Food and Drink ESL Activities, Games and Worksheets

My Shopping List

ESL Food and Drink Vocabulary Activity - Vocabulary: Matching, Listing, Identifying - Pair Work - Beginner (A1) - 20 minutes

In this free food and drink activity, students match food and drink vocabulary to pictures and review the vocabulary in a dictation game. First, students match each word to a food and drink picture and write the word underneath. Students then write a shopping list of 10 items using the food and drink. Next, in pairs, students take it in turns to say 'This is my shopping list. Circle the food and drink items I say'. The student then reads their 10 shopping list items to their partner who listens and circles the corresponding pictures on their worksheet. Students score a point for each correct food or drink item they circle. The student with the most points wins.
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Food and Drink Habits

ESL Eating Habits Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Elementary (A1-A2) - 30 minutes

In this food and drink Find Someone Who activity, students ask and answer present simple questions about eating and drinking habits. Students start by reviewing prompts on the worksheet and forming the present simple questions they need to ask to do the activity, e.g. 'What do you usually eat for breakfast?' Students then answer the questions and write down their answers. Next, students go around the class asking and answering the questions to find people with the same answers. When a student finds someone with the same answer, the two students write down each other's names. Finally, students give feedback to the rest of the class on what they found out.
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Food Question Time

ESL Eating Habits Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Sentence Completion, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled and Freer Practice - Pair Work - Elementary (A1-A2) - 20 minutes

In this food and eating habits activity, students ask and answer food-related questions. Working alone, students read questions about food on the worksheet and complete the answers by writing in the spaces provided. In pairs, students then take it in turns to ask and answer the questions with their partner. Afterwards, students report back to the class on their partner's answers.
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Restaurants and Cafes

ESL Eating Out Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Controlled and Freer Practice - Group Work - Elementary (A1-A2) - 25 minutes

In this eating out questions activity, students ask and answer questions about their favourite restaurants and cafes. To begin, students go through the prompts on the worksheet and form the questions they need for the activity. Students then use the prompts to answer questions about their favourite restaurant and cafe. When the students have finished, they interview two classmates and complete the worksheet with their answers. Afterwards, students report back to the class on what they found out.
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Cooking Verbs

ESL Cooking Verbs Game - Vocabulary: Brainstorming, Word Association, Spelling - Pair Work - Pre-intermediate (A2) - 20 minutes

This cooking verbs game is ideal for practicing verbs related to cooking and food vocabulary. In pairs, students have ten minutes to brainstorm and write down all the food words they can think of that go with the cooking verbs on the worksheet, e.g. 'fry an egg'. Pairs score one point for each appropriate food word that has the correct form and spelling. The pair with the most points wins the game.
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Eating Habits

ESL Eating Habits Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Pair Work - Pre-intermediate (A2) - 25 minutes

In this free eating habits questionnaire, students ask and answer questions about eating habits. In pairs, students take it in turns to ask and answer questions about eating habits and write their partner's answers on the worksheet. When the students have finished, they report back to the class on their partner's eating habits.
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Fruit and Veg Game

ESL Fruit and Vegetables Game - Vocabulary: Describing, Guessing - Group Work - Pre-intermediate (A2) - 30 minutes

In this fun fruit and veg game, students describe fruit and vegetables for other students to guess. In groups, students take it in turns to pick up a card and describe the fruit or vegetable on the card to the other students in the group. The student describing begins by saying whether the item on the card is a fruit or vegetable. The student then goes on to describe what it looks like, tastes like, what it's used for or in, etc. The other students listen and try to guess the fruit or vegetable. The first student to guess correctly wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.
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Make a Menu

ESL Food Vocabulary Worksheet - Vocabulary Activity: Naming and Listing - Pre-intermediate (A2) - 25 minutes

In this food menu worksheet, students create a restaurant menu, showing dishes they like to eat along with the price and ingredients of each dish. Students start by thinking of a name for their restaurant and writing it at the top of the menu. Students then complete the rest of the menu with dishes they like to eat. Students write the name of each dish as well as the price and a description of the ingredients. When the students have finished, they talk about their menus in front of the class. As an extension, students role-play a restaurant dialogue using the menus.
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Containers and Amounts

ESL Containers and Amounts Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill - Intermediate (B1) - 15 minutes

This free containers and amounts worksheet helps you to teach your students about containers and amounts that go with food and drink items. Students begin by completing food and drink items with container and amount words from a box on the worksheet. After that, students complete container and amount phrases with food and drink vocabulary.
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Food Adjectives

ESL Food Adjectives Worksheet - Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill, Writing Sentences - Intermediate (B1) - 30 minutes

In this food adjectives worksheet, students learn about food adjectives and write an email, describing food at a dinner party. Students begin by matching food adjectives with definitions and writing an example food for each one. Next, students complete a set of sentences with the food adjectives. After that, students write an email to a friend, describing food they ate at a dinner party using the food adjectives to describe whether the food was good or bad. Afterwards, students read a partner's email and give feedback.
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Food and Cooking Survey

