re talking about food this week
so food this week I’m going to use this
diagram behind me I made to explain kind
of some leveled up adjectives so how to
go past how to go beyond like good or
sweet for example so I want to kind of
give some deeper adjectives and then I’m
going to use this sort of spectrum over
here to talk about expressing your
hunger so how do you express like your
level of hunger we’re also going to talk
a little bit in review about your
preferences I like I don’t like and
we’ll talk about giving recommendations
so today will be lots of vocabulary and
expressions that I hope you can use
right away so as you join please send a
message and the chat to let us know
you’re there please hit the like and
share button we appreciate it as always
we will begin in about two minutes
there’s a lot to talk about today okay I
see lots of you in the YouTube chat hi
everyone hello let’s see there’s URI and
Leah yes I am really live right now we
are really live right now Fernanda hi
from Brazil M nix hi Klaus hello I just
saw you write something in the chat um
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hello Ethio hello you are not in
Argentina right no Lucia from Mexico
hello hi Fernando great lots of you and
YouTube on facebook facebook is up great
ty everyone on Facebook vanthu hello
Cesar hello Robinson high flat vo hello
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keep up and someone writing in Thai I
cannot read Thai very sorry but hello I
assume it says hello great Wow we have
lots of people watching that’s exciting
I too I’m going to go to Facebook and
share this Wow look at all those people
watching
okay fantastic let’s get going if you
missed my introduction today’s live
stream is about food it’s about soon so
I’m going to begin maybe over here with
some review points while everyone joins
us as I said yeah please don’t forget to
like and share the video and make sure
to send example sentences throughout
today’s live lesson and if you have
questions please feel free to send your
questions in the chat also I will try to
catch them if they’re about today’s
lesson if not if you’re not watching
live please feel free to send some
questions anyway I’ll check the lesson
after the live lesson I’ll check the
chat and I’ll try to answer your
question somehow for now though let’s
begin I want to start as I said on this
side of the board I think I want to
start kind of with these two points
these two points here the first part for
today’s lesson will be very review
focused so your preferences your
preferences this means what do you like
what do you dislike what do you hate so
let’s review kind of a basic pattern for
foods that you like for foods you like
you can use I like your food or I love
food the difference between like and
love is just the level really so I like
is a little less strong than I love when
you want to explain something you do not
like just use don’t like I don’t like
you can use hate you can use hate but
just be careful if you use hate with for
example a specific like a person’s
favorite food it might seem a little bit
offensive so you can say I don’t like or
I hate another one that you can use here
is I’m ugly this
I’m not a big fan of I’m not a big fan
of something is kind of a softer way
that you can express when you don’t like
certain foods so I have here two food I
like or I love food you can use in this
part and adjectives like I love sweet
food or I love spicy food or I hate
spicy food here you can also use the
name of a country’s cuisine as well so I
like Thai food or I like Japanese food
or I don’t like Indian food for example
so you can use a type of food you can
use a cuisine you can use the name of a
food I love curry or I don’t like rice
maybe so you can use a lot of different
things in this pattern this is a very
basic way to explain your likes and your
dislikes here so with this then I do
want to go to this part this experience
parts a little hidden there sorry we’ll
talk about this and then I’ll go on to
this diagram I made here so here your
experience this is one point I hope many
of you remember from today’s lesson this
experience point what I mean by
experience first this is a question have
you ever had or have you ever tried a
food so again this can be a country’s
food a type of food a specific dish name
have you ever had Thai food have you
ever had sushi have you ever had spicy
food so this one I want you to remember
this one because I hear lots of learners
use the expression do you know do you
know like do you know sushi for example
but the question do you know is a bit
different from have you ever had or have
you ever tried or have you ever eaten
that dish so this is a more natural
question have you ever had curry for
example that’s a better question then do
you know it communicates more so when
you answer this question is have you
ever had
just give it yes or no can you guys see
that so I’m just gonna write yes really
big or no this is the most natural way
to do this so just answer yes I have or
no I haven’t for an experience question
um if you say no you can say no I
haven’t but I want to if it’s applicable
if that works for you
I don’t excuse me so this is I hope one
big point for many of you to take away
to use from today’s lesson have you ever
had his food have you ever tried
something so yeah send a few sent a few
example sentences have you ever had
