Improve your English: food idioms


The English language has a seemingly endless list of idioms, but today, I want to talk about those related to food.

My love for food grows everyday, I mean, who doesn’t love food? So, it’s perhaps no surprise that there are plenty of food idioms, here are a few:

First on the list is an idiom that I unfortunately face rather often: “your eyes are bigger than your stomach”. This one makes sense! Have you ever found yourself ordering too much at a restaurant and not being able to finish? I have, many times. The amount of food is far greater than what I can actually eat. Oops, doggie bag please.

Next, let me ask you, “have you ever gone bananas”? I bet you have. “To go bananas” means to go crazy or to become highly excited. So for example, if your husband forgets your anniversary, you might go bananas.

go crazy

Who doesn’t like apples and oranges? They are delicious but definitely not comparable. If someone ever tries to compare two things that are not at all related you can say “you can’t compare apples to oranges.” For example if someone tries to compare the taste of a real pizza from Italy to a pizza from a franchise, it just doesn’t match up.

Now that I’m talking about food, I’m hungry, so I will share one more idiom with you: “eat like a horse.” This happens to me when I am really hungry, like I am now. It means that you are starving hungry and want to eat a large amount of food. So with that said, I am off to eat like horse but I hope my eyes aren’t bigger than my stomach this time!

Article related: Impress your friends by ordering food in English at a restaurant