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Dining Vocabulary
with word definitions, example sentences and quiz

Photo: Dining table set up outdoors.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

In most parts of the world people have three meals a day. The first is
breakfast, then lunch in the middle of the day and dinner in the evening. Most
people have breakfast at home, and some take a home-made lunch to work or
school. Most people also have dinner at home, and for many modern
families dinnertime is the only chance we have to get together and talk to one
another. At family dinners we don't have to follow the rules
of etiquettefor formal dining, but if you go to expensive restaurants or travel
for business it's useful to know these rules. You might also need to know them
if you're hosting a dinner party or having special guests for dinner.

Table settings and dining etiquette

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Houses and large apartments often have a dining room with a dining
tablethat can seat many people. Dining rooms are sometimes used for
everyday meals, but often they're only used for big family gatherings, dinner
parties or formal meals. If you're hosting a meal like this, you'll probably use
your best set of dinnerware and cutlery. Before your guests arrive you'll need
to set the table. Begin by covering the table with a tablecloth and then place
a centrepiece such as candle sticks or a flower arrangement in the middle of
the table. Then arrange place settings around the table, making sure there's
a place for everyone, including yourself.

Place settings for formal dinners usually include a place mat, or an empty
space, in the middle with a dinner fork and a smaller salad fork to the left,
a table knife and soup spoon to the right, and a dessert fork and
spoonacross the top. Each place setting also has a bread plate and butter
knifeon the left and a drinking glass or tumbler and a wine glass on the
right. Sometimes these glasses are on coasters, but only if place mats are
used instead of a tablecloth. The place settings for dinner in most hotel dining
rooms and fancy restaurants are also like this.

Salad or soup bowls, dinner plates and dessert bowls are often brought to
the table during the meal, and if so they shouldn't be on the table before the
meal begins. There should, however, be a folded napkin at each guest's
place, and if you're serving steak or fish you can add a steak knife or fish
knife as well. Salt and pepper shakers and jugs full of drinking water should
also be on the table. If you're serving tea or coffee after the meal, bring cups
and saucers as well as a sugar bowl, teaspoons and a small jug of milk or
cream to the table.

bowl butter knife candlesticks

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 centrepiece dinner fork napkin or serviette

coasters dinner plate placemat

cup and saucer dinnerware set place setting

dessert fork and spoon fish knife salt and pepper shakers

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 setting the table sugar bowl tumbler

soup spoon

table knife water jug

steak knife tablecloth

wine glass

Restaurant Vocabulary
with word definitions, example sentences and quiz

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Photo: Small restaurant in Montevideo (Carvalho)

Most people eat out quite often, even if they like cooking and eating at home.
They might eat breakfast or lunch in a cafeteria or canteen where they work
or study, or go to a café or restaurant nearby. Many people also go out to eat
dinner once or twice a week. They might go to a fast food restaurant for a
quick meal, or go to a proper restaurant if they're eating out with family or
friends, or when going on a date. They might go somewhere that serves just
one country's food like an Italian or Japanese restaurant, or to a restaurant
that serves a particular type of food like seafood or vegetarian food. They
might even go to a high-class restaurant that serves expensive cuisine in a
formal setting.

English has become the world's international language, so if you're travelling,

studying or working overseas it's the language you'll probably use when
eating out. You might use it to make a booking and reserve a table, and
when you arrive you might be greeted in English by the head waiter or maitre
d’ before being led to your table. Then your waiter or waitress will probably
bring menus in English and tell you about the day's specials and answer any
questions, also most-likely in English.

Menus and courses

A menu is a list of the food and drinks that guests can order. Menus are
sometimes written on large boards for everyone to see, and sometimes
they're printed on paper and handed to each guest. A simple menu like a
breakfast menu or a children's menu might list just a few dishes and drinks,
but lunch and dinner menus usually list many dishes. They can be à la
cartedishes ordered individually, or dishes grouped together in a set menu. In
European or Western-style menus, dishes are listed in a series of courses.

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The first course is called starters, appetizers or hors d’oeuvres, and can be
a bowl of soup, a small serving of pasta, a salad or one of
many savourystarters. Next is the main course or entrée, and this is usually
fish, meat or poultry served with vegetables or salad or other side dishes. In
many restaurants vegetarian entrées are also available these days.

After the main course, your waiter or waitress might bring a dessert menu if
you haven't already ordered desserts from the main menu. Desserts are
nearly always sweet, and can be frozen like ice cream or gelato, served at
room temperature like fruit salad or cakes, or served hot like
pancakes, puddings and fruit pies. Dessert is sometimes followed by
a cheese platterwith a selection of different cheeses as well as crackers,
dried fruits, nuts, etc. Guests are usually offered tea and coffee, and
sometimes chocolates are also served after a meal.

Many people like to drink wine when they eat out, and higher-class
restaurants often employ a wine steward or sommelier who helps guests pair
wines from the wine list with the food they order. Traditionally, red wines are
paired with darker meats like steak, roast beef and duck, while white wines
and light reds are paired with lighter meats like chicken, fish and seafood.
Many wine lists don't show the prices, so make sure you ask how much a
glass or bottle costs before ordering. Famous wines can cost thousands of
dollars per bottle, and you don't want to get a nasty shock when you see
the bill.

