On today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast, I'm teaching you 25 eating and drinking slang words, phrasal verbs and expressions that you need to know.
Words like dig in, pig out, food coma, to be stuffed, and more.
Let's go.
Hey there.
Welcome to the Real Life English with Gabby podcast.
I'm your host, Gabby, your fun and friendly English teacher from the one and only New York City.
My goal is to teach you phrasal verbs, idioms and slang that will help you speak English confidently and understand real American conversations.
Are you ready to improve your English skills?
Let's jump right in.
Welcome to episode number one 25 eating and drinking.
Slang words, phrasal verbs and expressions that you need to know.
Since this is episode number one, I just want to introduce myself so that you know who the voice is behind the microphone.
So my name is Gabby and I've been an English teacher since 2011.
I was born and raised in New York City, Brooklyn specifically, the best place ever.
And I currently live in Brooklyn with my husband and my two young sons.
So yeah, I am a mom and my sons are six, almost six years old and two and a half years old.
As I mentioned, for the past 12 years I've been teaching English here in New York City to literally thousands of students from all over the world.
I taught in the Empire State Building for about nine years and now I teach across the street from Central Park.
So I have taught students from so many different countries.
I've learned so much about teaching English and I absolutely love what I do.
I love teaching English.
I love helping students reach their English learning goals.
So I am so excited to start this podcast.
If you've found me from social media, you'll know me as English with Gabby.
I love doing that.
I love recording short form video lessons and also on YouTube with some longer lessons.
But this podcast is something that I've wanted to do for a long time.
Mainly because I think that listening practice is so important for students and it's something that they don't get enough of.
So, for all of you out there, the goal for this is that you can listen to me teaching you when you're on your way to work, on your way to school, when you're home cleaning your house.
The goal is to just give you another opportunity to hear English and learn English at times that are convenient.
Thank you so much for having me. in TV shows, in movies, on the street, talking to Americans.
And a lot of students complain that the English that they learn in their textbooks or in English classes that they've taken in the past they don't learn vocabulary that they can actually use in a real life context.
And so I decided you know what I want to teach slang, idioms and phrasal verbs and I want to do it through audio, so that students can also improve their listening skills.
And so here we are.
Another thing that's really important to me is that you have multiple chances to learn these vocabulary words.
So for each episode, I create a study guide.
That study guide has a full transcript available for you to practice what you learn.
You can follow along with the transcript while you're listening and do a gap fill activity, or you can look at this study guide after and review all the words that I teach you every episode.
And the cool thing is, these study guides are completely free and they are delivered straight to your inbox.
If you want the study guide, just click on the episode description and click the link, and you can get it that way.
On today's episode...
In honor of Thanksgiving, I'm teaching you 25 eating and drinking vocabulary words and expressions that you need to know.
Today's vocabulary is a mix of real life slang, phrasal verbs and expressions that are super popular in American culture.
You know that Americans love food, so it's very important to know food and drink vocabulary.
I also want to say that if you know me from my social media videos, you may wonder why my voice sounds a little bit different.
And the reason is because I currently am recovering from having a cold.
I think it's ironic that I got sick right before the launching my podcast, so I'm actually recording my first few episodes while I'm a little bit sick.
So please excuse the fact that my voice sounds a little bit different and you can trust that in the next few episodes hopefully, my voice will be back to normal.
But anyway, let's get started.
So I'm going to tell you a story that has all the new vocabulary words in it.
This is so that you can hear the words in a real life situation and so that you can work on your context skills and maybe figure out the words for yourself before I explain them.
After I read the story to you, I'm going to explain every word and give some other examples.
Then you can continue studying at home with the study guide that I give you, so that you can learn these words and learn how to use them with confidence.
Here are the 25 words and expressions that I'm going to be teaching you today.
Dig in, pick at pig out, munch on BYOB foodie food coma, scarf down to be stuffed, eat up, sprinkle on, chow down to have seconds, to pack a doggy bag, to nibble leftovers, to clear the table, to clean your plate, to be picky slurp, get or grab a bite to eat, take a sip, have a sweet tooth.
Bussin' scrumptious, gross.
Make a toast and cheers.
So let's go ahead with story number one.
The name of the story is A Thanksgiving Feast.
This is a story about a family that sits down to eat a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
The word feast means a large meal, often a celebration of some sort.
