Food Idioms

“THE APPLE OF HIS/HER EYE” Someone or something that is a favorite:

 That little girl is the apple of her father’s eye.
 The apple of my brother’s eye is his new car.

“A BAD EGG” A bad person; someone who does harm to other people:
 My new neighbor is a bad egg. He drinks too much and
yells at his children.
 My brother’s girlfriend is a bad egg. She just wants his
money.

“A COUCH POTATO” A lazy person who doesn’t exercise:

 You should go out for a walk instead of being a couch
potato.
 I’m a couch potato. I love to watch tv and play video
games.

WHICH IDIOM BEST DESCRIBES THESE PEOPLE?

1. I think that cashier is stealing money from the cash register. He’s ____________
_____________________________.
2. My husband is ______________________________________ on the weekends.
He watches sports for 8 hours a day Saturday and Sunday!
3. Kim’s nephew is the _____________________________________. She loves to
read to him and takes him to the park because he is fun to be with.
4. My son wants to play basketball, but his friend wants to stay home and play
video games. His friend is ________________________________________.
5. There is a girl at your daughter’s school who likes to fight. She also tries to get
the other girls in trouble. She’s _____________________________________.
6. You might think Tom’s dog is ugly, but he loves it. The dog is _____________
_____________________________________.
 Food Idioms KEY
“THE APPLE OF HIS/HER EYE” Someone or something that is a favorite:
 That little girl is the apple of her father’s eye.
 The apple of my brother’s eye is his new car.

“A BAD EGG” A bad person; someone who does harm to other people:
 My new neighbor is a bad egg. He drinks too much and
yells at his children.
 My brother’s girlfriend is a bad egg. She just wants his
money.

“A COUCH POTATO” A lazy person who doesn’t exercise:

 You should go out for a walk instead of being a couch
potato.
 I’m a couch potato. I love to watch tv and play video
games.

WHICH IDIOM BEST DESCRIBES THESE PEOPLE?

7. I think that cashier is stealing money from the cash register. He’s a bad egg.

8. My husband is a couch potato on the weekends. He watches sports for 8

hours a day Saturday and Sunday!
9. Kim’s nephew is the the apple of her eye. She loves to read to him and
takes him to the park because he is fun to be with.
10. My son wants to play basketball, but his friend wants to stay home and play
video games. His friend is a couch potato.
11. There is a girl at your daughter’s school who likes to fight. She also tries to get
the other girls in trouble. She’s a bad egg.

You might think Tom’s dog is ugly, but he loves it. The dog is the apple of his

eye.
 Food
d Idioms 

1    2  3 
   
 the 
t      of one’s  eye     bring h
home the       som
meone up 

(a pe (to e
earn a salary)  (to be e
extra nice to so
omeone) 
  rson that is ad
dored by some
eone)  

4 
   5      be (lik
     
    ke) two     6 
  have            
h    on one’s f
 face     in a p
pod     go 
   (to be very  similar)  (to go crazy
y or be angry)  
(to
o look stupid o
 or embarrasse
ed) 

7 
   8    9 
belt the
e     spill the
e   all    and
d skittles 
 (to d
  drink wine/liquuor  
(to reveal s
 something seccret)  (all fun
n, easy and ple
easant) 
heavily and becom
me intoxicated
d) 

10 
  11
    
       wake  up  12  take the  
      a
a hard                 to crrack     and smell the   
(to be mosst annoying/su
urprising … 
  (a d
 difficult problem to deal with)  (tto pay attentio
on to what’s g
going on)  thing that someone hhas done) 

   
13 
      get ano
other  14
   4 
       have  bigger   15 
    to  fry      be in a  
   bite a
at the   
(to  nd (have more im
mportant thing
gs to do)  (to be in a difficult situatio
on) 
   get a 2  chan
nce at something) 

   Y
You don’t neeed to ____________    Things  haave  changed
d  around     We  _________________________  
_____
  _________ ‐ I’ll give you an
n A for  heere, John! _______________________  ‐  we  like  the  same  thiings  and  do  
the hoomework.  _________________________________!  everything t  together.

   D
Don’t  ______________________    He’s  failed
d  his  driving   test  but   You  haave  done  some  stupid  
______________or w we’ll end up i in jail.  hee  will  __________________________  things beforre, but this reeally ______ 
neext month.  ________________________________.  