sushi sushi good ok I’ll check the chat
I don’t see any examples yet so Oh
someone wrote I don’t never eat Mexican
food you don’t need to put don’t and
never together because they’re both
negatives so I never eat Mexican food ok
or I don’t eat Mexican food ok so don’t
put those two negatives together there
ok yeah try to send your examples there
and I will check them out yeah I don’t
like Ethiopian food good okay so let’s
continue on then to this diagram here
that I made it’s a little small but I
think we can zoom in because we have the
technology can we if not that’s okay I
will read things many times in a very
clear manner ok um so I made this
diagram I want to continue on from
talking about your preferences so what
do you like can’t get a thing so from
what do you like there are this is kind
the small cooking lesson I suppose to a
food lesson from preferences the things
you like and dislike there are five
basic ways to talk about flavors there
are only five five categories of like
food of flavor these are them so the
first one here is salty salty so you can
say salty has that salt as the root yeah
this is the adjective form a food that
is salty has a strong salt flavor
another one bitter bitter the spelling
is B ITT er maybe if you make your video
big you can see this a little better so
bitter bitter so something that is
bitter for example if you drink a beer
beer is often very bitter that that kind
of like taste on the back of your tongue
often is a very bitter taste or like if
you’ve had a burned sugar it’s very
bitter very bitter so bitter is another
very is one of the five basic flavors
the next one is sour sour sou are sour
is the next basic flavor sour things we
often have like sour candies at least in
the US so maybe like lemons are a great
example of sour food it’s like a really
strong taste that for some people can be
very uncomfortable so a sour food or
sour flavor next one is sweet sweet so
sweet things these are things that have
that like natural sugary taste so lots
of fruits have a sweet taste
so maybe apples are sweet for example
and then the final one here is mommy
this is a word that comes from Japanese
money
umami is like depth of flavor it’s
something that’s like rich so it has a
lot of body to it so I want to start
with these five basic vocabulary words
these are kind of the five basic ways to
express flavor in cookie you can use
these in cooking as well but you can use
them to talk a little bit of
your preferences so to go back to this
pattern we talked about you could say I
love salty food or I don’t like bitter
food or I hate sour food or I love sweet
food so this one is a little different
though mummy we don’t use a mummy so
much as an adjective we use it more as a
noun like I love food with lots of mummy
is a good way to express that so if you
don’t feel comfortable if you want to
use something that’s like I guess a
little bit similar to the mummy you
could use the word rich rich I’ll talk
about this a little bit later we use
this a lot for desserts actually okay so
with these five basic flavors if you
missed it don’t worry this video is
being recorded I want to kind of go more
in detail with these things then so
around this diagram I have a few other
vocabulary words let’s start up here so
up here I have these two words spicy and
hot spicy and hot we use both spicy and
hot to mean um something that’s like it
makes your mouth feel like it’s burning
kind of but not because of temperature
it’s not a temperature problem this is a
food that has like peppers in it it’s so
if you’re from a culture that has lots
of spicy food you probably know but in
cultures maybe like in Japanese food
culture for example spicy or hot food is
not so common so spicy SPI see why and
hot are both used to describe that
feeling in English so here hot does not
mean temperature so if you’re eating
something and you say oh it’s so spicy
that’s a very accurate word but you will
hear native speakers use hot foods so
hot it doesn’t always mean temperature
so if native speakers are confused like
do you mean temperature or do you mean
spicy they just asked each other so
spicy and hot are used to describe the
same feeling so I put them here like in
kind of bitter salt or salty
territory but you can kind of feel what
spicy is for you someone says I hate
spicy food oh I like spicy food actually
good
someone says Peruvian food is Peruvian
food spicy someone says spicy and hot I
love it we have lots of spicy food fans
in the chat huh I like it too I hate
spicy food yesterday a little bit spicy
some salsa
Mexican food ok onward let’s go to the
next part over here the next kind of
more detailed vocabulary word is tangy
tangy the spelling is T a n G Y tangy so
what is tangy tangy I put it here
between sour and bitter this is not a
perfect it’s not a rule but it’s here
between sour and bitter because it’s
something that has it can have like kind
of a creamy feel often but there’s some
kind of like sour or some kind of sharp
taste to it like we really notice
another flavor
maybe it’s herbs or maybe it’s something
sour like I said good examples of tangy
food if you know like Greek yogurt
that’s a great example so it’s really
creamy but there’s also kind of this
sour flavor to it
so you might have like something like a
sauce a really tangy sauce that’s a
common way that we kind of experience
tangy
food so Tenny is another good one maybe