So I
Do not use a dictionary or a translator.
That will not help you long-term.
Here we go.
In a beautiful and cozy home, there was a family getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.
As the family gathered around the table, they couldn't wait to dig in.
The delicious aroma filled the air and everyone was excited to pick at the appetizers that were just put out on the table.
The kids picked out on chips and dip, while the adults munched on crispy vegetables and spinach dip.
The family raised their glasses, made a toast, and started their Thanksgiving feast.
They scarfed down turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, mac and cheese, and more.
The food was so good that they all had seconds and some even had thirds.
Everyone cleaned their plate and there was none left.
20 minutes later, after people had time to digest their meal, it was time for dessert.
Dad said, what?
Already?
I'm stuffed.
I can't eat another bite.
Grandma put out all the desserts on the table, including everyone's favorite, pumpkin pie.
Before grandma served the pumpkin pie, she sprinkled on some cinnamon.
While the adults ate the pumpkin pie, the children chowed down on apple pie and vanilla ice cream.
After dessert, they were in a food coma for the next few hours.
One of their traditions was to watch a holiday movie together.
So as they sat down to watch the movie, mom served popcorn and hot cocoa.
You could hear the kids loudly slurping on their hot cocoa and marshmallows as the movie began.
Most of the family members fell asleep while the movie was playing.
This was the perfect ending to another great Thanksgiving.
Wasn't that such a great story that tells the beautiful traditions of Thanksgiving?
So now that you've heard the story, let's review the vocabulary.
There may be more words that you don't understand that I don't review.
Those are some bonus words that you'll see in the study guides.
Alright, here we go.
So first, we have the phrasal verb, dig in.
As the family gathered around the table, they couldn't wait to dig in.
Dig in is a phrasal verb, and this means to eat with excitement and no shame.
It's something that we typically say at the beginning of the meal, once everyone is served and we want people to start eating.
It's kind of similar to how the French say bon appetit, or in Japan they say itadakimasu.
It's kind of like that.
It's what we say at the beginning of the meal that tells people like, hey, it's time to eat.
Next, we have pick at.
Everyone was excited to pick at the appetizers that were just put out on the table.
Pick at is a phrasal verb, and this means to eat a small amount of food by taking small bites.
Often we do this without excitement.
So sometimes we use it for things that we don't really want to eat, like the kids were picking at their vegetables.
The next two phrasal verbs are pig out and munch on.
You'll notice a lot of phrasal verbs that we use for eating, but they're different because they tell us how the eating is being done.
So the kids pigged out on chips and dip, while the adults munched on crispy vegetables and spinach dip.
So pig out is when you eat a lot of food in a short time.
It's not an insult, even though it has the word pig in it.
It's just normal when someone's like eating a whole lot of food.
And then munch on is a phrasal verb that we often use to talk about eating snacks.
So to munch on something is to eat a snack.
Often it's kind of noisy, kind of like chips or popcorn in a movie theater.
It's something that's crispy, so it's going to have that crunch sound.
Next we have to make lunch.
A toast.
Making a toast is when people clink or hit their glasses together.
Usually it's for a celebration and it's often with like a special kind of drink, like champagne, sparkling cider.
We typically don't toast with water.
In the U.S., We often do this and we say, cheers.
Okay, so next we have scarf down.
Scarf down is also a phrasal verb that we use for eating, but this means to eat quickly in large amounts.
So you're eating this so quickly that you barely even have time to enjoy the taste.
Next we have the term seconds.
The food was so good that they all had seconds and some even had thirds.
Seconds means a second serving, getting more food when you're done with your first plate.
Next, we have the expression to clean your plate.
And no, it does not mean to wash your plate.
This actually means to finish a meal completely clean and there's no food left on the plate.
Usually this is a sign that you really enjoyed your food.
Next, we have two expressions.
I'm stuffed, and I can't eat another bite.
So in the story, it says, what?
Dessert already?
I'm stuffed.
I can't eat another bite.
This means that we're full.
Our stomachs are full.
We can't fit any more food.
Next, we have the phrasal verb sprinkle on.
Before grandma served the pumpkin pie, she sprinkled on some cinnamon.
Sprinkle on is to add a small amount of seasoning to something.
So imagine that you're cooking and you notice at the end that something is missing in the flavor.
So you want to add a little bit more seasoning.
