This tastes good! Mmmmmm yummy! What a delicious dish! What a nice chicken! The peas are wonderful!

BLECH! What horrible ways to describe food (especially to children who are figuring out their own preferences as well as learning language.)

As an adult, it bothers me when someone tells me a food or a dish tastes good. Good to one person may be horrific to another person. I always feel obligated to agree that yes, this food does indeed taste “good” even if I do not particularly care for it. I hate to rain on someone’s taste parade. I much prefer it when someone says something like “this dish is pretty spicy which I love.” This language does not corner me into agreeing, dishonestly, that I like something or admitting that I do not like something then feeling bad about it.

How you describe food to children is something parents should strive to be more mindful of. “Good” and “bad” and similar phrasing do not tell children much about the food, only that they are supposed to like it or not like it. Good and bad stifle a child’s ability to form their own opinion about their taste preferences. It also does nothing to expand their vocabulary.

Why not experiment with the way you describe food to children and adult alike? I know it can be tricky to describe food even though there are loads of adjectives for describing food. Instead of the standard “good,” grab a handful of these words to describe the flavors and textures of food and work them into your praise (or critique) of the food on your plate.



Here are 120 suggestions to describe food to get your started.

Acidic Acrid Aged Bitter Bittersweet Bland Burnt Buttery Chalky Cheesy Chewy Chocolaty Citrusy Cool Creamy Crispy Crumbly Crunchy Crusty Doughy Dry Earthy Eggy Fatty Fermented Fiery Fishy Fizzy Flakey Flat Flavorful Fresh Fried Fruity Full-bodied Gamey (refers to the flavor or strong odor of game, like Elk or Deer. Garlicky Gelatinous Gingery Glazed Grainy Greasy Gooey Gritty Harsh Hearty Heavy Herbal Hot Icy Infused Juicy Lean Light Lemony Malty Mashed Meaty Mellow Mild Minty Moist Mushy Nutty Oily Oniony Overripe Pasty Peppery Pickled Plain Powdery Raw Refreshing Rich Ripe Roasted Robust Rubbery Runny Salty Sautéed Savory Seared Seasoned Sharp Silky Slimy Smokey Smothered Smooth Soggy Soupy Sour Spicy Spongy Stale Sticky Stale Stringy Strong Sugary or sweet Sweet-and-sour Syrupy Tangy Tart Tasteless Tender Toasted Tough Unflavored Unseasoned Velvety Vinegary Watery Whipped Woody Yeasty Zesty Zingy

If you really, really cannot get away from the “good/bad” phrasing, here are 30 alternative ways to say something similar. At least you are exposing your child to a larger repertoire of adjectives.

Amazing Appealing Appetizing Delectable Delicious Delightful Divine Enjoyable Enticing Excellent Exquisite Extraordinary Fantastic Finger Licking Heavenly Lip Smacking Luscious Marvelous Mouthwatering Palatable Pleasant Pleasing Satisfying Scrumptious Superb Tantalizing Tasty Terrific Wonderful Yummy

Are you looking for some recipe inspiration? Check out all the offerings I have on my recipe page! Also be sure to take a look at the cookbooks I have authored and contributed to. I hope you love them.