Examples of Food Idioms

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

OTHER COLLECTION

• 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

MORE FOOD IDIOMS

• 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