Professional Food Tasters

Better than bad and better than good

ADDED November 25, 2008

kids games

What words can you use to describe food? If you're like most Americans, there are three words you use to describe food: good, bad, and delicious. You might throw in an occasional "awful" or "wonderful," too, but of all those words we've just reviewed, only "delicious" is specific to food.

There are people whose job is taste food: Professional Food Tasters. And those people have to use better words than "awful" and "delicious," right?

Right. They do. There are many, many words to describe food specifically. And what better opportunity for your kids to try some of these words out than . . . your Thanksgiving feast?

Here are some fine words to describe food . . .

• crunchy
• crispy
• spicy
• sweet
• salty
• buttery
• flavorful

During meals this week, teach your kids some or all of the words in that list. You could plan to include foods that get you guys talking about sweet and about salty (apples and pretzels, for example).

Then, encourage your kids to use their new vocabulary to fun effect during Thanksgiving dinner. This can also be a tool if they get restless: talk about the Thanksgiving food. What is the most crunchy thing on your plate? What is the most buttery? What is salty and what is sweet? What is your favorite item?

Do try to show respect for the person who cooked the meal, of course. We don't want your kids using descriptive words like "icky" or "inedible" during the holiday celebration!

(We didn't want to inundate you with words, so we just featured the ones above. But here's a quick appendix of more food adjectives, if you're so inclined: savory, garlicky, nutty, minty, zesty, tart, tangy, sharp, mouthwatering, tasty, yummy, delectable, bitter, flavorful, lemony, chocolatey, and so on.)