you have some something tangy in your
food in your food culture I’m very
curious to know about the foods from
where you guys are from so if you have
some examples please send them in the
chat I’m checking lots of you like spicy
food ok lots of you like spicy food
someone says what is your name teacher
my name is Alicia ok
let’s continue to the next one for time
reasons
I want to continue down to this next
part of this diagram kind of moving into
the sour part here so I have three words
in this section here they are tart tart
tea 8rt acidic acidic AC I D I see and
fruity which is kind of over here a
little bit let’s start with tart so tart
I have here in the sour part so tart is
something that’s like lightly sour so if
you imagine a lemon is like maybe a very
sour food something that’s not quite as
strong as lemon is tart actually maybe
if you like cooking if you like baking
you know a tart is a type of dessert
this is also an adjective that we can
use to describe slightly sour food it’s
often slightly sour and like slightly
sweet so it depends a little bit on the
food so tart tart you can use this to
describe desserts quite a lot so that’s
one that I want to talk about here next
is this word acidic acidic so maybe some
of you can see acidic the base word here
for acidic is acid yeah
acid so acid has it can have that very
kind of strong like for example like a
vinegary taste almost so maybe a salad
dressing could be very acidic or again
to use the lemon or lime example there’s
like a topping or some kind of liquid
that gives a very strong acid acid a
taste acidic taste to it so acidic is
how we describe that acidic acidic
Juan and YouTube Mayo can be tangy
it could be Mayo can be tangy mayo’s
kind of creamy Mayo is short for
mayonnaise when we say tangy it’s
usually there’s some kind of like herb
or some other maybe acidic part added to
it to create a more interesting flavor
let’s see someone says is Thai food
spicy food I think so sometimes it
depends on the dish it depends on the
dish really all right let’s move along
time reasons the next word here is
fruity fruity I talked a talk I put this
between sour and sweet because fruity
can be kind of both so you can see here
the root is fruit so there are lots of
different kinds of fruit obviously so
some are more sour so some are a bit
sweeter so just think about kind of
which one you want to kind of
communicate which feel is it like a sour
fruity so maybe like a grapefruit for
example is it sweeter so like berries or
apples so this is kind of in between
these two words
okay um I guess I’ll continue on yes
I’ll finish up this diagram and then
we’ll take a quick break I’m going to
slowly alright let’s move on to sweet
I’ll try to check your chat let’s move
on to sweet I have these two words here
syrupy and sugary syrup syrupy syrup
maybe you guys know maple syrup maple
syrup is probably the most popular syrup
in North America maple syrup commonly
put on pancakes
so syrup is something that’s very sweet
yes and it’s kind of it’s like a liquid
it’s like a really thick liquid so
syrupy can mean something that is sweet
yes and it’s kind of thick so if you
pour it it’s not like water but it kind
of takes a long time to come from like
the bottle that you’re you
so something is syrupy syrupy you could
use syrupy to talk about a sauce for
example something that is syrupy maple
syrup yes
Giovanni says can we use fruity to
describe coffee sure yep if you have a
coffee that has fruity three flavours
you can do that for sure no problem
lemon is bitter perhaps yeah like it
depends a little bit on like which lemon
you eat but for some people you could
get a bitter taste from lemon sure
today’s lesson is about food Lila okay
let’s get to the next part sugary so
what’s the difference between syrupy and
sugary syrupy is like it’s a texture
thing it’s kind of it’s the quality so
we kind of visually we see something is
syrup like it’s syrupy sugary is
something that has a strong taste of
sugar so that means maybe it’s not
natural so if you like eating like
processed candy so you like candy bars
chocolate that kind of thing we might
call that sugary so it has kind of an
unnatural sweet flavor that’s really
sugary or if you’re eating a dessert
that’s topped with sugar you can call
that sugary it’s something that uses a
lot of sugar processed sugar ok onward
Leah says are these natural tastes of
natural foods or can be junk food as
well yes they can be junk food
absolutely I’m going to finish with junk
food words actually junk food is next ok
we have just a couple more and then
we’ll take a break let’s move on to this
word decadent decadent I’ve spoken about
this in a lesson before decadent is
spelled Dec a de an ET deck
so decadent is something I have it here
between sweet and mummy so decadent to
something that’s often a dessert
it’s like has like a high calorie kind
of like luxury like really really nice
image about it and it’s often like kind
of a like a chocolate cake style dessert
so something that’s really really strong
in flavor lots of fat maybe some sugary
flavors as well that’s something that is
decadent so a great example like my
favorite cake I make like this flourless
chocolate cake it is decadent there’s no
flour it’s super rich so I mentioned
this word rich rich is a great word you
can use to talk about something with
lots of mummy or lots of body you can
use this for desserts you can use this
