Taste of food

Taste of food with definitions and example sentences

Acrid

having strong, sharp and unpleasant smell or taste

• Acrid smoke filled the studio.
• It emits acrid fumes when heated.
• The acrid smell of burning food

Appetizing

(of food) that smells or looks very good and makes you want to eat

• An appetizing meal
• An appetizing aroma of bacon came from the kitchen.

Bitter

having an unpleasantly sharp taste; not sweet

• Bitter chocolate
• The medicine left a bitter aftertaste.

Bland

not having strong flavour

• A bland diet
• The salad was too bland.

Delicious

with a highly pleasant taste

• Lunch was delicious.
• The fish tasted delicious.

Disgusting

synonym. revolting

Extremely unpleasant to see, smell or taste

• You shouldn’t eat this fish. It smells disgusting.
• The soup looked absolutely disgusting.
• What a revolting smell!

Fresh

recently made, produced or picked, not preserved in a particular way

• The smell of fresh bread
• The vegetables are fresh from the farm.
• You’ll need fresh fish for this recipe.

Full-bodied

having a rich, pleasant taste

• a full-bodied beer/wine

Hot

antonym. mild

hot food has a strong burning taste because it contains pepper and spices

• hot sauce/mustard
• a mild curry

Insipid

having very little taste or flavour

• a bowl of insipid soup

Light

a light meal does not contain much fat and is easy to digest

• I’ll have a light supper.
• a light snack/dessert

Moreish

so pleasant that you want to eat more of it

• The cake is moreish, isn’t it?

Pungent

having an unpleasantly strong taste or smell

• The pungent smell of vinegar

Ripe

synonym. mature

ripe cheese or wine has fully developed and ready to be used

• This brie [soft French cheese] is ripe enough.

Savoury

having salty or spicy taste; not sweet

• Is this pudding sweet or savoury?

Sickly

a sickly smell or taste makes you feel that you want to vomit because it is extremely sweet

• The chocolate cake was a bit sickly.

Sour

synonym. tart

having a sharp, unpleasant taste like a lemon

• These plums taste sour.

Spicy

containing strong spices and causing a burning feeling in the mouth

• Chicken in a spicy sauce

Stale

stale food such as bread is dry and no longer good and fresh

• The cake has gone stale.

Stodgy

stodgy food is unpleasantly heavy and difficult to digest

• I love stodgy pizzas.

Sweet

having a taste like that of sugar or of honey; containing a lot of sugar

• The tea is a bit too sweet for me.

Tasteless

having almost no flavour

• This vegetable soup is tasteless.

Tasty

having a strong and nice flavour

• I thought the borscht [a Russian soup] was tasty.

Unpalatable

not pleasant to eat

• unpalatable diet foods

Weak

a weak drink has little taste because it does not contain the essential ingredients

• This coffee is weak.  

See also:

Ways of cooking

Vocabulary Cards