95+ Words To Describe Food When Yummy Just Isn't Strong Enough

Food nourishes us, delights us, and generally fuels our daily lives. In the era of social media, a gorgeously plated dish also makes for great content. However, coming up with something fun and exciting to say about that stunning 100 percent organic beet salad you just photographed for Instagram isn’t always easy. Sure, you could say it was yummy (accurate), but wouldn’t it be nice to break out some more interesting words to describe food the next time you upload a photo of your dinner to the ‘gram?

Expanding your vocabulary should be a life-long process. Words can be downright magical, which makes it all the more fun to discover new ones. Whether you’re helping a teen prep for their SAT, writing a short story, or just looking for new ways to spice up your social media captions, getting a crash course in descriptive words for food is a great place to start. Plus, learning the difference between apéritifs and a bouffage is sure to impress your foodie friends.

Fair warning: You might want to grab a snack before diving into this list of delectable food words, lest you get the borborygmus (stomach grumbles!). From unusual terms you may encounter on a menu at that fancy gastropub down the block to adjectives that will invoke just how happy those truffle fries really made you feel, we’ve got you covered. Ready to expand your food vocabulary and spice up your next food-centric post? Read on for a list of interesting, unusual, and downright delightful words you can use to describe the next meal you eat that’s so good it leaves you speechless.

Words to Describe Food Taste, Smell, or Texture

1. Acidic — sour or sharp in taste
2. Aromatic — having a distinctive smell
3. Astringent — sharp in flavor
4. Bitter — a sharp, sometimes unpleasant flavor
5. Bittersweet — a pleasing mix of bitterness and sweetness
6. Bland — lacking in flavor
7. Brackish — a taste of salty water
8. Buttery — having the taste of butter
9. Creamy — smooth, rich texture, usually used to describe something that includes dairy
10. Crumbly — the texture of food that crumbles
11. Delicate — a light taste or texture
12. Earthy — a flavor that reminds someone of fresh soil, usually applied to root vegetables and wine
13. Fiery — a dish that packs a spicy punch
14. Flaky — usually used to describe a pastry with many layers
15. Gamy — having the wild taste of game meat
16. Glazed — a sticky, flavorful coating
17. Honeyed — reminiscent of honey
18. Luscious — having a pleasant, rich taste
19. Mealy — containing meal; soft, dry, and friable
20. Mellow — a gentle, smooth flavor
21. Nectarous — like nectar, the drink of the gods
22. Pickled — a process that gives food a briny taste
23. Pungent — unpleasantly strong in taste or smell
24. Plummy — having the taste, smell, or flavor of a plum
25. Saccharine — overly sweet
26. Savory — food that’s salty or spicy, not sweet
27. Silky — a smooth taste
28. Tang — food with a tart taste
29. Treacly — excessively sweet
30. Zesty — having an invigorating flavor

Words Related to Food and Eating

1. Amuse-Bouche — a small sample platter, literally translates to “amuse the mouth”
2. Apéritifs — a savory dish, usually an appetizer
3. Balthazar — an oversized wine bottle that holds about 16 times a normal bottle’s volume
4. Banquet — a veritable feast
5. Caramelized — food that is cooked slowly until it browns and becomes sweet in taste
6. Compote — a chilled sauce
7. Confection — a dish made with sweet ingredients
8. Demerara — partially refined light brown cane sugar originally from Guyana
9. Gremolata — a seasoning containing grated lemon zest, minced garlic, and minced parsley
10. Grub — an informal word for food
11. Gourmet — high-quality food
12. Flavorsome — full of flavor
13. Full-bodied — a rich flavor
14. Hearty — robust, filling
15. Marinated — food that has been soaked in a flavorful liquid
16. Mirepoix — a mix of carrots, celery, onion, and herbs that seasons soups
17. Roux — a mix of butter and flour that turns into a paste-like consistency and is generally the start of a sauce recipe
18. Quidanny — a jelly or syrup made from fruit
19. Tartare — finely chopped raw fish or meat
20. Victuals — food or provisions

Beautiful and Descriptive Food Words

1. Ambrosial — fragrant, savory, sweet; “fit for the gods”
2. Bonne Bouche — a delicious mouthful
3. Borborygmus — intestinal rumblings
4. Bouffage — a grand banquet
5. Chiffonade — to cut into thin strips
6. Delectable — delicious
7. Divine — food that’s so good it’s heavenly
8. Dulcet — a British slang term for food
9. Forenoons — a light snack or brunch eaten between breakfast and lunch
10. Groak — to stare at people who are eating in the hope that they will offer to share their food
11. Gustatory — relating to taste
12. Gut-gullie — an old Scots dialect verb used to describe operating or eating greedily
13. Haute Cuisine — fine dining
14. Kickshaw — a fancy but insubstantial dish
15. Linnard — the last member of the group to finish their meal
16. Mouthwatering — food so good it makes you salivate
17. Omakase — a Japanese term that translates to “I’ll leave it up to you,” meaning you’re turning your food choice over to the chef
18. Orts — the small amount of food left at the end of a meal
19. Piquant — a flavor that is stimulating to the palette
20. Postprandial — occurring after a meal
21. Rassasy — a 15th-century word meaning to satiate someone’s hunger with food
22. Saporific — something that has the power to give you the sensation of taste
23. Sapid — having a strong, but pleasant taste
24. Scrumptious — delicious, yummy
25. Sobremesa — a Spanish term for when the food is finished but the conversation is still flowing
26. Speustic — a 17th-century word describing any meal or plate thrown together in haste
27. Tarnisher — an old Scots and Irish dialect word for a huge meal
28. Toothsome — tempting in taste
29. Uitbuiken — a Dutch term that translates to “outbellying”; when you relax, satiated, between courses or after a meal
30. Unctuous — oily

Trendy Food Words

1. Aftertaste — a taste, typically an unpleasant one, remaining in the mouth after eating or drinking something
2. Artisanal — produced in limited quantities by an artisan through the use of traditional methods
3. Nosh — a British slang term for food
4. Piehole — a slang term for mouth
5. Scrummy — an informal way of saying scrumptious
6. Sec — a term borrowed from the wine world, used to describe something dry or un-sweet
7. Soused — food kept in vinegar or alcohol for a long time
8. Succulent — juicy, tender food
9. Umami — a savory taste
10. Yule-hole — the hole on your belt buckle you have to move to after eating an enormous meal (usually around the holidays)

Food Adjectives That Start With S

1. Saporous — a flavor that has an exciting or agreeable taste
2. Satin — smooth
3. Sauteed — food that is cooked quickly with high heat
4. Savorless — lacking taste or bland
5. Seared — food that is cooked at a high temperature until a brown crust is formed
6. Sharp — tart or acidic taste
7. Simmered — food that is cooked slowly at low temperature
8. Sizzling — food that makes a hissing sound while it’s cooking