Examples of Food Idioms
An idiom is a group of words that, in common usage, has a different meaning than the literal meaning of the individual words. Food idioms are idioms that include words about food or eating.
Food Idioms: Examples and Explanations
- Apple of his eye – A favorite
- As busy as popcorn on a skillet – Very active
- As easy as apple pie – Something simple
- As flat as a pancake – Very flat
- As hungry as a bear – Very hungry
- As nutty as a fruitcake – Crazy
- As slow as molasses in January – Very slow
- As sour as vinegar – Disagreeable
- As sweet as honey – Very sweet
- As thick as pea soup – Very thick
- As warm as toast – Very warm
- Bad apple – Bad person
- Bad egg – Bad person
- Bear fruit – Get results
- Big cheese – Important person
- Big enchilada – Important thing or person
- Bite off more than you can chew – Try to do more than you can handle
- Bite the hand that feeds you – Act badly to someone who helps you
- Bitter pill to swallow – Hard to take
- Bottom of the food chain – Having the least power or influence
- Bread and butter – Basic needs
- Bring home the bacon – Earn a living
- Butter up – Flatter someone to get something
- Buy a lemon – Buy something worthless
- Chew the fat – Talk
- Coffee break – A break from work to eat or drink
- Compare apples and oranges – Compare things that are very different
- Cook his goose – Damage or affect negatively
- Cook up a storm – Cook a large quantity
- Cool as a cucumber – Doesn’t get easily upset
- Couch potato – Someone who watches a lot of TV
- Cream of the crop – The best
- Cream puff – Someone easy to overwhelm or beat out
- Cut the mustard – Do what is necessary
- Cry over spilt milk – Worry about something in the past
- Drop like a hot potato – To immediately stop
- Eat crow – Admit a mistake
- Eat dirt – Be humble
- Eat high on the hog – Eat fine food
- Eat humble pie – To apologize
- Eat like a bird – Eat a small amount
- Eat like a horse – Eat a lot
- Eat one’s heart out – To be jealous
- Eat out – Dine in a restaurant
- Eat out of her hands – Do what she wants
- Eat us out of house and home – Eat a lot
- Eat your words – Take back words
- Egg on – Urge someone
- Either feast or famine – Either too much or not enough
- Everything from soup to nuts – A wide variety of items
- Fat is in the fire – Big problem
- Fine kettle of fish – A mess
- Finger in the pie – Participating
- Food for thought – Something to think about
- Forbidden fruit – Something banned
- For peanuts – Inexpensive
- Full of beans – Feel energetic
- Go bananas – Excited or crazy
- Goose is cooked – Finished or in trouble
- Gravy train – Well-paying job
- Greatest thing since sliced bread – Something that is excellent
- Half a loaf is better than none – Something is better than nothing
- Half-baked – Not thought through
- Hand to someone on a silver platter – Cater to someone
- Hard nut to crack – Difficult person
- Have a lot on one’s plate – Very busy
- Have a sweet tooth – Like sweet foods
- Have bigger fish to fry – Have more important things to do
- Have egg on your face – Be embarrassed
- Have one’s cake and eat it too – Having something both ways
- In a nutshell – In summary
- In a pickle – In trouble
- Life is a bowl of cherries – Life is good
- Like taking candy from a baby – Easy to do
- Like two peas in a pod – Very similar
- Low hanging fruit – Easy to get or do
- Meat and potatoes – Basics, simple food
- Melt in one’s mouth – Delicious
- Not for all the tea in China – Not for any price
- Not my cup of tea – Not to my liking
- Not know beans about – Unfamiliar or ignorant
- Not worth a hill of beans – Not valuable
- Nutty as a fruitcake – Crazy
- Packed in like sardines – Crowded
- Piece of cake – Easy
- Pie in the sky – A dream
- Rotten to the core – Very bad
- Salt of the Earth – Ordinary people
- Sell like hotcakes – Sell a lot
- Slice of the pie – A share of something
- Small potatoes – Unimportant
- Spill the beans – Tell a secret
- Stick to your ribs – Last a long time
- Sugarcoat – Gloss over bad information
- Take with a grain of salt – Don’t take something seriously
- That’s the way the cookie crumbles – Things happen
- There is no such thing as a free lunch – Can’t get something for nothing
- Top banana – Leader
- Variety is the spice of life – Differences give life interest
- Walk on eggshells – Be cautious
- Whole enchilada – Entire thing
- Worm food – Dead and buried
- Worth your salt – Worthwhile
To see more idioms, check out these idiom examples.
