Food - Idioms

Hello! As you may already know, there are a lot of idioms related to food. I wrote down a few of them I found interesting for you. Enjoy!

‘’Apple of someone’s eye’’ = Someone (or something) that a person likes a lot or likes more than others. Ex.: Ashley is the apple of her grandfather’s eye.

‘’As cool as a cucumber’’ = To be very relaxed, to remain calm under pressure. Ex.: Although she was running the last lap in first position, she was as cool as cucumber.

‘’(A) bad egg’’ or ‘’bad apple’’ or ‘’rotten apple’’ = These idioms have a similar meaning. They refer to a bad person, someone who should be avoided or who is not a good example. An opposite idiom will be ‘’a good egg’’.

‘’(A) big cheese’’ = Often used about business, it refers to an important or powerful person, a leader who has a lot of influence (in a company, a field). Ex.: Sharon became a big cheese in the company in a little bit of time. 

‘’The bread and butter’’ = It refers to the things we consider as essential, thereby, the most relevant and necessary. Moreover, it’s about the income or job of someone that is used to buy the basic needs of life like food, shelter or clothing. Ex.: I’m sorry, we don’t have so much time to pay attention to details; just explain us the bread and butter of your report.

‘’Bring home the bacon’’ = to earn the income, especially the one with which the family is living. Ex.: Now if you don’t have to work, it’s only because I’m working hard to bring home the bacon.

‘’(Not my) Cup of tea’’ = Something you enjoy or do well. However, most of the time, this idiom is used negatively to say that someone doesn’t enjoy or isn’t really good at something. Ex.: I’m not watching bobsleigh competitions on TV, it’s not my cup of tea. 

‘’Full of beans’’ = To have lots of energy. My sister is full of bean tonight and she doesn’t want to stop singing.  

‘’One smart cookie’’ = This idiom is used to talk about someone who is very intelligent. Ex.: Your little sister is really one smart cookie, she can resolve exercises of the upper grade level. 

‘’A piece of cake’’ = when something is very easy and pleasant to do, you can use one of these idioms to talk about it. Ex.: Anyone can do it, that’s a piece of cake/ as easy as pie (always in the singular). ‘’As easy as pie’’, which has the same meaning, is a little bit dated. 

‘’Pull all of one’s eggs in one basket’’ = To risk everything on a thing or a person. Ex.: You should not invest all you have in this merger, I mean, it would be like putting all your eggs in one basket.

‘’Sell like hotcakes’’ = Something sells quickly and rapidly, many people buy it. Ex.: The new book of this saga is selling like hotcakes.

‘’Take something with a pinch (or a grain) of salt’’ = It means to don’t consider something 100% accurate, don’t think that someone is necessarily telling the truth. Ex.: If I was you, I’ll take her advice with a pinch of salt.

‘’To buy a lemon’’ = It means to buy something useless or defective. 

‘’To cheese (someone) off or to cheese off (someone)’’ = To annoy or irritate (or anger) someone. Ex.: My brother cheesed our mother off when he changed the channel without telling her.

‘’Compare apples and oranges’’ = To compare two different things especially when they should not be compared. 

‘’Drop someone (or something) like a hot potato’’ = It means to suddenly stop being involved with someone. This happens usually because you are having problems and don’t like the concerned person. Ex.: The advertisers dropped the basketball star like a hot potato when he became involved in a scandal.

‘’Eat someone for breakfast’’ = You can use this idiom when you defeat someone easily. Ex.: The young French football team was able to eat the British one for breakfast. 

‘’Have bigger fish to fry’’ = It means that you have more important things to do. Ex.: I couldn’t stay long, with the new business plan I have bigger fish to fry.

‘’Out of the frying pan and into the fire’’ = Used with the verbs: to get, go or jump. You can say it when you go from a bad or difficult situation to another one which is even worse.

‘’Teach one’s grandmother to suck eggs’’ = to give advice to or try to tell someone who is an export – or at least – who has more knowledge than yourself about how to do something. Ex.: Daniel tried to teach Celine about cooking while she’s a renowned cookbook author. It was like teaching his grandmother to suck eggs.

‘’That’s the way the cookie crumbles’’ = It refers to all the things that happen in life. Sometimes bad things happen but you can do nothing to prevent them actually. So there’s no reason to become really upset about them. Ex.: - I just can’t understand why the company made John redundant. - Well, you know, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. There are also 2 other idioms with the same meaning: that’s the way it goes or that’s the way the ball bounces (informal).

‘’To not give a fig for something or someone’’ = It means to not caring about something or someone. Ex.: She didn’t give a fig for old clothes. 

‘’What's good/sauce for the goose is good/sauce for the gander’’ = It simply suggests that what is good for someone should be good for another person as well.

If you want to learn more idioms, you will find that many of them include one of these words: ‘’egg’’, ‘’apple’’, ‘’cheese’’, ‘’cake’’ or even the verb ‘’eat’’. Hope this topic was helpful!