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By Jennifer Updated: . First published: . This post may contain affiliate links. 38 Comments
This tastes good! Mmmmmm yummy! What a delicious dish! What a nice chicken! The peas are wonderful!
As an adult, it bothers me when someone tells me a food or a dish tastes good. Good to one person may be horrific to another person. I always feel obligated to agree that yes, this food does indeed taste “good” even if I do not particularly care for it. I hate to rain on someone’s taste parade. I much prefer it when someone says something like “this dish is pretty spicy which I love.” This language does not corner me into agreeing, dishonestly, that I like something or admitting that I do not like something then feeling bad about it.
Describing food as good or bad apparently bothered me enough that I decided to provide a list of better words to describe food. This list describes both the taste and in some cases the texture of the food in question.
This list of words to describe food is fantastic for chefs doing some menu writing. Food adjectives can be a make or break it when it comes to what a customer decides to order. Culinary students might also find this list helpful!
Parents can also benefits from the various food adjectives presented here. How you describe food to children is something parents should strive to be more mindful of. “Good” and “bad” and similar phrasing do not tell children much about the food, only that they are supposed to like it or not like it. Good and bad stifle a child’s ability to form their own opinion about their taste preferences. It also does nothing to expand their vocabulary. Hence why these words to describe food can be helpful.
Here are 120 words to describe food to get your started. These words are related to the taste and texture of food.
- Acidic
- Acrid
- Aged
- Bitter
- Bittersweet
- Bland
- Burnt
- Buttery
- Chalky
- Cheesy
- Chewy
- Chocolaty
- Citrusy
- Cool
- Creamy
- Crispy
- Crumbly
- Crunchy
- Crusty
- Doughy
- Dry
- Earthy
- Eggy
- Fatty
- Fermented
- Fiery
- Fishy
- Fizzy
- Flakey
- Flat
- Flavorful (my favorite flavorful recipes can be found in the Art Of Great Cooking With Your Instant Pot)
- Fresh
- Fried (this gluten free funnel cake is some really incredible fried food goodness!)
- Fruity
- Full-bodied
- Gamey (refers to the flavor or strong odor of game, like Elk or Deer.
- Garlicky
- Gelatinous
- Gingery
- Glazed
- Grainy
- Greasy
- Gooey
- Gritty
- Harsh
- Hearty
- Heavy
- Herbal
- Hot
- Icy
- Infused
- Juicy
- Lean
- Light
- Lemony
- Malty
- Mashed
- Meaty
- Mellow
- Mild
- Minty
- Moist
- Mushy
- Nutty
- Oily
- Oniony
- Overripe
- Pasty
- Peppery
- Pickled
- Plain
- Powdery
- Raw
- Refreshing
- Rich
- Ripe
- Roasted
- Robust
- Rubbery
- Runny
- Salty
- Sautéed
- Savory (try this savory Pumpkin Meatloaf recipe)
- Seared
- Seasoned
- Sharp
- Silky
- Slimy
- Smokey
- Smothered
- Smooth
- Soggy
- Soupy
- Sour
- Spicy (this gluten free Kung Pao Chicken recipe brings the heat!)
- Spongy
- Stale
- Sticky
- Stale
- Stringy
- Strong
- Sugary or sweet
- Sweet-and-sour (the absolute best sweet and sour chicken recipe is in this Paleo Takeout cookbook)
- Syrupy
- Tangy
- Tart
- Tasteless
- Tender (this Puerto Rican Sofrito Steak is the definition of tender!)
- Toasted
- Tough
- Unflavored
- Unseasoned
- Velvety
- Vinegary
- Watery
- Whipped
- Woody
- Yeasty
- Zesty
- Zingy
30 words to describe food instead of saying good or bad.
- Amazing (Amazing Mexican Favorites with Your Instant Pot is a killer cookbook!)
- Appealing
- Appetizing
- Delectable
- Delicious
- Delightful
- Divine
- Enjoyable
- Enticing
- Excellent
- Exquisite
- Extraordinary
- Fantastic
- Finger Licking (every recipe in this Air Fryer cookbook is finger-licking good!)
- Heavenly
- Lip Smacking
- Luscious
- Marvelous
- Mouthwatering
- Palatable
- Pleasant
- Pleasing
- Satisfying
- Scrumptious
- Superb
- Tantalizing
- Tasty (this 5 ingredient Chocolate Cake is truly the tastiest!)
- Terrific
- Wonderful
- Yummy
Speaking of words to describe food…
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About The Author
Jennifer, author of Hybrid Rasta Mama, is a former government recruiter turned work-at-home mama to a daughter brought earthside in early 2009. She is passionate about and writes about holistic health and wellness, natural/green living, toxic mold awareness, and the benefits of coconut oil. She frequently shares allergy friendly recipes on her site as well as DIY herbal remedies, DIY natural body care, and natural cleaning recipes.
