COLLOCATIONS

IN FOOD

A
-

a piece of cake
a lemon
apple of ones eye
a butterfingers
a tough cookie
a bad egg
a bun in the oven
a hot patato
apple-pie-order
about as useful as a chocolate teapot
alike as two peas
all the tea in China
all your eggs in one basket
as cool as a cucumber
as much use as a chocolate fire-guard
as much as a chocolate teapot
a couch patato
a red herring
an apple a day keeps the doctor away
asquire a taste for
as black as a skillet
as busy as popcorn on a skillet
as easy as apple pie
as easy as duck soup
as flat as a pancake
as hungry as a bear

as nutty as a fruitcake
as red as a cherry
as slow as molasses in January
as sour as vinegar
as thick as pea soup
as worm as toast
at one sitting
as sweet as honey/sugar
addicted to chocolate
a deal of slice
a slice of banana bread
a piece of meat
another bite at the cherry
as keen as mustard
a pretty or fine kettle of fish
acquire a taste for something
at one sitting

B
-back to the salt mines
-big cheese
-bread and butter
-bring home the bacon
-butter up
-beef-up
-brown rice
-be full of beans
-brown as berry
-butter wouldnt melt in your mouth
-brownie points
-being the salt of the earth
-be as nice as pie
-beef about something
-beef something up
-be your bread and butter
-be like chalk and cheese
-be like peas in a pod
-banana republic
-banana skin
-bear fruit
-best thing since slide bread

-big apple
-breadwinner
-bun in the oven
-baloney
-bad/rotten apple
-best bob and tucker
-best enchilada
-binge and purge
-bite off more than one can chew
-bite the hand that feeds one
-bitter pill to swallow
-born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
-Bottoms up!
-bread and water
-bring(something) to a crisp
-beefcake

C
-cream someone
-carrot and stick
-chew the fat
-coffee break
-cream of the crop
-cry over spilt milk
-cup of tea
-cut the mustard
-cream of something
-carrot top
-cheesy
-cup of joe
-(not my)cup of tea
-cheesecake
-cakes not worth the candle
-cant do it for toffee
-cheap as chips
-cherry pick
-chew the cud
-cook up a storm
-crack a nut with a sledgehammer
-cream rises to the top
-creme de la creme

-curates egg
-curry favour
-cheese(someone) of
-chesed off
-chips and dip
-clear the table
-come and get the dinner
-compare apples and oranges
-cook (someone's) goose
-cook (something) to perfection
-cook (something) up
-cream puff
-(not one's) cup of tea
-cooking habits
-convenience food
-canned fish
-cut down on salty snacks
-

D
-different kettle of fish
-dine on ashes
-dine out
-done to a T/turn
-down the hatch
-drop (someone/something) like a hot potato
-duck soup
-digest food
-deal of salt
-do the cooking
-dride beans
-

E
-

eat crow
eat dirt
eat humble pie
eat one`s cake and have it too
eat one`s words
egg on
egg someone on
eat someone out of house and home
eat into your savings
eating for two
eating your heart out!
easy as pie
easy peasy
eat someone alive
egg on your face
Eye Candy
eat and run
eat high on/off the hog
eat like a bird
eat like a horse
eat out
eat out of (someone's) hands

eat (someone) for breakfast

eat (something) up
either feast or famine
everything from soup to nuts
eyes are bigger than one's stomach

F
-fishy
- finger in the pie
- full of beans
- freeze one's buns off
-fall of the turnip truck
-fine words butter no parsnips
-flat as a pancake
-food for thought
-forbidden fruit
-from soup to nuts
- fat is in the fire
- feed one's face
- fine kettle of fish
- for peanuts
- fruits of one's labor
-fresh fruit
-frozen food
-fruit cakes
-

G
- gravy train
- got it for peanuts
-going bananas
-go nuts
-go like hot cakes
-go pear-shaped
-glutton for punishement
-go fry an egg
-go pear-shaped
-good egg
-grain of salt
- get oneself into a stew over (someone or something)
- go/turn beet-red
- go on a binge
- (one's) goose is cooked
- grab a bite to eat
- grist for the mill
-giving up food
-go for days without food
-growing food
-grilled bacon
-

H
- half-baked
- hard nut to crack
- hit the sauce
- hot potato
-half-baked idea
-have your cake and eat it
-have all your eggs in one basket
- (have something) handed to someone on a silver
platter
-have a bun in the oven
-have your fingers in every pie
-have someone eat out of your hand
-how do you like them apples
- half a loaf is better than none
- have a lot on one's plate
- have a pick-me-up
- have a sweet tooth
- have a taste for (something)
- have bigger fish to fry
- here's mud in your eye!
-have a cofee
-have lunch
-half teaspon of cream
-heating the oil

