En esta lección de vocabulario en inglés básico vamos a aprender el vocabulario de la comida, incluyendo algunas palabras que no son tan básicas.
Este vocabulario es muy útil y muy interesante, no solo porque nos va a salvar la vida cuando estemos de vacaciones, sino porque hablar de comida es algo que solemos hacer bastante a menudo.
el verbo have
El verbo have —con su significado de tomar— es el que se usa en general para decir comer en inglés, no el verbo eat. Por eso, las diferentes comidas del día en inglés usan have. 😋 Mmm, yummy!
| have breakfast | desayunar |
| have lunch | comer |
| have dinner | cenar |
Ten cuidado porque en español, comer significa tanto comerse una manzana —que es have, o eat si te hace ilusión utilizarlo— como comer de la hora de la comida —que siempre es have lunch.
| I had an apple yesterday | Ayer me comí una manzana |
| I ate an apple yesterday | Ayer me comí una manzana |
| I had lunch with my parents yesterday | Ayer comí con mis padres |
La verdad es que el verbo eat apenas se usa en inglés porque solo significa el hecho físico de comer, masticar, ingerir… pero como en el instituto te dieron la dichosa hojita 😓 de los verbos irregulares, es muy probable que pienses que es un verbo super importante. Para nada, olvídate de este verbo.
can I have…?
Seguimos utilizando el verbo have en inglés para pedir algo de comer o de beber en un bar, restaurante… o a tu santa madre con la construcción Can I have…?
| Can I have a coffee, please? | ¿Me pones un café, por favor? |
| Can I have the chicken burger? | Quiero la hamburguesa de pollo |
| Mom, can I have a glass of water? | Mamá, ¿me sacas un vaso de agua? |
Si te fijas en las traducciones, verás que ese Can I have…? puede ser muchas cosas distintas en español, pero es lo que quieres decir siempre en inglés.
Te recomiendo que consultes la lección sobre cómo pedir en bares y restaurantes y la interiorices bien, para que dejes de meter la pata cuando pidas un café en inglés. Además, puedes aprender otras formas más elegantes de decirlo.
have something for…
Para decir lo que desayunamos, comemos o cenamos seguimos utilizando el verbo have y, en este caso, usamos la siguiente estructura.
have … for breakfast / lunch / dinner
| I usually have coffee for breakfast | Normalmente, desayuno café |
| We had soup for lunch yesterday | Ayer comimos sopa |
| I will have fish for dinner | Cenaré pescado |
| What do you like having for breakfast? | ¿Qué te gusta desayunar? |
En mi experiencia, a la mayoría de los hispanohablantes esta expresión se les hace bola, cual filete de oferta, pero no hay otra forma de decirlo en inglés así que practica hasta que te suene natural.
the food in English
common ingredients
There are some ingredients that are usually added to every kind of meal we cook like salt and pepper.
There are many types of cooking oil, usually made with seeds. The healthiest and most common in Southern Europe is olive oil. Some other countries cook with butter instead of oil.
Flour can be made out of different cereal but the most popular ones are wheat and corn. Flour is used for making bread but also for baking cakes, which they also have sugar; tons of sugar.
Eggs are very popular too. You can make delicious omelettes, boil them, hard-boil them…the sky is the limit. Eggs are very popular for breakfast in countries like the USA.
Cheese comes from milk and there are literally thousands of varieties of cheese. In countries such as France, cheese is so important that it is considered a cornerstone of French culture.
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salt | sal | |
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pepper | pimienta | |
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cooking oil | aceite | |
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olive oil | aceite de oliva | |
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sunflower oil | aceite de girasol | |
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vinegar | vinagre | |
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butter | mantequilla | |
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eggs | huevos | |
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flour | harina | |
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cheese | queso | |
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sugar | azúcar |
fruit
Fruit is delicious and very healthy. The only problem is peeling it, right?
If you are like me and you like fruit but not peeling it, just try some easy-to-peel fruit like bananas or fruit you don’t need to peel like strawberries. Some fruits like apples or pears can also be eaten with their skin on, it’s up to you!