 I   ______________________   after     It’s  about  ttime  you  got   a  job  so   I  just  ________________________  
  ing some pizzza and then h
order having  yo
ou can _________________________.  when  she  told 
t me  shee  wanted  to  
  oney to pay fo
no mo or it.  move out. 

  T
This  word  seaarch  is  not  eaasy  to    I  was  com
mpletely  wro
ong,  and    I  can’t   help  you  rig
ght  now  –  I  
 
solve. It’s ________________________.  no
ow I ___________________________.  ________________________________
________________________________. 

1
  B
Baby  Cindy  is  definitelyy  the    For  Sam m,  collegee  was    He has  a tendency to o _________
applee of her fatherr’s eye.   ______________________________.  He  _________________  ‐  but  his  wife  
jusst partied all  the time.  simply hatess it when he i is drunk. 
 KEY 

         You don’t need to butter me up           Things  have  changed  around           We are like two peas in a pod ‐ 

‐ I’ll give you an A for the homework.
    here,  John!  Wake  up  and  smell  the  we  like  the  same  things  and  do 
coffee!  everything together.

         Don’t 
  spill  the  beans  or  we’ll           He’s  failed  his  driving  test  but           You  have  done  some  stupid 
end up in jail.  he  will  get  another  bite  at  the  things  before,  but  this  really  takes 
cherry next month.  the cake. 

         I  was  in  a  pickle  after  ordering         It’s  about  time  you  got  a  job  so          I  just  went  bananas  when  she 
some   pizza  and  then  having  no  you can bring home the bacon.  told me she wanted to move out. 
 
money to pay for it. 

         This  word  search  is  not  easy  to           I  was  completely  wrong,  and           I  can’t  help  you  right  now  –  I 
 
solve. It’s a hard nut to crack.  now I have egg on my face.  have bigger fish to fry. 

 
         Baby  Cindy  is  definitely  the           For  Sam,  college  was  all  beer           He  has  a  tendency  to  belt  the 
apple of her father’s eye.   and  skittles.  He  just  partied  all  the  grape  ‐  but  his  wife  simply  hates  it 
time.  when he is drunk. 
Name: ____________________________________________________

Food Idioms

Idioms are expressions that have particular meanings that are often not
related to the words that make them up. The expression “make ends meet”, which
means to spend just as much money as you make, does not give you any clues of its
true meaning if you just look at the individual words. In English, there many idioms
that use body parts, food, measurements, animals, etc. Are there many idioms in your
own language?
The examples below have an idiom related to food. Can you guess the meaning
of each of them from the context? Write down what you think they mean.

I didn’t want to take that cooking course, but my husband egged me on saying
that I would be great at it.
_____________________________________________________

The mayor invited only the cream of the crop to his Christmas party.
_____________________________________________________

That student doesn’t listen to his teachers, doesn’t do his homework, and
bullies his classmates. In a nutshell, he is trouble!
_____________________________________________________

My daughter tried to butter me up by helping me around the house only so I
would let her go to the concert.
_____________________________________________________

I am sorry, but I won’t go to the game with you. Rugby is really not my cup of
tea!
_____________________________________________________

I know you have a lot on your plate right now, but I really need some help
with this project!
_____________________________________________________

John took his girlfriend to Paris, but the icing on the cake was his surprise
marriage proposal by the Eiffel Tower.
_____________________________________________________

Your cold is small potatoes compared to the terrible pneumonia I had last
month.
_____________________________________________________

My father loves all of his grandchildren, but my little one Lucy is really the
apple of his eye.
_____________________________________________________
Now, try to match each idiom with its definition.

IDIOM MEANING

1. to egg someone on a. to be very busy with different things

2. the cream of the crop b. to encourage someone to do something

3. in a nutshell c. not big or important enough compared

to other things
4. to butter someone up d. the best of all

5. one’s cup of tea e. something that makes a situation or

activity even better.
6. to have a lot on one’s plate f. someone’s favorite person or thing

7. icing on the cake g. in short

8. small potatoes h. to flatten someone in order to get

what you want.
9. apple of one’s eye i. something that you like or enjoy

Now, choose five idioms you think will be more useful to you and make one sentence
with each of them.