I
- in a nutshell
- in the soup
-icing on the cake
- in a pickle
-in apple-pie-order
-it smeels fishy
-I should cocoa
-its no use crying over the spilt milk
-in a stew about/over (someone or something)
- in one's salad days
-increasing supplies of food
-

K
-keen as mustard
-know which side ones bread is butter on
-know your onions
- kill the fatted calf
-

L
- Like chalk and cheese
- Like two peas in a pod
- Laugh to see a pudding crawl
- Life is just a bowl of cherries
- Like taking candy from a baby
- Lose your lunch
- Low-hanging fruit
- lay an egg
- live high off/on the hog
- live off the fat of the land
-live on chocolate
-loaf-bread
-low-sugar foods
-lower-fat milk
-

M
- make one`s mouth water
-make a meal
-meat and drink
-meat and potatoes
-mutton dressed as lamb
- make mincemeat/hamburger out of (someone or
something)
- make (someone) eat crow
- meal ticket
- melt in one's mouth
- milk of human kindness
- milk (someone) for (something)
-milk went sour
-mixing the flour
-making sweets
-manufactured food
-melting margarine
-make an omelette without breaking eggs

N
- nutty as a fruitcake
- nuts
-nuts about something,someone
-not your cup of tea
-nest egg
-not know beans about
- neither fish nor fowl
- not for all the tea in China
- not know beans about (someone or something)
- not worth a hill of beans
-non-starchy vegetables
-

O
- out of the frying pan and into the fire
- out to lunch
- over-egg the pudding
- olive branch
- one smart cookie
-one bad apple
-one mans meat is another mans poison
-on a diet
-one slice of jam
-one packet crisps
-one pound mozzarella
-on the breadline

P
-polish the apple
- play gooseberry
- peach fuzz
- put all of ones eggs in one basket
-packed like sardines
-pie in the sky
-pieces of the same cake
-pinch of salt
-polishing peanuts
-proof of the pudding is in the eating
-pull the fat from the fire
-put some mustard on it!
-peanuts
-pretty or fine kettle of fish
- put on the feed bag
- put weight on
-preserving food
-planing meals
-pieces of meat
-poached eggs
-

Q
-quarrel with bread and butter
-quarter teaspon of bicarbonate of soda

R
-roll out the barrel
-real plum
-recipe for disaster
-rest is gravy
-rice missionary
- rotten to the core
- rub salt in (someone's) wound
-ready food
-raw meat

S
- souped up
- salt away
- sell like hotcakes
- spill the beans
- stew in one`s own juice
-salt of the earth
-sour-faced
-sold like hotcakes
-sour grapes
- spice things up
-small fry/small beer
-square meal
-salt away
-stew in ones own juice
-salad days
-salt in a wound
-save someones bacon
-sell your birthright for a mess of pottage
-separate the wheat from the chaff
-sharp cookie
- salt (something) away
- save (someone's) bacon
- sink one's teeth into (something)

- slice of the cake/pie

- small potatoes
-so clean you can eat off the floor
-spoon-feed (someone)
-stick to one's ribs
-

T
-to go bananas
- take (something) with a grain of salt
- that takes the biscuit!
- that's the way the cookie crumbles!
-to have egg on your face
-the spice of life
-to go pear-shaped
-to be cheesed off
-take the biscuit
-teach your grandmother to suck eggs
-that is the way the cookie crumbles
-theres no such thing as free lunch
-thick as mince
-too many cooks spoil the broth
-tough cookie
-tough nut to crack
-two peas in a pod
-take the cake
-teething problems
- top banana
- toss a salad
- tub of lard
- tuck into (something)
-

U
- upset the applecart
- use your noodle
-upper crust
-

W
- worth one`s salt
- walk on eggshells
- what does that have to do with the price of tea in
China?
- white bread
- worth your salt
- what's good/sauce for the goose is good/sauce for
the gander
- whet (someone's) appetite
- whole enchilada
- wine and dine (someone)

Y
- you can't make an omelette without breaking the
eggs
-you cant have cake and the topping too
-you cant have your cake and eat it
-youre toast

Food.ed.Sphere,editor Dr Paulette McManus,project

Co-ordinator Elisabeth French
English-Zone.com-Food Idioms
English at home-Food idioms
To go pear-shaped