Famous American singer Frank Sinatra once recorded the famous song, I Did It My Way on December 30, 1968. I Did It My Way was translated into languages all around the world!
In his song, Frank describes a reflective life. In his ballad he belts out:
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
And through it all, whenever there was doubt
I ate it up and spit it out
I faced it all and I stood tall
And did it, did it my way
What did the singer mean by these words?
In this article, we will explore ways of expressing yourself through English idioms containing food and drink.
Here is a list of popular idioms containing food and drinks along with the meaning of these expressions
1. To bite off more than one can chew
Meaning: To take responsibility for more work, tasks, or jobs more than one can oversee or manage.
Example sentence: The entrepreneur bit-off more than she could chew. She committed to start a small business and non-profit at the same time.
2. Don't put all your eggs in one basket
Meaning: Don't risk everything on the success of one venture.
Example sentence: After years of focusing on one project, there were but little results. The young man decided to start three new projects. There was a truth to the saying, 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket.'
3. Take it with a grain of salt
Meaning: Interpret what you hear with little importance. Don't give too much weight to what you hear.
Example sentence: I know Gwen talked about the importance of living in a little house off the countryside to achieve peace, but city life has its rewards too. Take what she said with a grain of salt and see for yourself which place you like better.
4. To butter someone up
Meaning: to boost someone's ego to gain their trust or to build rapport- often for gain.
Example sentence: Over the luncheon at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, the well accomplished nuns were buttering each other up with compliments. The annual crab feed was coming up.
5. There's no use in crying over spilled milk
Meaning: There is no benefit in regretting events or occurrences that can’t be changed.
Example sentence: They had been working on this for a while. It failed. They had to change direction and leave it behind because there was no use in crying over spilled milk.
6. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!
Meaning: When bitter or difficult life situations occur, do not be bitter or negative. Use the situation to help yourself create a positive outcome.
Example sentence: Pete had his plans all figured out. He was going to leave next week. That morning, his car broke down. He told his friend James about it. James replied, 'When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!' So, Pete went for a walk. It was better for his health anyway.
7. Cup of tea
Meaning: Something one likes and has knowledge of.
Example sentence: Making art was the artist's cup of tea.
8. Piece of cake
Meaning: Easy. Not difficult.
Example sentence: Solving that hand-made puzzle was not difficult at all! It was a piece of cake!
9. Bread and butter
Meaning: a person's livelihood. Their main means of income.
Example sentence: The woman explained to her friend that she had passion projects but, her bread and butter was in designing tattoos for her clients.
10. Bigger fish to fry
Meaning: to have more profitable activities or deals to pursue.
Example: Her ears did not hear my sound advice. I could not give any more time to her case. I had bigger fish to fry.
11. The big cheese
Meaning: The person or situation that holds the most power.
Example sentence: We were filming the restaurant to promote it. Suddenly, the big cheese showed up and offered us free food because we were making the film to promote his business.
12. Food for thought
Meaning: an idea that needs attention
Example sentence: Alexander was listening to podcasts about ecosystems. He gained food for thought for his upcoming building project in the forest.
13. In a nutshell
Meaning: In summary. A long idea expressed in as little words as possible.
Example sentence: I won't read you the thirteen volume book series. In a nutshell, it was about the laws of physics.
Now that you know English idioms that contain food and drink, you can sauce-up your sentences.
Which of these will you use?
Drop us a line and let us know in the comments below!