What do Americans eat every day? In this video, I’ll teach you English vocabulary for 50 common American foods – including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, sides and desserts.
Breakfast Vocabulary
We’ll start with some common breakfast foods, like one of my favorites: pancakes, usually topped with butter and maple syrup. A similar dish is waffles – you’ll usually see these at hotels or restaurants, as most people don’t have a waffle maker at home.
But you can make French toast – that’s bread dipped in egg and milk and then fried. You can then top it with cinnamon and sugar. Or you can make regular toast – just heating the bread and then putting butter or jelly on it.
Children often eat cereal, of which we have many different kinds – some healthier than others. One healthy option is oatmeal – that’s often topped with raisins or brown sugar.
We’ve also got bagels, which have a hole in the middle – you can spread cream cheese on top of those. And the sweet version is a donut, which may have frosting and sprinkles.
Here are some breakfast foods we cook: there’s scrambled eggs, or you can add cheese, veggies, or ham to make an omelet.
Hash browns are fried shredded potatoes, and for meat we have bacon or sausages.
Lunch Vocabulary
Let’s move on to lunch. Americans usually eat a lighter meal for lunch, and a heavier meal for dinner – so for lunch we have a lot of sandwiches – some popular ones are a turkey sandwich, a ham and cheese sandwich, a tuna salad sandwich, a BLT (that’s bacon, lettuce, and tomato), and a grilled cheese sandwich.
This type of sandwich that’s on a long rounded piece of bread is called a sub, and it can be filled with ham, turkey, cheese, or even something hot like meatballs. Kids often eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
You probably already know about hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and hot dogs… but a few you might not be familiar with are a sloppy joe – that’s a hamburger bun filled with ground beef in tomato sauce, and it is quite messy to eat – and a Philly cheese steak, that’s filled with thin-sliced steak, melted cheese, and sometimes onions and peppers.
Some Mexican food items are also popular, such as a quesadilla (melted cheese inside a flat tortilla, we can also add veggies or chicken) and a burrito, with rice, beans, and meat rolled up inside.
If you don’t like sandwiches, maybe you’d prefer a soup and salad for lunch – here are a few common ones. A Caesar salad has lettuce, croutons, parmesan cheese, and a creamy dressing. A Cobb salad is topped with chicken, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and blue cheese. A garden salad is a little lighter – just leafy greens and fresh vegetables.
We also have potato salad, which mixes chunks of potatoes with mayonnaise, and pasta salad, which is served cold or at room temperature with a dressing. Those two are usually eaten as side dishes, as well as coleslaw, which is shredded cabbage and maybe carrots, in a creamy dressing.
A few common soups in the U.S. are chicken noodle soup, which has chicken and noodles of course, and maybe celery and carrots. Tomato soup, broccoli cheddar soup, split pea soup (which may also contain ham or bacon), clam chowder – a creamy soup made with clams, potatoes, and onions – and minestrone soup, which has various vegetables, beans, and pasta, often in a tomato-based broth.
As a side for your soup, you can have cornbread or garlic bread. Are you hungry yet?!
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Dinner Vocabulary
Now let’s learn some common American dinner foods. We can have roast chicken or turkey, which is made in the oven, and serve it with gravy – a sauce with extra flavor. This could be served with mashed potatoes or a baked potato.
Other meat options include steak, pork chops, or meatloaf (that’s ground meat mixed with eggs and breadcrumbs baked and cut into slices).
Some common pasta dishes are spaghetti with meatballs, lasagna, and my kids’ favorite, macaroni and cheese. There are many different kinds of casseroles – a casserole can have pasta, rice, or potatoes, meat or chicken, vegetables, and a sauce, all baked together in one dish.
We also have Mexican-inspired dinner foods like tacos, enchiladas (which are baked in the oven), and chili – a spicy stew with ground meat, tomatoes, and often beans. One classic American dish is baked beans, which are cooked in a tomato-based sauce that’s slightly sweet – this is usually served as a side dish, especially during the 4th of July holiday when many people have cookouts.
Snacks & Fast Food Vocabulary
How about some common American snacks and fast foods? This is what we’re known for, right? There’s French fries, onion rings, potato chips, and nachos (topped with cheese, salsa, and jalapeno peppers).
If you’re lookng for something crunchy, we’ve got pretzels, popcorn, and trail mix, which is nuts, dried fruit, and sometimes chocolate chips.
Some common kids’ foods are chicken nuggets and mozzarella sticks, which are both coated with breading and can be dipped in ketchup or another sauce, as well as a corn dog – that’s a hot dog on a stick coated in cornmeal batter and deep fried. Have you ever tried any of these? Let me know.
Dessert Vocabulary
Finally, some classic American desserts – the first one that comes to mind is apple pie. There’s also pumpkin pie, which we usually eat at Thanksgiving, pecan pie, and cheesecake. These can all be topped with whipped cream.
Brownies are a kind of baked chocolate bar, they’re denser than a cake. We’ve also got chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies (which are common at Christmas as we decorate them with icing) and cupcakes.
If you want something cold, you can get an ice cream sundae – which has lots of toppings, including hot fudge or caramel – or a banana split, ice cream with bananas, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.
Whew! Now you know more than 50 vocabulary words for common American foods from morning to evening. Which ones would you most like to try?
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