French Food Idioms

Expressions sur la nourriture

Part of All Levels | French Vocabulary

A-Z Long List - Longue Liste par order alphabétique

This list is long. My tip for you: go directly to the practice exercise below. See how to deal with long lists of French vocabulary here.

Cette liste est longue. Mon conseil : passez directement à l’exercice d’entraînement ci-dessous. Voyez comment gérer des longues listes de vocabulaire français ici.

1. à vomir …. to vomit …. disgusting
2. aller au fourneau …. to go to the (wood) stove …. to go to work
3. avoir du pain sur la planche …. to have bread on the cutting board …. to have a lot to do
4. avoir la banane …. to have the banana …. to be really happy, to be upbeat
5. avoir la patate …. to have the potato …. to be really happy, to be energetic
6. avoir la pêche …. to have the peach …. to be really happy, to be positive
7. avoir la peur au ventre …. to have the fear in the belly …. to be really sacred
8. avoir la reconnaissance du ventre …. to have the recognition of the belly …. to be grateful for having a job, something to eat
9. avoir le cul (slang) bordé de nouilles …. to have the ass surrounded with noodles …. to be very lucky
10. avoir les yeux plus gros que le ventre …. to have the eyes bigger than the belly …. to want more than you can chew
11. avoir un cœur d’artichaut …. to have an artichoke heart …. to be fickle in love
12. avoir/prendre de la bouteille …. to have/take some of the bottle …. to be/get older
13. boire du petit lait …. to drink whey …. to lap it up
14. boire un canon …. to drink a canon …. to have a drink
15. c’est pas de la tarte …. it’s not pie …. it’s tough, tricky
16. c’est pas du gâteau …. it’s not cake …. it’s not easy, it’s tricky
17. ça ne mange pas de pain …. it doesn’t eat any bread …. it doesn’t cost/hurt anything
18. casser du sucre sur son dos …. to break sugar onto his/her back …. to badmouth someone
19. changer de crémerie …. to change dairy store …. to have a new favorite place to hang out or to shop to, to change opinion
20. chanter comme une casserole …. to sing like a saucepan …. to not be able to carry a tune
21. comme un cheveu sur la soupe …. like one hair in the soup …. to be, feel out of place
22. couper la poire en deux …. to cut the pear into two parts …. to split the difference, to share
23. cracher dans la soupe …. to spit in the soup …. to bite the hand that feeds you
24. cuisiner quelqu’un …. to cook someone …. to question someone (fam)
25. des tartines …. open-face slices of bread …. tons of
26. donner envie de vomir à quelqu’un …. to give want to vomit to someone …. to make someone sick to the stomach
27. donner mal au ventre à quelqu’un …. to give ache to the belly to someone …. to make to make someone sick, to be hard to do for someone
28. en avoir dans le ventre …. of it to have in the belly …. to be brave
29. en avoir gros sur la patate …. to feel fat on the potato …. to be down in the dumps, to be very sad
30. en faire des tartines, faire des tartines de …. to make open slices of bread out of it …. to make a scene, to do too much, to go on and on
31. en faire ses choux gras …. to make one’s fat cabbages out of it …. to take advantage of, to milk it
32. en faire son miel …. to make one’s honey out of …. to take advantage of
33. en faire tout un flan …. to make a whole flan about it …. to make a big fuss
34. en faire tout un fromage …. to make a whole cheese about it …. to make a big fuss
35. en faire tout un plat …. to make a whole dish about it …. to make a big fuss
36. être au four et au moulin …. to be at the oven and at the mill …. to be everywhere at once
37. être bête comme chou …. to be dumb as cabbage, as cream puff …. to be really easy to do, as easy as apple pie
38. être chou …. to be cabbage, cream puff …. to be really cute
39. être dans la béchamel …. to be in the white sauce …. to be in a pickle
40. être dans le pâté …. to be in the paté …. to be drowsy
41. être dans le pétrin …. to be in the kneading trough …. to be in a pickle, in a tricky situation
42. être pour sa pomme …. to be for one’s apple …. to be reserved for self
43. être serrés.ées comme des sardines …. to be as tight as sardines …. to feel crowded
44. être soupe au lait …. to be a milk soup …. to be quick-tempered
45. être tout sucre tout miel …. to be all sugar all honey …. to be insincerely nice, to be two-faced
46. être/vivre comme un coq en pâte …. to be/live like a rooster wellington …. to be well-taken care of, to get the royal treatment, to be well at-ease
47. faire bouillir la marmite …. to make the pot boil …. to bring (enough) money home, to bring home the bacon
48. faire chou blanc …. to make white cabbage …. to be out of luck, to fail
49. faire poireauter quelqu’un …. to make someone “leek” …. to be kept waiting
50. faire une boulette …. to make a little ball …. to put one’s foot in one’s mouth (familiar)
51. faire vomir …. to make vomit …. to make someone want to throw up in disgust
52. faute de grives, on mange des merles …. lacking thrushes, we eat blackbirds …. half a loaf is better than no bread
53. haut comme trois pommes ….high as three apples …. to be short, to be young
54. it won’t have any consequence
55. je ne vais pas te manger. …. I’m not going to eat you. …. Don’t worry.
56. la cerise sur le gâteau …. the cherry on the cake …. the cherry on top
57. la fin des haricots …. the end of the beans …. game over
58. la moutarde monte au nez de quelqu’un …. the mustard is climbing its way at someone’s nose …. to be about to blow a gasket
