25 Tasty Food English Idioms

Food is a big part of everyday conversations, and English has many fun and colorful idioms related to food. These food idioms are commonly used to describe people, situations, success, problems, and emotions in a creative way. Understanding them helps English learners sound more natural and confident.

In this lesson, “25 Tasty Food English Idioms,” you will learn popular food-related idioms along with their meanings and easy explanations. These idioms are often heard in daily conversations, movies, books, and workplace communication.

Whether you are a student, ESL learner, or English teacher, this guide will help you expand your vocabulary, understand idiomatic expressions, and enjoy learning English through food-based language.

This topic is part of our English Idioms & Phrases for English learners.

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1. Bad egg

This doesn’t refer to an actual rotten egg. It means a bad or unreliable person. For example, “Don’t trust him, he’s a real bad egg.”

2. Bring home the bacon

This means to earn the money that supports a household or family. It comes from the old saying that “he who brings home the bacon, rules the roost.” So if you bring home the bacon, you’re the breadwinner.

3. Cool as a cucumber

If someone is cool as a cucumber, they remain calm and composed even in a stressful situation. Cucumbers are cool to the touch, hence the expression.

4. Butter someone up

To butter someone up means to compliment or flatter them insincerely, usually because you want a favor from them. It refers to buttering food to make it taste better.

5. Apple of my eye

If someone is the apple of your eye, it means they are someone you cherish above all others. It refers to the pupil of the eye, and how we carefully watch over the apples of our eyes.

6. Pie in the sky

A pie in the sky is an idea or plan that is fanciful and unrealistic. It alludes to the phrase “pie in the sky when you die” which mocks impractical promises.

7. In a pickle

If you’re in a pickle, you’re in a difficult situation. It refers to being preserved in vinegar brine like a pickle.

8. Spill the beans

To spill the beans means to share a secret, reveal something that was previously hidden or confidential. It refers to spilling or scattering beans from their container.

9. Let’s talk turkey

When you talk turkey, you discuss something frankly and straightforwardly. It may originate from a story about negotiating for poultry before Thanksgiving.

10. That’s peanuts!

Peanuts means something trivial or insignificant. For example, “A hundred dollars? That’s peanuts compared to what we usually spend.”

11. Go bananas

To go bananas is to become extremely silly, excited, or enthusiastic to the point of going crazy or out of control. Think of the energetic silliness of a monkey.

12. Best thing since sliced bread

Something described as the best thing since sliced bread is considered a wonderful, groundbreaking innovation. Sliced bread itself was once an amazing convenience.

13. Piece of cake

If a task is a piece of cake, it’s considered very easy to do. Cake is soft, sweet, and easy to eat and handle, unlike some challenging tasks.

14. Big cheese

A big cheese is an important, powerful, or influential person, especially in an organization. It may refer to the biggest, highest-quality cheese.

15. Couch potato

A lazy, inactive person who spends too much time watching TV or lounging around is called a couch potato. Potatoes do little but sit around too.

16. Everything but the kitchen sink

When you take or include “everything but the kitchen sink,” you bring along every possible item for a situation other than something absurdly large like a kitchen sink.

17. Full of beans

A person full of beans is lively, energetic, and excitable – like jumping beans. It’s similar in meaning to “full of pep.”

18. Gravy train

If someone has a gravy train lifestyle, they are living well without much effort, riding an easy path to steady income or success. Gravy is the rich, delicious part on top.

19. Half-baked

A half-baked idea or plan is one that is imperfect, ill-conceived, or lacking in sufficient preparation – like underbaked bread or pastry.

20. Sell like hotcakes

If something is selling like hotcakes, it’s selling extremely well and quickly, like the demand for fresh hotcakes at a restaurant.

21. Low-hanging fruit

The low-hanging fruit refers to the easiest or most accessible targets, opportunities, or courses of action. The highest fruit takes more effort to reach.

22. Elbow macaroni

People call an old car, pair of shoes, etc. their “elbow macaroni” if it’s old, frail, or fragile. The elbow macaroni shape conjures something twisted or bent.

23. Hard nut to crack

A hard nut to crack is someone difficult to deal with or understand. It compares a tough personality to the struggle of cracking a hard nutshell.

24. Hot potato

A controversial issue that’s difficult to deal with is called a hot potato. Like a real hot baked potato, it’s too hot to handle comfortably.

25. Proof is in the pudding

This means that you can only judge the quality of something after you’ve tried or experienced it fully, like how pudding is proven by its taste.