food S1 W1 /fuːd/ BrE AmE noun
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: foda ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] things that people and animals eat, such as vegetables or meat:
The restaurant serves good food at affordable prices.
I love Italian food, especially pasta.
He was told to cut down on salty and fatty foods.
2 . food for thought something that makes you think carefully:
The teacher’s advice certainly gave me food for thought.
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GRAMMAR
Food is usually uncountable:
▪
a shortage of food
It is used as a countable noun only to refer to one or more types of food:
▪
She avoids processed foods.
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COLLOCATIONS
■ adjectives
▪ good/excellent
The hotel was nice and the food was really good.
▪ delicious/tasty
Thanks for dinner – the food was delicious.
▪ fresh
The food is all so fresh.
▪ healthy
We try to give the kids good healthy food.
▪ nourishing/nutritious (=making you strong and healthy)
The food was nourishing but not particularly tasty.
▪ plain/simple (=without anything added or without decoration)
He liked eating simple food, nothing spicy.
▪ spicy (=with a hot taste)
Spanish food is not usually very spicy.
▪ hot food
She wanted a rest and some hot food.
▪ cold food
The cafeteria only serves cold food.
▪ Italian/French/Chinese etc food
The restaurant serves delicious Italian food.
▪ exotic food (=unusual because of being from a foreign country)
The shop specializes in selling exotic food like kangaroo and crocodile meat.
▪ fatty foods
Limit your intake of fatty foods.
▪ starchy foods (=food that contains a lot of starch)
Starchy foods include bread, rice, pasta, and potatoes.
■ verbs
▪ have food
The family hadn’t had any food for days.
▪ eat food
He sat in the corner and ate his food.
▪ cook/prepare food
I have to cook some food for this evening.
▪ serve food (=give food to someone, especially in a restaurant)
She served food and cleared tables all evening.
▪ enjoy your food
I’ve never seen anyone enjoy their food so much.
▪ chew food
He chewed the food slowly and carefully.
▪ swallow food
While she was ill, she had trouble swallowing her food.
▪ digest food
Aphids have bacteria in their guts that help them digest food.
▪ food tastes good/delicious etc
The food at Jan’s house always tastes good.
▪ food smells good
The food smelt good to her.
■ phrases
▪ be off your food British English (=not want to eat)
The baby is off his food.
▪ go off your food British English (=to stop wanting to eat)
Since becoming ill, he has gone off his food.
■ nouns
▪ a food supply
The government must ensure an adequate food supply.
▪ the food industry
The food industry has responded to consumer concerns about health.
▪ food production (=the process of making or growing food to be sold)
Farmers have increased food production to meet demand.
▪ food products
The nutrient content of most food products is displayed on the packaging.
▪ food prices
Food prices have increased rapidly in recent months.
▪ a food shortage
He remembered the food shortages of the war years.
▪ a food scare (=when people are afraid to eat a particular food)
The meat industry has been badly affected by recent food scares.
▪ food colouring British English , food coloring American English
Dilute a little food colouring with water.
▪ food additives (=substances added to food in order to improve its taste or appearance)
These chemicals have been approved as food additives.
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THESAURUS
▪ food noun [uncountable and countable] things that people and animals eat:
You can buy good fresh food in the market.
|
Do you like Japanese food?
▪ dish noun [countable] a type of food that is cooked in a particular way:
a traditional English dish
|
They also offer vegetarian dishes.
▪ speciality British English , specialty American English noun [countable] a type of food that a restaurant or place is famous for:
Fish dishes are a specialty of the region.
|
Home made pies are one of the hotel’s specialities.
▪ delicacy noun [countable] an unusual food which people in a particular place like to eat:
The local delicacies include laverbread (boiled seaweed).
|
I was keen to try out the local delicacies.
▪ diet noun [countable] the type of food that someone usually eats:
You shouldn’t have too much salt in your diet.
|
In the Andes, the main diet is beans, potatoes, and corn.
▪ cooking noun [uncountable] food made in a particular way, or by a particular person:
Herbs are used a lot in French cooking.
|
I love my Mum’s home cooking.
▪ cuisine /kwɪˈziːn/ noun [countable] formal the food you can eat in a particular restaurant, country, or area:
Italian cuisine
|
Trying the local cuisine is all part of the fun of travelling.
▪ nutrition noun [uncountable] food considered as something that is necessary for good health and growth:
a book on nutrition
|
Many homeless people suffer from poor nutrition.
▪ nourishment /ˈnʌrɪʃmənt $ ˈnɜː-, ˈnʌ-/ noun [uncountable] goodness that you get from food, which helps your body to stay healthy:
There's not much nourishment in fast food.
▪ fare noun [uncountable] formal the kind of food that is served in a place – used especially when saying how interesting it is:
In China you can feast on bird’s nest soup and other exotic fare.
|
Dinner was pretty standard fare (=the usual kind of food) .
■ types of food
▪ fast food food such as ↑ hamburger s , which is prepared quickly and which you can take away with you to eat:
He ballooned to 300lbs on a diet of fast food.
▪ junk food food that is full of sugar or fat, and is bad for your health:
I used to eat loads of junk food.
▪ GM food British English food made from vegetables and animals that have had their genetic structure changed:
There has been a lot of research into the safety of GM food.
▪ organic food food that is produced without using harmful chemicals:
Shoppers are willing to pay more for organic food.
▪ health food food that is thought to be good for your health:
You can buy the ingredients in any good health food shop.
▪ superfood a type of food that is believed to be good for your health because it contains a lot of a particular type of ↑ vitamin , ↑ mineral etc:
Superfoods such as blueberries are often promoted as having magic health-giving properties.
▪ vegetarian food food that does not contain meat:
The restaurant specializes in vegetarian food.
▪ processed food food that has chemicals in it to make it last a long time:
The colourings and flavourings in processed food are chemicals produced in factories.
▪ canned food ( also tinned food British English ) food that is sold in cans:
We had to live on canned food for a week.
|
Tinned food was sent as emergency aid.
▪ frozen food food that is kept at a very low temperature to make it last a long time:
Some people claim that frozen food is just as healthy as fresh food.
▪ convenience food food that is sold in cans, packages etc, so that it can be prepared quickly and easily:
I found that I had more time to cook, instead of just heating up convenience food.
▪ baby food special food for babies:
The soup was horrible – it tasted like baby food.
▪ pet/dog/cat/bird etc food food for animals that you keep as pets:
She spent a fortune on pet food.