20 English Food Idioms That You’ll Want To Taco ‘Bout

When it’s raining hard, you often hear the expression “it is raining cats and dogs.” When you’re starving, you can say “I’m so hungry I can eat a horse.” When wishing someone good luck, you hear the saying “break a leg.” These three expressions are what you call idiomatic expressions.

An idiomatic expression is an expression that has a different meaning from the literal phrase. Idiomatic expressions are fun, informal sayings to describe a feeling, a person, or even an event.

These expressions are “blessings in disguise” as they add color to a colorless sentence. Before we “call it a day”, here is a list of 20 food idiomatic expressions!

1. As flat as a pancake

Meaning – something that is very flat

Sentence – After getting ran over by my neighbor’s truck, the squeaky toy was as flat as a pancake.

2. As easy as pie

Meaning – something that is easily done

Sentence – “Solving this 20-piece puzzle is as easy as pie.” is what Bill the mailman said.

3. Big cheese

Meaning – most powerful and important person

Sentence – Fran is now the big cheese of this company.

4. Cheap as chips

Meaning – extremely cheap

Sentence – These three thrifted books are as cheap as chips.

5. Cherry on top

Meaning – finishing touch of something

Sentence – The lace detailing on that couture piece is the cherry on top.

6. Clam up

Meaning – to stop talking

Sentence – Why does Bob clam up as soon as Martha walks in?

7. Cool as a cucumber

Meaning – very calm and relaxed

Sentence – The students were as cool as a cucumber when Hayao Miyazaki passed by

8. Go bananas

Meaning – to go crazy

Sentence – My friends are going bananas when they found out Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber visited the restaurant five blocks away.

9. Good egg

Meaning – honest and trustworthy

Sentence – Elouise always helps Ms. Laurie with her groceries. She is such a good egg.

10. Hard nut to crack

Meaning – a person or a thing that is difficult to understand

Sentence – The new set of math homework is a hard nut to crack.

11. In a pickle

Meaning – stuck in a difficult situation

Sentence – With Italy’s eight grandest weddings coming up, the event planners are just realizing that they’re in a pickle.

12. In a jam

Meaning – something in trouble

Sentence – The tourists are in a jam after finding out their tour guide left them.

13. Life is a bowl of cherries

Meaning – life is full of pleasure

Sentence – Life is a bowl of cherries for Violet and her family as they just won the bid for a week’s trip to Turkey.

14. Like two peas in a pod

Meaning – two things are very similar

Sentence – Since birth, Jack and Johnny have been inseparable. They are like two peas in a pod.

15. Nutty as a fruitcake

Meaning – wacky or crazy

Sentence – You might think Bridget is nutty as a fruitcake but she is actually the sweetest and most generous person in this building.

16. Piece of cake

Meaning – something simple and easy to accomplish

Sentence – The book club found knitting a sweater to be a piece of cake.

17. Sell like hot cakes

Meaning – something sold quickly and in large quantities

Sentence – Joey’s custom backpacks are selling like hot cakes at the bookstore.

18. Spill the beans

Meaning – to reveal the a secret

Sentence – Be careful when Lady Whistledown comes for a visit because she always likes to spill the beans

19. Top banana

Meaning – most important person

Sentence – Michael Scott thinks he is the top banana of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton Branch.

20. Walk on eggshells

Meaning – to be extremely careful and cautious with words and actions

Sentence – I am always walking on eggshells when Nanny McPhee comes in for a visit.