by Liz Walter
Food is one of life’s great pleasures, and it is useful to know how to describe its flavours. By the way, note that ‘flavour’ is the UK spelling; the US spelling is ‘flavor’.
The simplest way to express whether or not we are enjoying the flavour of something is to say it tastes … :
This soup tastes lovely/horrible.
The sauce tasted slightly sweet.
The strawberries were absolutely delicious.
They served an appetizing/a mouth-watering selection of cheeses.
Tasty is another positive word, and implies that the food has a strong, pleasant flavour:
Try one of these pies – they’re really tasty.
Use a mild cheese in this recipe.
I thought the risotto was a bit bland.
Fresh lime juice makes a delicious, tangy salad dressing.
The pungent flavour of garlic overpowered the stew.
Another way to say that a food has a very strong or sharp flavour is to say that it has bite:
I like mustard that’s got some bite.
The curry was too hot/spicy for me.
He added some piquant jalapeño peppers.
You can add some sugar if the fruit is too sour.
The coffee had a strange, bitter taste.
If you want to widen your choice of adjectives to describe flavours, it is useful to know that many food words can be made into adjectives by adding -y to the end. Some examples are cheesy, meaty, chocolatey, fruity, nutty, buttery, fishy, salty, peppery and garlicky:
They gave us a fruity drink.
The food was too salty for me.
Finally, we call the flavour in our mouths after we have eaten something the aftertaste:
The olives had a strange, metallic aftertaste.
Can you think of adjectives to describe your favourite food?