FOOD

　　Food is the most general word, referring to anything you can eat. A banana is food. A hamburger is food. A salad is food. Simple things (like a piece of bread) and complex things (like a seafood stew with many ingredients) are all in the general category of food.

　　Food是我们使用最广泛的一个词，指你能吃的任何东西(食物)。香蕉是food，汉堡包是food，沙拉也是food。不论简单的(像一片面包)和复杂的(像是用很多配料炖的海鲜)都属于food的一般范畴。

　　例：

　　What’s your favorite food?

　　你最喜欢吃什么?

　　Let’s go get some food.

　　我们去吃点什么吧。

　　The word food is usually singular – so you should say “I ate a lot of food (not foods) last night.” But there are some exceptions – we use foods, plural, when specifically talking about multiple distinct types, for example, “At the international festival, I tried foods from around the world.”

　　Food经常用作单数形式，你应该说“I ate a lot of food last night.”，这里不能用foods。但是也有一些例外，我们说多种不同种类的食物时，用foods，复数形式。比方说，“At the international festival, I tried foods from around the world.”

　　DISH

　　The word dish has two meanings. One is a physical object used to hold, cook, and serve food. When we talk about washing the dishes, we are washing the plates, bowls, pots, pans, spoons, forks, etc.

　　Dish这个词有两个意思。一种是用来盛食物、做饭和上菜的容器。当我们说洗dishes时，我们是在洗盘子、碗、锅、盘、匙、叉等。

　　The word dish can also refer to one prepared item of food, like a lasagna or a fruit salad. If you go to a type of social event called a potluck, each person who attends brings a dish – one person brings a salad, another person brings an apple pie, another person brings beef stew, etc. Each of these prepared items of food is a dish.

　　Dish这个词也可以指一种做好的食物，比如千层面或者水果沙拉。如果你参加一种叫“百乐餐”的社交活动，每个人都会带一道菜(dish)——某人带一份沙拉，另一个人带一个苹果派，还有一个人带炖牛肉等等。每一种准备好的食物都是一道菜(dish)。

　　At a restaurant, you might encounter the terms main dish (a large amount of food – like a steak) and side dish (a small amount of food that accompanies the main dish – like a small bowl of broccoli).

　　在餐馆里，你可能会遇到主菜(main dish)(分量比较大的菜，如牛排)和配菜(side dish)(分量比较小的，如一小碗西兰花)。

　　MEAL

　　The word meal refers to the customary time/occasion of eating food. Most people eat 3 meals – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meal also refers to all the food eaten during one of these occasions – so one meal can include multiple dishes. Dinner is one meal, but you might have chicken, rice, salad, and ice cream. Each of those is one dish, and when eaten all together on one occasion, they are a meal.

　　Meal这个词指的是我们进食的习惯时间或场合。大多数人吃三餐(meals)：早餐，午餐和晚餐。Meal也指在以上某个吃饭场合吃的所有食物，所以一顿饭(meal)可以包括多个菜(dishes)。晚餐是一个meal，但是你可能会吃多个食物，比如吃鸡肉、米饭、沙拉和冰淇淋。上面说的每个食物都是一道dish，如果把它们放在一起吃，就成了一顿meal。

　　A meal may include many dishes.

　　一顿饭可能会包含很多菜。

　　You might have a big/heavy meal (with a lot of food) or a light meal (with little food).

　　你可以有一顿丰盛的饭(有很多食物)，也可以有一顿简单的饭(只有很少食物)。

　　CUISINE

　　The word cuisine describes a typical manner/style of preparing food. We usually use this word with with country adjectives (Italian cuisine, Brazilian cuisine, Moroccan cuisine) or ethnic or regional adjectives (Cajun cuisine, Jewish cuisine, South Indian cuisine).

　　Cuisine这个词描述了一种典型的烹饪方式。我们通常用这个词与国家形容词(意大利菜、巴西菜、摩洛哥菜)或民族或地区形容词(卡津菜、犹太菜、南印度菜)搭配使用。

　　In everyday English, however, many people simply say “food” when talking about getting something to eat:

　　在日常英语中，我们简单地用food来指我们要吃的东西：

　　I love Chinese food.

　　我喜欢中国菜。

　　Do you want to try some Ethiopian food?

　　你想尝尝埃塞俄比亚菜吗

　　When talking more specifically about the techniques and traditions, then we would say cuisine:

　　当说到更为具体的(像是包括烹饪技巧，传统习俗)，我们会用cuisine：

　　Palm oil is used prominently in West African cuisine.

　　棕榈油在西非菜系中被广泛使用。

　　The chef specializes in French cuisine.

　　这位厨师专做法国菜。