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45 Synonyms for “Food”

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Food means “a substance we eat for nutritional and/or gustatory purposes,” but that word is bland. For a tastier experience, use one of its synonyms listed below to convey the connotation you desire your readers to digest:

1. Aliment: food as nourishment
2. Bite: a bite’s worth of food, but also a small amount of food, such as a snack, or a casual reference to a larger amount
3. Board: the food laid out on a table, from the association of board with table; also denotes the part of the housing arrangement known as room and board, where room refers to lodging and board to meals
4. Bread: a synecdochic reference to food (synecdoche is a rhetorical device in which a part stands for a whole, as in “All hands on deck” for “All sailors on deck”)
5. Chow: food (slang); also a verb, as in “Chow down”
6. Comestible: food (formal or mock-formal); also a synonym for the adjective edible
7. Comfort food: food that satisfies nostalgic yearnings for traditionally prepared meals
8. Cooking: food, especially as specifically prepared, as in “I like her cooking”
9. Cuisine: food prepared in a specific fashion, as according to cultural tradition, or the manner or style of cooking
10. Diet: the particular combination of food for a person, group, or society, or a combination of food specified for or by a person for health reasons and/or weight loss; also a verb referring to the process of improving or maintaining health and/or losing weight
11. Dish: a preparation of food served in a single container as part of a meal; also, a container or piece of dinnerware for cooking, serving, or eating food, or an attractive person, or a verb meaning “to gossip”
12. Eatable: food; also a synonym for edible
13. Eats: food, especially convenient or simple food (slang)
14. Entrée: the main course of a meal
15. Fare: food, in the sense of what is available or what is traditionally eaten
16. Fast food: food prepared rapidly, especially in restaurants that serve food quickly and at a high volume; also, used as an adjective in this sense or in that of something produced with little regard for quality
17. Feed: food for livestock; also used to describe an informal fund-raising event such as a crab feed in which a featured food is served with other dishes
18. Fodder: see feed; also refers to material in general that is readily available for use or consumption (“cannon fodder”)
19. Foodstuff: something used as food, especially as a raw ingredient in a food product
20. Goodies: edible treats
21. Groceries: food purchased at a store
22. Grub: see eats
23. Handout: food given free for charitable purposes
24. Home cooking: food prepared at home in a traditional manner, with the nostalgic connotation of comfort and familiarity
25. Larder: a supply of food, from the synonym for pantry
26. Meal: the food served at a particular sitting
27. Meat: see bread, or food consisting of the flesh of an animal other than a fish
28. Menu: the food served during a meal, or a list of food to be served; also, any list of offerings or choices
29. Mess: a meal served to a group of people who routinely eat together, as a ship’s crew; also, that group of people or the location where they eat, or a certain amount of food
30. Nourishment: food in the sense of something that satisfies the need to eat; also, the act or state of nourishing or being nourished, or something other than food that provides a corollary benefit
31. Nutriment: something that satisfies the need for nutrition
32. Pabulum: food prepared in a semiliquid state for ease of eating and/or digestion; also, communication of minimal value or sophistication thought to be acceptable to lowest-common-denominator consumers, or, rarely, communication thought to be intellectually stimulating
33. Provender: see feed, or food in general
34. Provisions: a supply of food made available for specific use, as by an expedition
35. Ration: a supply of food made available for a specific person, as a member of a military unit, or, in plural form, such food in general; also, a supply of another commodity as dictated by availability
36. Refreshment: a snack or small meal intended to sustain until the next meal
37. Slop: low-quality food, or leftovers given to livestock; also, garbage, excrement, or slush, or effusive communication
38. Store: see larder
39. Subsistence: the minimum amount of food necessary for survival; also, the equivalent in nonedible commodities
40. Sustenance: see aliment
41. Table: see meal and larder
42. Take-out: food obtained from a restaurant to be eaten elsewhere
43. Viand: see dish, or a piece or item of food, especially a particularly delicious one, and, in plural form, see provisions
44. Victuals: food, or see provisions; as victual, a verb synonymous with provision in the sense of supplying with provisions
45. Vittles: food (a dialectical spelling of victuals)

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2 thoughts on “45 Synonyms for “Food””

  1. “Comfort food: food that satisfies nostalgic yearnings for traditionally prepared meals”

    I know many people who would call chocolate ‘comfort food’ (I am one) – and not necessarily chocolate that is hand-made by Bavarians in dirndls or lederhosen, but as it comes in wrapped bars from the factory.

    I also know many who would find Mac’n’Cheese from a cellophane packet to be ‘comfort food,’ not to mention meat pies, or fish’n’chips or pizza from the local (non-chain/franchise) takeaway.

    On the other hand, I love my Moroccan partner’s ‘lamb tajeen’ – her tradition, not mine … she regards its preparation as a pain, as did her mother before her.

    I also love home-made stews and soups, but this adds another dimension to the definition for me – these foods are mainly consumed in winter, so a ‘comfort food’ is also one that makes me feel pleasurably sated and “warms the cockles of my heart” (my mum’s phrase) in cooler weather.

    So I would simply write, “”Comfort food: food that is both physically and emotionally satisfying.”

    Any thoughts?

  2. My favorite, which may not be proper for serious writing, but it always makes me chuckle when I see it, “noms”, as in nom nom nom. I guess that is more a reference to eating than the actual food, but I love it.

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