Talking About Food Like a Native
Describe flavours, confess your sweet tooth, and complain the soup needs salt — talk about food the way Spaniards actually do.
Key phrases
Esto está riquísimo, ¿cómo lo has hecho?
This is delicious — how did you make it?
¿A qué sabe? Sabe a ajo.
What does it taste like? It tastes of garlic.
Le falta sal, está un poco soso.
It needs salt, it's a bit bland.
Tengo un hambre de lobo.
I'm absolutely starving.
¿Picamos algo antes de cenar?
Shall we grab a bite before dinner?
Voy a comerme una fruta para matar el gusanillo.
I'll have some fruit to take the edge off my hunger.
Estoy lleno, no puedo más.
I'm full, I can't eat another bite.
Se me hace la boca agua solo de pensarlo.
My mouth waters just thinking about it.
La carne está en su punto, muy jugosa.
The meat is cooked just right, really juicy.
Este yogur está caducado, tíralo.
This yoghurt is past its use-by date — throw it out.
Mi sobrina es muy golosa, nunca perdona el postre.
My niece has a real sweet tooth — she never skips dessert.
Beyond “Delicioso”
Textbooks love delicioso, but around a Spanish table you’ll hear rico ten times more often. Use it with estar — está muy rico (it’s really tasty) — and crank it up with riquísimo when the cook is within earshot. The opposite is soso (bland), a word Spaniards also apply to dull people, so it carries a real sting.
To say what something tastes like, use saber a: esta salsa sabe a limón (this sauce tastes of lemon). Never saber de — that only means “to know about”.
Taste and Texture
- dulce — sweet
- salado — salty
- amargo — bitter
- ácido — sour, acidic
- picante — spicy (heat, not flavour)
- crujiente — crispy, crunchy
- tierno — tender
- jugoso — juicy
- seco — dry
- crudo — raw; quemado — burnt
If something looks so good your mouth waters, se te hace la boca agua. If it’s finger-licking good, it’s para chuparse los dedos.
Hunger, Appetite, and That Post-Lunch Slump
Tener hambre is the baseline, but natives escalate fast: tengo un hambre de lobo (I could eat a horse). Peckish rather than starving? Picar algo (grab a bite) or matar el gusanillo (kill the little worm — tide yourself over). Afterwards you’re lleno (full), and if you truly overdid it, te has puesto las botas — you’ve stuffed yourself royally.
Verbs for the Kitchen
- cocinar — to cook (in general)
- freír — to fry
- hervir — to boil
- asar — to roast, to grill
- hornear — to bake
- aliñar — to dress (a salad)
- probar — to taste, to try
Probar is the one you’ll use most: ¿quieres probar un poco? (want to try a bit?).
Cultural Tip: The Spanish Meal Clock
Spain runs on its own schedule. El desayuno (breakfast) is light. La comida — yes, the same word as “food” — is lunch, the main meal, eaten around 2–3 PM. La merienda is the afternoon snack that keeps everyone alive until la cena, dinner, which rarely starts before 9 PM. Each has its own verb: desayunar, comer, merendar, cenar. Ask for dinner at 6 PM and you’ll out yourself as a guiri instantly.
This lesson is just an appetiser — the full feast is in Social Life and Relationships, part of our Speak Spanish Like a Native book series.