Apples may be the healthiest fruit. After all, they say that «an apple a day keeps the doctor away».
Oranges, lemons and limes are also very good and popular belief says that they help prevent the common cold because they are packed with vitamin C.
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apple | manzana | |
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orange | naranja | |
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lemon | limón | |
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lime | lima | |
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pear | pera | |
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peach | melocotón |
The sweetest and juiciest fruit is summer fruit like melons and watermelons. A lot of people enjoy having them as the perfect dessert in a hot summer day.
Tropical fruits are also very sweet and equally delicious, especially pineapples. Fun fact: pineapples don’t grow in trees but in bushes. Weird, uh?
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melon | melón | |
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watermelon | sandía | |
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banana | plátano | |
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pineapple | piña |
Red fruits like cherries or raspberries are considered superfoods because they have a lot of nutrients, vitamins and antiaging properties.
Grapes, either green or red, are more popular in wine-producing countries such as Spain, Italy or France but everybody loves them. They are very easy to eat and they can be a very healthy snack, especially now that we can find seedless grapes in almost every supermarket.
Strawberries may be the most popular red fruit and we can find many things strawberry flavored like candy or milkshakes. However, blueberries, although technically not red, are very trendy nowadays because of their high level of antioxidants.
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grapes | uvas | |
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cherry | cereza | |
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strawberry | fresa | |
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raspberry | frambuesa | |
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blueberries | arándanos |
vegetables
As healthy as fruit is, a good diet also includes a lot of vegetables. They say that veggies or greens should add up to 50% of your plate.
People say that avocados is millennials’ favorite food and they may be right because the Internet is packed with avocado recipes. Put them in a salad, on a toast or make some delicious guacamole.
Salads can take in many different ingredients and are also a very good entrée. Most common salads have some lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes. In Mediterranean countries, olives are very popular in salads too. If you want to make your salad even healthier you can add some grated carrots.
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cucumber | pepino | |
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lettuce | lechuga | |
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olives | aceitunas | |
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tomato | tomate | |
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carrot | zanahoria | |
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avocado | aguacate |
Equally popular in Mediterranean cuisine are onions, peppers and garlic which are usually the basis for many popular plates. Have you noticed that just putting some onion on a pan is enough for people to say it smells delicious?
Garlic is one of the reasons the Mediterranean diet is so healthy because it helps prevent many cardiac diseases. If you don’t like it raw, try sautéing it along mushrooms to enhance their flavor. It’s delicious!
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onion | cebolla | |
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pepper | pimiento | |
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garlic | ajo | |
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mushrooms | champiñones |
In America, they eat egg plants and zucchinis while in the UK they eat aubergines and courgettes. Well, they are the same greens but just with different names.
Cauliflower and broccoli are very similar and they only differ in their color: white for cauliflower and green for broccoli. However, they are similar in one little thing —a lot of people hate their flavor. Celery isn’t very popular either as its unique flavor is an acquired taste.
Leeks, asparaguses —both white and green— and artichokes are very popular in countries like Spain or France but not so common in colder countries, where they usually eat more pumpkins or squash. Cabbage is very popular in Asia. Everybody eats peas, which is usually the first vegetable children start eating.
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egg plant (US) | berenjena | |
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aubergine (UK) | berenjena | |
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zucchini (US) | calabacín | |
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courgette (UK) | calabacín | |
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pumpkin | calabaza | |
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squash | calabaza | |
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brocoli | brócoli | |
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cauliflower | coliflor | |
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asparagus | espárrago | |
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celery | apio | |
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leek | puerro | |
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artichoke | alcachofa | |
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peas | guisantes | |
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cabbage | col |
Some foods are called staple foods because they are the basis of our diet. In Europe, wheat is the staple food because we use it to make bread and pasta. Corn and potatoes are the staple food in the Americas. Rice is considered the staple food in Asia.
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potatoes | patatas | |
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corn | maíz | |
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wheat | trigo | |
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rice | arroz |
Although not really vegetables, many people consider pulses some sort of greens. After all, they come from plants, right?
