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30 English Food Idioms

Food idioms are seasoned with everyday life wisdom. Learn these 30 delicious expressions to enrich your English vocabulary.

#1 Cake

Piece of cake

The exam was a piece of cake.

#2 Cake

Icing on the cake

Getting a bonus was the icing on the cake.

#3 Cake

Have your cake and eat it too

You can't have your cake and eat it too.

#4 Beans

Spill the beans

Who spilled the beans about the surprise?

#5 Beans

Full of beans

The kids are full of beans this morning.

#6 Cucumber

Cool as a cucumber

She stayed cool as a cucumber during the interview.

#7 Pickle

In a pickle

I'm in a pickle. I double-booked my schedule.

#8 Apple

Apple of my eye

My daughter is the apple of my eye.

#9 Apple

Bad apple

One bad apple can ruin the whole team.

#10 Apple/Orange

Compare apples and oranges

You can't compare those two. It's apples and oranges.

#11 Grapes

Sour grapes

He said he didn't want the job anyway. Sour grapes.

#12 Banana

Go bananas

The crowd went bananas when the singer appeared.

#13 Banana

Top banana

She's the top banana in the marketing department.

#14 Banana

Banana republic

Critics called it a banana republic.

#15 Bacon

Bring home the bacon

Both parents work to bring home the bacon.

#16 Bacon

Save one's bacon

That backup file saved my bacon.

#17 Bread

Bread and butter

Teaching English is his bread and butter.

#18 Bread

Best thing since sliced bread

She thinks her idea is the best thing since sliced bread.

#19 Butter

Butter someone up

He's trying to butter up the boss for a promotion.

#20 Egg

Egg on your face

He had egg on his face after the wrong prediction.

#21 Egg

Walk on eggshells

I walk on eggshells around my angry neighbor.

#22 Egg

Put all eggs in one basket

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Diversify.

#23 Potato

Hot potato

Immigration is a political hot potato.

#24 Potato

Couch potato

Stop being a couch potato and go for a walk.

#25 Potato

Small potatoes

That deal is small potatoes compared to this one.

#26 Milk

Cry over spilled milk

It's done. No use crying over spilled milk.

#27 Cream

Cream of the crop

Only the cream of the crop get hired here.

#28 Food

Food for thought

That documentary gave me a lot of food for thought.

#29 Nut

In a nutshell

In a nutshell, we need more time and budget.

#30 Nut

Tough nut to crack

This math problem is a tough nut to crack.

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