So you take some and you just sprinkle it on, usually with your fingers, but it doesn't have to be.
Next, we have another phrasal verb, chow down.
While the adults ate the pumpkin pie, the children chowed down on apple pie and vanilla ice cream.
Chow down means to eat a meal, usually with a lot of enthusiasm and speed.
It's similar to pig out, except that when you pig out, it's more focused on the quantity of food.
And chow down is about how you're eating it.
So I want you to imagine that your mom or your grandma are cooking your favorite dish.
Really, it could be anybody cooking your favorite dish.
But how excited would you be to eat that meal, especially if you haven't had it in a long time?
That's what chow down means.
Like you're not going to eat it slowly and politely.
You're just going to like chow down on it.
Do you know what I mean?
Can you visualize that in your head?
All right, so next is a food coma.
So in the story, it says after dessert, they were in a food coma for the next few hours.
So you can probably guess what this is if you know what a coma is.
So a coma by itself, this is a medical term, and this is a state of unconsciousness.
So when we say that we're in a food coma, this is usually what happens after we eat a big meal.
We're like super tired, we have no energy, we don't want to move at all.
So this is what a food coma is.
And lastly, we have slurping.
Slurping is actually a sound.
So, let's see if you can imagine the sound while I'm reading the sentence from the story.
Can you imagine what kind of sound when kids are slurping hot cocoa?
So, Slurping means to eat or drink a liquid with a loud sound like kind of like that.
Do you like my sound effects here?
I'm trying.
All right.
So that was story number one, where you learned half of the words that I'm teaching you in this episode.
There were so many words and I really wanted to split them up into two stories so that you could really really understand the words.
Are you ready for story number two?
This is a story about two friends who love food.
Here we go.
In New York City, there was a passionate foodie named Emiliana.
She loved to try new types of foods and dishes with friends.
She was always ready for a new culinary adventure.
Her best friend's name was Andres, and one Saturday evening they decided to grab a bite at a new Thai restaurant that opened in Manhattan.
They were really excited to try a new restaurant, because the restaurant that they had gone to a few weeks before had been one of the worst experiences they'd ever had.
The food was gross, the prices were high, and it was BYOB, so they were only able to drink water.
They were more careful about which restaurant they chose.
When they walked in, Andres said, Wow, this place is amazing.
What should we order first?
Emiliana said, You know, I'm not picky, so you can choose our appetizers.
Let's also get some drinks.
After the appetizers and drinks arrived at the table, Andres looked over at Emiliana and said it's time to eat up.
They nibbled on their appetizers because they didn't want to get full before the main course.
Andres had originally ordered water, but after taking a sip of Emiliana's delicious Thai iced tea, he decided to order one as well.
For the next 40 minutes they ate and spoke about all the fun things that were happening in their lives.
The food was bussin', and it was one of the best Pad Thai dishes they had ever eaten in their lives.
The servings were so large that they couldn't finish everything.
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Even yours meal was banging, said Emiliana.
There's so much here that I can't eat it all today.
So they called the waiter over and asked for a doggy bag for their leftovers.
Would you like to see the dessert menu?
The waiter asked.
Absolutely.
I have a huge sweet tooth, said Andres.
After looking at the menu, they decided to order fried bananas with honey.
Oh my goodness, that was scrumptious, Emiliana said.
Once they were done, the waiter cleared the table, they paid the check and happily went home after eating one of the best meals they had ever had.
All right, so let's talk about these words.
In the first line, I describe Emiliana as being a foodie.
A foodie is someone who loves to try new food and who loves to eat good food.
Being a foodie means that you're unashamed about your love for good food.
If you're a foodie, by the way, New York City is the perfect city for you, because we have some of the best restaurants in the entire world.
We have every type of cuisine that you can imagine.
But back to the vocabulary.
Her best friend's name was Andres, and one Saturday morning they decided to grab a bite at a new Thai restaurant that opened in Manhattan.
Okay, so this is one of the most popular expressions in New York City and I teach this to my students all the time.
When Americans wanna get food, when they wanna go out and get food, we don't say hey, let's go out and get food.
They typically say, let's go grab a bite or get a bite.
And you can even say like, let's get a bite to eat.
Let's grab a bite to eat.
We like to use the word grab.
So for example, we can say hey, let's go grab some coffee at Starbucks.
Hey, you want to grab some sushi.
So this is very, very common in American English.