Beans are very popular in some countries like Mexico, where they are a building block of Mexican cuisine. Garbanzo beans or chickpeas are very popular in Spain but in Italy they prefer lentils. Italians eat lentils as part of the traditional dinner in New Year’s Eve.
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beans | alubias | |
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chickpeas | garbanzos | |
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lentils | lentejas |
drinks
Water may be the most important drink but we like having different drinks because sometime water is just too boring.
Some drinks can be hot like coffee or tea, which are usually consumed for breakfast. Some people also have orange juice for breakfast, but you can actually have any kind of juice you like, such as pineapple juice or even carrot juice. They all are very healthy.
Milk is also very common for breakfast although some people hate it. With milk, you can make milkshakes with different flavors such as chocolate, vanilla or strawberry.
Sodas are very common during the summer but nowadays most people don’t drink sodas anymore because they are unhealthy. They have too much sugar.
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coffee | café | |
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tea | té | |
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orange juice | zumo de naranja | |
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water | agua | |
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soda | refresco | |
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milk | leche | |
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milkshake | batido |
There are many types of alcoholic drinks but the most common are wine and beer. Cider is also very popular, especially apple cider. There are also many kinds of spirits, which usually have more alcohol than wine or beer. Most popular spirits are rum, gin and vodka.
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wine | vino | |
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beer | cerveza | |
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cider | sidra | |
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spirits | licores |
meat
Because of the history of England and English, there are two different words: one for the animal when it’s alive and a different one when it’s food on a plate. You will never find cow or pig on a menu because it is beef and pork.
Traditionally, bacon comes from pork and Americans love it for breakfast. Nowadays, you can find healthier options in the supermarket like turkey bacon.
Chicken is the most common meat and a children’s favorite. It’s also the cheapest and healthiest. Turkey is not very popular in Europe but it is very common in the USA as turkeys are original from North America.
Lamb may be more popular in Arab cuisine than in other countries’ but one of the most famous plates in British gastronomy is lamb with mint.
Nowadays, some people believe that eating animals is not alright and they don’t eat any meat. They are known as vegetarians. If they don’t eat anything coming from an animal, like milk or eggs, they are vegans.
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beef | vaca / ternera | |
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pork | cerdo | |
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lamb | cordero | |
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chicken | pollo | |
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turkey | pavo | |
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bacon | beicon |
fish
Fish is considered a very healthy source of protein because they don’t have a lot of fat and the one they have is considered good fat, rich in important nutrients for our bodies.
Tuna and salmon are the most common fish and almost every likes them, even though they have a lot of fat for a fish.
Cod and haddock are very similar fish and both of them are used to cook the most famous plate in the UK, fish and chips.
Sardines and herrings are smaller fish, which we usually consume canned. They are cheaper than heck or seabass but they are equally healthy and delicious if you know how to cook them.
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tuna | atún | |
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heck | merluza | |
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haddock | bacalao | |
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cod | bacalao | |
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salmon | salmón | |
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seabass | lubina | |
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sardines | sardinas | |
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herrings | arenques |
sweets & desserts
For many people, dessert is the best part of a meal. Who doesn’t like a sweet treat?
Chocolate is one of the most popular sweets, whether dark, white or whit milk. Cupcakes and muffins are the perfect treat or sweet snack at any time but be careful if you are on a diet because they are really caloric.
Did you know that honey never goes out of date? Honey is made by bees and many people uses honey instead of sugar in their coffee or tea. Jam is very common for breakfast and most people like spreading some butter and jam on a toast.
In America, people say candy and, in the UK, they say sweets. It doesn’t really matter, children love them anyway.
Pies, cakes and tarts can all be translated as «pastel» or «tarta» in Spanish. There are differences among them but they are better seen having a look at the pictures. Anyway, in English people say birthday cake and apple pie.
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chocolate | chocolate | |
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honey | miel | |
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jam | mermelada | |
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candy (US) | caramelos | |
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sweets (UK) | caramelos | |
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cupcake | cupcake | |
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muffin | madalena | |
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pie | tarta | |
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tart | tarta | |
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cake | tarta / pastel |