Jennifer graduated with honors with a Bachelor's Degree in Ethnic Studies. In January 2019 she became a certified mold and moisture intrusion inspector. She has completed coursework in the naturopathic series offered by the Avicenna Institute and accredited through the Board of Natural Medicine Certification Council.
Jennifer is a member of the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors as well as the International Society for Environmentally Acquired Illness.
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Comments
Zoie @ TouchstoneZ says
Yes, thank you! This is another example of how we try to “make” children feel or not feel, like or not like certain things. It’s controlling and it sets them up to not trust themselves.
It seems like a small thing, but it really is something to be mindful about. At it’s pleasurable once you get in the habit.
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maddy says
cheers mate
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bryson says
your website helps so much thank you so much i will use this in the future as well
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Hybrid Rasta Mama says
This comment has been removed by the author.
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mason young says
thank you so much this helped me tremendously. I got an A on my project thanks to this website.
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Aprustudent says
This helped a lot on my homework
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Jennifer says
Yay! I am happy to hear that! 🙂 This post seems popular with students.
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Van says
Yeah specially with EFL students! X) Thank you!!
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Jai says
This was bloody superb mate, helped me discover my fantasy for food, took my breath away
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tan jolnn says
thank you so much, it really did help me a lot in my homework. i appreciate your help and kindness.
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mollie says
I am ohhhhhhh so glad that you have this!! For my english class we HAVE to write journal, (if you want to make grades that are Cs and better) and we wrote 2 this paricular week, and EACH journal is worth 5 points and I only wrote one, it was 2 1/2 pages long, and I got a 10/10 so an A+ on it and our journal was: write a journal about a Thanksgiving meal, use vivid words to make it to where you can almost “Taste” the food as you are reading it!! Thankyou sooooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!! This was a HUGE HUGE HUGE help!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jennifer says
Oh I am so glad!!! Congrats on a great journal and I am glad my post helped so much. 🙂
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Jorge says
Thank you for your personal outlook! I definitely agree and am using some of your descriptive words for a product description I am writing! Thank you!!
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Katie says
Hello –
thanks for the great post. I have just used it as a resource to create a handout for my ESL students. We will be tasting 10 different kinds of salad dressing, and I wanted them to have more flavor words. I will also ask them to look through the list and mark which ones refer more to texture than flavor. Although both answer the question “how does it taste” 🙂I’ll also be using the list as we continue to introduce more foods to our toddler son and as he gains more language.
Thanks again!Reply
Jennifer says
So glad this was helpful. It has become one of my most popular posts! I am glad it is helping so many people.
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camala thompson says
hey love this conspectus it is great work
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felicia lim says
hello, thank you so much for the words,
i used it in my design project!!Reply
sam says
look i don’t know how to say it but… this website saved my ass when coming up with descriptive words for my food tech class, thanks!
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Jennifer says
HAHA! You are not the first to say that. 😉 Glad I could help!
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hafsa Rasheed says
That was great! Thanks a lot .you know what ?it realy helped me in my Home work ……keeping the secret that I was to do it on my own
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LoLoLOL says
thanks so much needed these descriptive words so so so bad
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Jennifer says
You are welcome! Glad they helped.
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Shalene Sodal says
Thank you for this! Writer’s block can be very frustrating and this helped me so much.
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Jennifer says
Happy to help!
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Dordaneh says
Thank you for introducing delicious words! 🙂
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pavitra says
Wonderful collection, I was in search exactly what i get here. Thanks for great share.
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cupcakemaster says
1) Learn to spell.
2) Are you a parent, because if you’re not keep your parenting advice to yourself.
3) I think there’s bigger problems in the world than how you describe your food.Reply
Jennifer says
Yes, I am a parent and yes there are bigger problems in this world than how to describe food. However, this post has actually become one of my most viewed posts as it has helped thousands of parents, culinary students and professionals describe food. I am happy to have put something online that has value. Sorry you don’t agree.
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Dave says
You forgot ‘icky’
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Jennifer says
😉 Good One!
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Edwin says
Hi.
I need to describe a freshly baked bread.
Any words that can BEST describe?
Thanks
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Jennifer says
Warm, moist, pungent, flaky, crisp….
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Eva says
Another EFL teacher here to say thanks for compiling this!
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mai magdy says
thank you very much
it is really helpfulReply
My Boozy Kitchen says
As a food blogger – you are always looking for alternative words other than amazing / fantastic / this helps me a lot especially if I want to make people drool over their keybords. So thank you for sharing this. This has become my guide
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Jennifer says
I am so glad to hear this! Thank you for sharing!
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Elezabeta says
Great!!!
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