We say this all the time.
The next word is gross, where in the story, they describe the food as being gross.
We use the words gross and yuck to describe food that's disgusting or not good.
Have you ever heard the term BYOB?
This is a slang acronym, meaning the letters represent words, and it means bring your own beverage.
Beverage is a drink.
So we often say BYOB for like college parties or places where the host would like the guests to help by bringing their own beverages or bringing beverages to share.
Some restaurants that don't have a license to sell alcohol also say that they are BYOB.
So BYOB typically refers to alcoholic beverages, but honestly, it can just be anything.
Next, Emiliana says that she's not picky.
When someone is picky or a picky eater, it means there's a lot of food that they don't like.
They only pick or select certain foods that they like to eat.
We use this a lot for children, but we can really use it for anyone.
Adults can be picky as well.
Okay, so you'll notice that when it's time to eat, we use the phrasal verb eat up.
In the previous story, I taught you guys dig in.
Eat up is very similar to that where we could say, all right, everybody, eat up.
But it's also just like an encouragement to people to finish all their food.
Or maybe you're in a rush and you're like, okay, guys, eat up.
Come on, we have to leave.
The next two words are nibble. and sip.
They're very similar in meaning.
A nibble is a small bite and a sip is to take a small drink.
So nibbling on food is typically if you're not excited to eat, or maybe you're not that hungry like you don't want to eat a lot of food we would say oh, she's just nibbling on her food.
The same with sip.
Sip is like to take a small amount of liquid when you're drinking and And we typically use this if you're tasting something for the first time, like you get a brand new drink you've never had before.
First, you're going to take a tiny sip and see if you like it.
In the story, we use two words to describe delicious food.
So firstly, we use bussin.
Bussin is a slang way to describe amazing food.
The second word... is scrumptious.
Scrumptious also means delicious food, but it's a high level English word.
So I'm giving you kind of two opposites, slang and academic English.
The next two words are extremely popular.
You're definitely going to have to know these if you go to eat at a restaurant.
Doggy bag and leftovers.
Okay, so in American culture, we don't like to waste food that we paid for.
The serving sizes here are really big.
And usually we can eat like half of our meal at the restaurant and then take the rest home to eat it for lunch the next day.
It's really common to do this.
When we have extra food left over at the end of the meal that's not eaten, we call them leftovers.
One word.
Now, when we're bringing leftovers home, we use a doggy bag to pack the food away.
A doggy bag is like any type of container that we use to carry the food.
So if you're at a restaurant, usually they give you containers.
And the interesting thing is if you go to a party with Americans or you go to an American's house for dinner.
We love sending people home with leftovers.
We like to see the food that we made, the food that we bought.
We love to see other people enjoy it.
We do not want it wasted.
So if you go to an American's house, be prepared.
They're going to send you home with leftovers.
Okay, next we have the expression sweet tooth.
Were you able to guess what this expression means?
When asked if he wants dessert, Andres responds with, absolutely, I have a huge sweet tooth.
This means that he loves sweets.
People who love sweets are described as having a sweet tooth.
Wow.
Okay.
We're on our last expression.
So the last expression is to clear the table.
Clear the table is kind of like it sounds.
The word clear used as a verb means to remove everything from that surface.
So if someone tells you to clear the room, that means to remove yourself from the room or remove people from the room.
To clear the table means to remove everything from the table at the end of a meal.
So at a restaurant, usually when people are leaving, the waiter comes over or the busboy comes over and they clear the whole table and get ready for the next customers.
All right.
Guess what?
You just learned the meanings of over 25 new words and expressions in English.
Congratulations.
Like I said, food and drink vocabulary is really popular.
You'll hear about it in TV shows that you watch.
If you're with friends, you'll talk about it.
You So it's very important that you know how to talk about food.
And it's important that you know how to understand native speakers when they talk about food.
I just want to remind you that the study packet for this week's lesson is really important.
Go download it now.
In case you didn't know, our brains typically need six to seven times of exposure to remember new information.
I create these study packets so that you can see the words multiple times.
So using the study guide will give you the tools to speak confidently in English.
Once you get one study guide, you'll never need to get it again because, if you want, it'll be sent to you automatically with each new episode.
Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Real Life English with Gabby podcast.
Be sure to download today's study guide so that you can learn how to use this vocabulary confidently.
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Thanks so much for tuning in.