to talk about anything that has a really
deep flavor to it it’s a really but keep
in mind it’s like um it’s something
that’s often used with desserts maybe
with like sauces perhaps with like maybe
meat dishes from time to time if they’re
paired with a sauce so something that
has a lot of body to it I keep using
that word actually too
a lot of body something that has a lot
of body this is used for like wine and
beer so for example red wines have well
some if you’re drinking a rich a kind of
richer I guess you could say it red wine
you could say it has a lot of body to it
getting off track a little bit
so rich rich can be used for desserts
and a lot for its sauces okay um
ice cream is very decadent says Michaela
indeed or gelato gelato is another
example of something decadent oh that
sounds so good okay let’s finish and
then we’ll take a break these last two
here these last two right between salty
and umami are great words to talk about
junk food junk food
savory is the first one sav ori savory
something that is savory has this salty
flavor yes and maybe it has this mommy
factor too
so it’s something that maybe is kind of
rich and kind of salty something that is
savory we use savory to talk about like
roast meats we can use savory to talk
about sauces kind of saltier sauces we
don’t use savory so much to talk about
sweet things savory savory so like I had
like a really savory rose to meet last
night that is true all right last word
then we’ll take a break greasy greasy
this is the last one Gracie gr e is y
greasy greasy you can see the root
grease grease grease or oil in other
words so greasy food is like junk food
so food that uses a lot of oil a lot of
grease maybe you can see the grease or
the oil on a napkin when you’re eating
so like hamburgers are greasy pizza is
greasy burritos are greasy those are
like all my favorite foods are greasy
foods so you can use these kinds of
words to talk about flavors that are
kind of between salty and umami and have
this sort of maybe sometimes junk food
nice feel about them okay so that is a
lot of vocabulary to start with so we
can use all of these words in an
expression like this I like or I love
that style food so in my case I love
savory food I love greasy food sometimes
I love I’ve I sometimes like tangy food
um and I also like spicy food as well
great
yeah so those are my favorites send your
favorite someone says I hate greasy food
and really I like it from time to time
but if I eat too much greasy food I
don’t feel very good
I know about you guys you like tacos I
also like tacos Gabriel I tacos last
night it was good I was very happy with
myself okay other ones no food no hot
dogs at Yankee Stadium are greasy are
they I have not had a hot dog at Yankee
Stadium before okay we are going to take
a quick break I’m trying to find the
thing that I’m looking for right now all
right
I’ll find it in here anyway let’s take a
quick break we have free stuff as always
for you guys so I want to introduce
since today’s topic is food I want to
introduce the free thing that we have as
always this week I want to focus on our
dining cheat sheet so this is free an
example of one of the free things we
have on the website here are well this
is kind of a list of vocabulary words
you can use at a restaurant today I’m
not talking about dish names these are
like the kinds of dishes the courses you
can order at a restaurant these are like
restaurant related vocabulary words but
the words I’m talking about today our
words you can use to describe your
preferences so what do you want to eat
what kind of things do you like or
dislike so you can use that when you’re
asking for recommendations which I’ll
talk about in a moment
you can use that to ask waitstaff so
that means the staff at restaurants for
recommendations and to explain like your
preferences as well so check this out
this is a nice addition to today’s
lesson you can find this from the link
below the video on YouTube and above the
video on Facebook please check the
description box it’s not in the chat box
so please go get this it’s for free from
English class 101.com
ok good fantastic
if you are just joining today’s lesson
today we are talking about food food and
being hungry so that’s part 2 for
today’s lesson is talking about being
hungry
how do you explain your level
hunger we’re going to talk about that
next so as you join please don’t forget
to hit the like button and share the
video as well we always appreciate it
many things okay um let’s go to part 2
for today I will try to check your
questions again so I am trying to check
the chat please feel free to send your
example sentences and questions there
let’s move on ok let’s move on to part 2
for today part 2 is over here so there
are two parts in part two
expressing hunger expressing hunger so
this means how do you explain your level
of hungry and of course that’s one and
I’m also going to review giving
recommendations giving and explaining
recommendations and preferences okay so
let’s start here express your hunger
Express your hunger I made a spectrum so
this is this is a spectrum so we’re
going to go from one end of it to
another end of it and we’re going to
look at some expressions you can use at
each level of hungry so if you have some
ideas I did not include everything on
this list if you have some ideas send
them in the chat and I will add them to
the board for everybody to see let’s