ESL Food and Cooking Questions Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts, Freer Practice - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes

In this food and cooking activity, students conduct a survey where they ask and answer yes/no questions about eating and cooking habits. The students' task is to find out the information on a card by asking each student in the class a yes/no question, e.g. 'Do you like to eat raw vegetables?' Students make a note of the number of people who answer yes or no to their question on the card. When everyone has finished, each student reports back to the class on their findings. This can then lead on to a further discussion about the eating and cooking habits of the class.
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Food for Thought

ESL Food Discussion Activity - Speaking: Guided Discussion, Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Group work - Intermediate (B1) - 35 minutes

In this food discussion activity, students write about and discuss types of food and dishes. First, students read the categories on the worksheet and write an example of a food or dish for each one. In groups, students then discuss each category in turn and explain their answers to each other. Students ask follow-up questions and develop a short discussion about each topic. When the groups have finished, there is a class feedback session to discuss the students' answers.
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Fruit and Vegetable Games

ESL Fruit and Vegetable Games - Vocabulary: Pelmanism, Matching, Naming - Pair Work - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes

These free fruit and vegetable vocabulary games help students learn the names of fruit and vegetables. To begin, students play a pelmanism game where they take it in turns to turn over a vocabulary card and a picture card. If the word matches with the picture of the fruit or vegetable, the student scores a point. The student then writes the name of the fruit or vegetable on the back of the picture card, keeps it and has another turn. Afterwards, students put all the picture cards face up on the table and divide them into two sets: fruit and vegetables. Students then see if they can remember the names of the fruit and vegetables by choosing a picture card and then saying the word. The student then turns over the card to see if the word on the back of the card matches with their answer. If it does, the student keeps the card and scores a point. When all the cards have been used, students add up their points to see who the winner is.
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School Lunches

ESL Food and Nutrition Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Categorising, Table Completion, Comparing, Discussion, Answering Questions - Group Work - Intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes

In this food and nutrition activity, students categorize food items and plan a school lunch menu. First, students categorize food items on their worksheet into main dishes, carbohydrate side dishes, vegetable side dishes and desserts . Next, students use the food items and their own ideas to plan a weekly lunch menu for a school. Students write down a main dish, a carbohydrate side dish, a vegetable side dish and a dessert for each day. Students must also include at least one dish from their own country. In groups, students then compare their school lunch menus and say which school lunch they like the best and which lunches they think school children will like and dislike.
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Food and Drink Collocation Dominoes

ESL Food and Drink Collocations Game - Vocabulary: Matching - Upper-intermediate (B2) - 20 minutes

In this engaging food and drink collocations game, students play dominoes by matching adjectives and nouns together to form food or drink collocations and then using each collocation in a sentence. The first player puts a domino down either before or after the domino on the table, making sure the two dominoes form a food or drink collocation, e.g. stir-fried noodles. If the player makes an appropriate collocation, they score a point. For an extra point, the player then uses the food or drink collocation in a sentence. The other players then take it in turns to match the adjectives and nouns together by putting their dominoes down at either end of the domino chain and making a suitable sentence when a collocation is formed. The game ends when a player has gotten rid of all their dominoes. The player with the most points wins the game.
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Disappointed Diners

ESL Food and Drink Activity - Vocabulary: Information Gap, Table Completion, Gap-fill - Pair Work - Upper-intermediate (B2) - 20 minutes

In this food adjectives activity, students practice food words and adjectives by racing to complete information about problems people had with something they ate or drank. To begin, students complete missing information in a table by taking turns asking their partner what problems the people had with their food or drink, e.g. 'What problem did Sam have?' Students then complete the table with their partner's answers. Next, students refer to the information in the table and complete each sentence with one food adjective and one food word from a box. The first pair to complete all their sentences correctly wins.
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Gone in 30 Seconds

ESL Food Vocabulary Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Impromptu Speech - Pair Work - Upper-intermediate (B2) - 30 minutes

In this food vocabulary game, students talk about food-related words for 30 seconds. This game covers food adjectives, cooking verbs and other food vocabulary. Teams begin by adding five food-related words to their grid. Teams then take it in turns to call out coordinates for the second grid. The opposing team tells them the corresponding food-related word for that square and starts timing 30 seconds. If the team successfully talks about the word for 30 seconds, they write the word in the second grid and the other team crosses the word off their grid. If the team is unsuccessful, they can choose the same word again or choose another grid reference on their next turn. The first team to get five words in a row wins the game.
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Pizza and Pancakes

ESL Recipes Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions from Prompts - Group and Pair Work - Upper-intermediate (B1) - 25 minutes

In this engaging recipes activity, students complete recipes with cooking verbs. In two groups, students look at the first recipe on their worksheet and use verbs in a box to complete the recipe instructions. Next, students pair up with someone from the other group and take it in turns to complete a second recipe by asking their partner questions, e.g. 'What do you do with the butter?' Students ask at least one question for each missing verb. When both students have completed the second recipe, they compare them and discuss similarities and differences between them.
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