Food idioms
20 idioms last verified 2026-07-18
Idioms about cake, bread, salt, and the kitchen — many of them, as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) notes, are proverbial in English and often much older than they sound.
About this category
Idioms about cake, bread, salt, and the kitchen — many of them, as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) notes, are proverbial in English and often much older than they sound. Each entry below gives the plain meaning, an origin note honestly attributed to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) or marked as uncertain, and a usage example.
Answers in this topic
- What does ‘a fine kettle of fish’ mean?
- What does ‘butter someone up’ mean?
- What does ‘in a pickle’ mean?
- What does ‘a hot potato’ mean?
- What does ‘chew the fat’ mean?
- What does ‘the proof of the pudding is in the eating’ mean?
- What does ‘a smart cookie’ mean?
- What does ‘full of beans’ mean?
- What does ‘sour grapes’ mean?
- What does ‘take with a grain of salt’ mean?
- What does ‘one bad apple spoils the bunch’ mean?
- What does ‘the apple of your eye’ mean?
- What does ‘cut the mustard’ mean?
- What does ‘bring home the bacon’ mean?
- What does ‘in a nutshell’ mean?
- What does ‘a hard nut to crack’ mean?
- What does ‘have your cake and eat it too’ mean?
- What does ‘the icing on the cake’ mean?
- What does ‘piece of cake’ mean?
- What does ‘spill the beans’ mean?
Questions
- Where do the origins for food idioms come from?
- Origins on this page are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898). Where the origin is disputed or unknown, the entry says so plainly.
- Are these idioms still in modern use?
- Most are in everyday English; a few are chiefly literary or old-fashioned, and those are flagged in the usage notes.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18