start though let’s start down at 0% so
at 0% you do not want to eat food so
reasons could be this expression I’m
full I’m full so this is I apostrophe M
ful ful L I’m full means my stomach is
full so we use this after eating so we
cannot eat anymore food I’m full I’m
full I don’t want food I am not hungry
so no 0% you can use this I’m not hungry
I’m not hungry I’ve put this kind of
down here because maybe you could eat
I don’t know but it’s maybe not always
0% I’m not hungry again I’m this is one
point I noticed many learners miss I’m
not I but I’m I’m I’m not hungry I’m a
full this is the second one here so
maybe like 10% 20% or so I’m not hungry
moving along up here maybe 50 percent or
so 30 percent I don’t know this
expression so this is something I use
actually it is I could go for a snack I
could go for a snack in Natives level
speech I could go for a snack I could go
for a snack so what does this could go
for could go for could go for is like
saying I kind of want I kind of want I
have a little bit of a feeling for this
thing I could go for a snack it’s like I
could eat a little bit I’m not hungry
I’m not really hungry because this is
like a fifty percent or so expression
but I could I could have something I
could go for a snack um moving along I
see some of you are already writing I’m
super hungry we’ll get there in a second
the next one here is this one I’m a
little hungry so maybe about 60% 70% or
so I’m a little hungry a little hungry
so maybe you can guess to level this up
a little bit more you just remove a
little here’s I’m hungry I’m hungry is a
quick in a clearer way to express it I’m
hungry or I’m a little hungry too
leveled it level it down finally up here
at 100% I have a couple expressions some
of you already wrote I’m super hungry
there are these two I’m so hungry I use
this one a lot I’m so hungry and this
one
I’m starving I’m starving this isn’t
like this is an exaggeration an
exaggeration means a word that makes it
sound
more like bigger than it actually is
isn’t an exaggeration you’re starving
means you are dying because you’re so
hungry so of course in most cases we are
not actually dying but we want to
communicate that strong level of hunger
I’m starving I’m starving so this is a
quick introduction to expressions you
can use oh my gosh we’re two minutes
late I have no idea
Wow I have to stop talking okay good so
that’s a quick spectrum Oh someone asked
what is a snack a snack snack is a small
food small food it’s not a meal small
food so if you like junk food like
potato chips or I love potato chips take
their chips are like crackers if you’re
a healthy person maybe you eat fruit
first back so it’s not a full meal okay
I’m going to finish quickly I didn’t
realize how much time I was going to
well finish them quickly with these two
lines about like recommendations and
like giving recommendations and asking
for recommendations so when you want to
make a plan with a friend you can use
one of these two like to ask for a
recommendation or to ask for an opinion
what do you feel like eating what do you
feel like eating this feel like means
what do you want to eat what do you feel
like eating you can answer this with a
one-word answer ty is fine Japanese
pizza burritos I don’t care you can use
that as well I don’t care or anything so
that’s a quick way to ask for someone’s
like a recommendation or an opinion what
do you feel like eating what do you feel
like eating last for today this one I
use this a lot it’s easy it’s friendly
what sounds good
or what sounds good to you what sounds
good what sounds good answer
something ty sounds good
or Pizza sounds good curry sounds good
very quick and easy friendly I like to
use that one a lot
okay but I’m out of time I talk too much
again
so I will finish therefore today I will
check the chat from today’s lesson I’m
try to answer that someone wrote just
now is it weird to use I’m starving
in a day no you can use I’m starving it
just sounds like you’re really really
really hungry it’s common though it’s
common to use that but I’ll finish there
for today please send other questions if
you have them in the chat I will try to
catch them especially it’s especially
easy for me to check YouTube as well so
please please send anything you have
there but I have to finish sorry so
we’ll end there for today but we’ll be
back next week as always of course next
week’s topic is going to be shopping
shopping in English do we have a tech so
October thanks October 24th is our next
lesson next week Wednesday October 24th
at 10 p.m. Eastern Standard Time
if you can’t remember just set a
notification on Facebook or on YouTube
and you will get an announcement when we
begin our live stream so please join us
I’ll be talking about shopping and
shopping related expressions that will
be next week Wednesday in the meantime
don’t forget to get your free stuff we
have lots of free stuff I showed you
this one the food one a little bit
earlier there is also a cooking a
cooking PDF in here too so if you like
food if you’re interested in this point
I talked about earlier you can check
that out for some more vocabulary and
expressions that you can use okay so
I’ll finish there for today thank you as
always for sending your questions for
liking and share
ring and everything we really appreciate
it so have a great day have a great
night enjoy your week and I will see you
again next time