Food & Drink
Food
Food is very important in Spain as it forms part of the Spanish lifestyle.
El desayuno (breakfast) is always eaten but is usually small to keep room for the main meal of the day – lunch! El almuerzo is the official word for lunch, but in Spain, you usually hear people talking about la comida and this is also used in restaurants. La comida means 'food' as well as 'lunch'.
Lunch is eaten from 1pm - 3pm and sometimes followed by una siesta – a nap. Shops, businesses and schools often have a 2-3 hour break in the middle of the day for this. La cena (dinner) is eaten later than in the UK – often from 8pm – 10pm but sometimes as late as midnight!
el desayuno - breakfast
el almuerzo - lunch (official)
la comida - lunch (spoken Spanish) / food
una siesta - a nap
la cena - dinner
Uh oh! Tu hermano tiene hambre – your brother's hungry!
And now he mentions it, so are you!
What might you eat?
¡Tengo hambre! - I’m hungry!
Mi hermano tiene hambre. - My brother is hungry.
Cuando tengo hambre, como ... - When I’m hungry, I eat ...
el pescado - fish
(Don’t get confused with un pez – that’s the word for a fish to look at, not to eat!)
un pescado - a fish (to eat)
un pez - a fish (to look at / a pet)
la carne - meat
una pizza - a pizza
las patatas fritas - chips
el chocolate - chocolate
los caramelos - sweets
un pastel - a cake
un bocadillo - a filled baguette
un helado - an ice cream
The flavour / filling comes AFTER the thing it’s filling/flavouring:
un bocadillo de queso - a cheese baguette
un bocadillo de jamón - a ham baguette
(That's ham NOT jam – remember the j sound?)
un helado de chocolate - a chocolate ice cream
un helado de fresa - a strawberry ice cream
And un helado de vainilla? A vanilla ice cream of course!
un helado de vainilla - a vanilla ice cream
¡Que aproveche! - Enjoy your food!
You might want to say you like or don't like a certain type of food. To do that you use the phrase me gusta or no me gusta.
Me gusta el chocolate. - I like chocolate.
No me gusta el pescado. - I don’t like fish.
Me gusta literally means 'it is pleasing to me'. That means that if the thing that I like or don't like is plural, the phrase becomes me gustan or no me gustan ('they are pleasing to me').
Me gustan los caramelos. - I like sweets.
No me gustan las patatas fritas. - I don’t like chips.
You use mucho (a lot) and un poco (a bit) to add more information.
mucho - a lot
un poco - a bit
Me gusta mucho el yogur. - I like yoghurt a lot.
Me gusta un poco la pizza. - I like pizza a bit.