59. le ver est dans le fruit …. the worm is in the fruit …. the die is cast
60. long comme un jour sans pain …. as long as a day without bread …. dreadfully long
61. manger à tous les râteliers …. to eat at all the hay racks ….to take advantage of everything
62. manger dans la main de quelqu’un …. to eat in one’s hand …. to eat out of someone’s hand
63. manger de la vache enragée …. to eat some rabid cow …. to not be able to make ends meet
64. manger du pain noir …. to eat black bread …. to experience hardship
65. manger son chapeau …. to eat one’s hat …. no way
66. manger son pain blanc …. to eat one’s white bread …. to be able to enjoy a good life
67. manger/bouffer du lion …. to eat/pig out lion …. to have a lot of energy or to be aggressive
68. marcher sur des œufs …. to walk on eggs …. to walk on eggshells
69. ménager la chèvre et le chou …. to spare the goat and the cabbage …. to tread the middle ground
70. mettre de l’eau dans son vin …. to put water in one’s wine …. to back down
71. mettre de l’huile sur le feu …. to put oil in the fire …. to add fuel to the fire
72. mettre du beurre dans les épinards …. to put butter in the spinach …. to moonshine or to bring home the bacon
73. mettre la main à la pâte …. to put the hand in the pastry …. to participate
74. mettre les bouchées double.s …. to double the bites …. to work twice as hard
75. mettre les pieds dans le plat …. to put the feet in the dish …. to put your foot in your mouth
76. mettre son grain de sel …. to put one’s grain of salt …. to put in one’s two cents
77. mi-figue mi-raisin …. half fig half grape …. ambiguous
78. ne pas digérer …. to not digest …. to get stuck in one’s throat
79. ne pas être dans son assiette …. to not be in one’s plate …. to be under the weather
80. ne pas être sorti/e de l’auberge …. to not be out of the inn …. to not be out of the woods
81. ne pas mâcher ses mots …. to not chew one’s words …. to go right to the point
82. ne pas manger de ce pain-là …. to not eat that bread …. to want no part of that
83. ne pas mélanger les torchons et les serviettes …. to not mix tea towels and napkins …. to compare apples and oranges
84. ne pas savoir à quelle sauce on va être mangé …. to not know in what sauce we’ll be eaten …. to not know where you stand
85. ne pas savoir si c’est du lard ou du cochon …. to not know if it’s lard of pig …. to not know where you stand
86. ne rien avoir dans le ventre …. not nothing to have in the belly …. to have no spine, to be a coward
87. not everything is a keeper, it needs to be sorted
88. papa gâteau, mamie gâteau, … …. daddy cake, nana cake, … …. doting father, grandmother, person who spoils the children
89. pédaler dans la choucroute …. to pedal in sauerkraut …. to go nowhere, to be at a loss, to spin and stall, to not know what to do
90. pédaler dans la semoule …. to pedal in semolina (flan) …. to go nowhere, to be at a loss, to spin and stall, to not know what to do
91. plein comme un œuf …. as full as an egg …. drunk
92. poireauter …. to “leek” …. to wait for a long time
93. pour du beurre …. for butter …. not for keeps
94. prendre de la bouteille …. to take some of the bottle …. to become older or to gain experience
95. Quelle salade ! …. What a salad! …. What a mess!
96. rendre son tablier …. to give one’s apron back …. to quit (work)
97. retomber comme un soufflé …. to deflate like a soufflé dish …. to fall flat
98. rouler quelqu’un dans la farine …. to roll someone in flour …. to fool someone
99. savoir ce que quelqu’un a dans le ventre …. to know what someone has in the belly …. to know what someone really thinks
100. s’occuper de ses oignons …. to take care of one’s onions …. to mind one’s own business
101. se faire manger tout cru …. to make itself to eat all raw …. to be eaten for breakfast (figurative)
102. se manger …. itself to eat …. to fail at something (informal)
103. se mettre à table …. to sit at the table …. to admit, to confess
104. se vendre comme des petits pains …. to sell like little breads …. to go like hotcakes
105. tirer ses marrons du feu …. to pull one’s chestnuts out of the fire …. to save the day, to yank the benefits of a situation
106. tomber dans les pommes …. to fall in the apples …. to faint
107. tourner au vinaigre …. to turn to vinegar …. to turn sour
108. tourner en eau de boudin …. to turn sour …. to turn sour, to fail
109. traîner des casseroles …. to drag saucepans …. to have a skeleton in the closet
110. un bœuf-carottes …. a beef-carrots …. a member of the rat squad
111. un navet …. turnip …. a bad movie
112. un thon …. a tuna …. derogatory term for a woman who is not very pretty
113. une bonne pâte …. good pastry, pasta …. really nice person
114. une bonne poire …. good pear …. sucker
115. une bonne pomme …. good apple …. nice person
116. une course à l’échalote …. a shallot’s race …. a tight tailing, following someone closely
117. une daube …. a stew …. a bad TV show, movie, a bad construction, a scam
118. une feuille de chou …. a cabbage leaf …. a tabloid, a bad newspaper
119. une morue …. a cod …. derogatory term for a promiscuous woman
120. vouloir le beurre et l’argent du beurre …. to want the butter and the money of the butter …. to not get your cake and eat it too, to have to pick and choose

Further your French - Allez plus Loin

• Food Vocabulary
• Cooking Verbs
• What’s that Food?
• dans le pétrin – Mot du jour

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