Lesson 33 – Taste

Let’s begin this lesson by looking at the commonly confused words taste and flavor.

The word taste is often used as a verb, so you can say that a food tastes good or tastes bad. If you want to be a little more extreme in your description, you can say that a food tastes divine/heavenly (for an extremely good taste) or tastes gross/disgusting (for an extremely bad taste).

Another expression is “it tastes funny” – that means it tastes unusual, with a negative connotation. For example, “This milk tastes funny – it might be past its expiration date.” It’s very common to say that something tastes like something else: “I had frog’s legs once – they tasted like chicken.”

The word flavor is typically used as a noun. We can say something has a nutty, fruity, cheesy, minty, or salty flavor to compare the flavor to another food (nuts, fruit, cheese, etc.) You can also use the word taste as a noun – for example: “This wine has a fruity taste / fruity flavor.”

Flavors or tastes can also be described by category, or by the sensation they cause in your mouth – a bitter flavor, a sour taste, a sweet taste. When you enjoy the taste of something, and want to keep it in your mouth for a long time, we say you savor the taste.

If a food has a LOT of flavor, then it can be described as strong or rich – the strong flavor of garlic, the rich flavor of chocolate. When the level of flavor is low, it is a mild flavor or a subtle flavor. Both of these words have a positive connotation – “This cheese has a nice, mild flavor” or, “The subtle flavor of ginger adds a nice touch to this marinade.”

The expression bland taste or bland flavor is a way to describe food with little flavor, with a negative connotation. For example – “These crackers have such a bland flavor that it feel like I’m snacking on cardboard.”

There are some foods that people usually don’t enjoy the first time they try them… but with time, people learn to like the flavor. A food like this can be described as an acquired taste.

There’s no quiz today – but to expand your vocabulary even more, check out this link for 101+ words for describing food (with example sentences): http://www.squidoo.com/food-vocabulary