Bills and tipping

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When you've finished your meal and you're ready to leave, ask your waiter for
the bill. In many countries a service charge of 10% to 20% of the total
amount is added to the bill. This is meant to be shared among the service
staff, but in North America and some Eastern European countries a service
charge isn't added. In these places you should give a tip¹ of 15% to 20%
directly to the waiter instead. Waiters and other staff like bartenders are
usually paid very low wages, so when eating out try to tip² generously,
especially in countries like the USA where a service charge isn't added to the
bill.

à la carte (adjective): ordered as a separate dish; not part of a set menu - Do

you have à la carte dishes as well as set menus?

appetizer (noun): a dish that's eaten before the main course - For an
appetizer I'll have spring rolls, please.

bill (also US "check") (noun): the written amount you must pay for a meal
and drinks - Can we have the bill, please?

café (also "coffee shop") (noun): an informal restaurant serving simple

meals plus hot and cold drinks - Is there an all-night café around here?

cafeteria (also "canteen") (noun): a place that sells low-cost meals in a

school or work-place, usually from a self-service counter - What's the food in
the school cafeteria like?

cheese platter (noun): a selection of cheeses and crackers served on a large

plate - After dessert, we had a cheese platter and some more wine.

course (noun): one part of a meal - French meals usually include three or four
courses.

cuisine (noun): a country or region's style of cooking - There's more to Indian

cuisine than curries, you know.

dessert (noun): sweet food eaten at the end of a meal - You love desserts,
don't you?

eat out (phrasal verb): to go out to a restaurant, esp. at night - We usually eat
out three or four nights a week.

entrée (noun): 1. the main course of a meal 2. a course before the main
course (Br English) - What are you having for your entrée?

fast food (noun): quickly prepared food like hamburgers and French fries - I'll
get some fast food on the way home.

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high-class (adjective): of high quality or high social status - We can't afford to
go to those high-class restaurants.

hors d’oeuvre (noun): a savoury food served as an appetizer before the main
course - Let's order some hors d'oeuvres first.

maitre d’ (also "head waiter") (noun): the person who supervises a

restaurant's waiting staff - Good maitre d’s earn a lot of money these days.

make a booking (also "book a table") (phrase): to contact a restaurant and

reserve a table for a meal - It's a popular restaurant so we'd better make a
booking.

menu (noun): the list of foods and drinks served in a restaurant, café, hotel,
etc. - Let's check the menu before deciding whether to eat here.

pasta (noun): Italian food made from flour and water, such as spaghetti,
ravioli, lasagne, etc. - You can order any of our pasta dishes as an appetizer if
you want.

pudding (noun): a soft sweet food eaten as a dessert - My grandma used to

make the best chocolate pudding ever!

restaurant (noun): a place with a kitchen and dining area where people pay to
eat meals - There are lots of Thai and Japanese restaurants around here.

savoury (adjective): (of food) salty or spicy rather than sweet - Most
appetizers are savoury dishes.

service charge (also "service") (noun): an extra amount added to a

restaurant bill that's meant to be given to staff for their service - They've
already added a 20% service charge.

set menu (noun): a multi-course meal sold for a fixed price - Are the set
menus good value?

side dish (also "side order") (noun): an extra dish or serving that's ordered
together with a main dish - I'll have the steak with a side dish of potato salad,
please.

sommelier (also "wine steward") (noun): a wine expert who advises guests
on ordering or pairing wines - Our sommelier also developed our wine list and
orders the wines.

special (noun): a dish that's available sometimes, but isn't on the regular
menu - Today's specials are grilled Hawaiian salmon and Australian tiger
prawns.
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tip¹ (noun): extra money given by a guest to a waiter or other staff - If the
service is great, leave a big tip.

tip² (verb): to give extra money to a waiter or other staff member for their
service - Waiters don't earn much, so I always tip them.

vegetarian (adjective): of dishes or diets that don't include animal products,

esp. meat - My doctor says I should switch to a vegetarian diet.

waiter (male) or waitress (female) (noun): a person who takes orders from
guests and brings their food - Have you ever been a waiter?

wine list (noun): a printed list of all the wines available in a restaurant - Would
you like to see the wine list, madam?

Food and Health Vocabulary

with word definitions, example sentences and quiz

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The food we eat can affect our health in many ways. If we eat food
that's contaminated with bacteria, we'll be sick and go to the toilet more
often. We can also get sick if we eat dangerous foods like poisonous
mushrooms or certain kinds of fish. These foods have short-term effects on
our health, but food can also have long-term effects on our health.

These long-term effects vary depending on where we live and how much we
eat. In a country with food shortages due to war or lack of rain, people might
suffer from malnutrition. People with malnutrition lose a lot of weight and
become very thin and weak. They can also develop long-term illnesses due to
the lack of essential nutrients like vitamin C and iron. People in rich,
developed countries can also develop food-related illnesses, but they're
usually related to eating too much, or overeating, rather than eating too little.

The term malnutrition is made from the combining form mal- (bad) + the
noun nutrition (food, nourishment, eating). It therefore means "bad eating",
and covers "wrong" eating, under-eating and over-eating. Other words formed
with mal- include: malpractice, malfunction, malodorous

Overweight and obesity

People who overeat can become overweight, especially if they don't

exercise. Being a little overweight isn't usually related to serious health
problems, but putting on more weight and becoming obese definitely is. This
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