“菜”是“food”、“dish”、“meal”還是“cuisine”？

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是我們使用最廣泛的一個(gè)詞，指你能吃的任何東西(食物)。香蕉是food，漢堡包是food，沙拉也是food。不論簡(jiǎn)單的(像一片面包)和復(fù)雜的(像是用很多配料燉的海鮮)都屬于food的一般范疇。

例：

What’s your favorite food?

你最喜歡吃什么?

Let’s go get some food.

我們?nèi)コ渣c(diǎn)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經(jīng)常用作單數(shù)形式，你應(yīng)該說“I ate a lot of food last night.”，這里不能用foods。但是也有一些例外，我們說多種不同種類的食物時(shí)，用foods，復(fù)數(shù)形式。比方說，“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這個(gè)詞有兩個(gè)意思。一種是用來盛食物、做飯和上菜的容器。當(dāng)我們說洗dishes時(shí)，我們是在洗盤子、碗、鍋、盤、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這個(gè)詞也可以指一種做好的食物，比如千層面或者水果沙拉。如果你參加一種叫“百樂餐”的社交活動(dòng)，每個(gè)人都會(huì)帶一道菜(dish)——某人帶一份沙拉，另一個(gè)人帶一個(gè)蘋果派，還有一個(gè)人帶燉牛肉等等。每一種準(zhǔn)備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).

在餐館里，你可能會(huì)遇到主菜(main dish)(分量比較大的菜，如牛排)和配菜(side dish)(分量比較小的，如一小碗西蘭花)。

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這個(gè)詞指的是我們進(jìn)食的習(xí)慣時(shí)間或場(chǎng)合。大多數(shù)人吃三餐(meals)：早餐，午餐和晚餐。Meal也指在以上某個(gè)吃飯場(chǎng)合吃的所有食物，所以一頓飯(meal)可以包括多個(gè)菜(dishes)。晚餐是一個(gè)meal，但是你可能會(huì)吃多個(gè)食物，比如吃雞肉、米飯、沙拉和冰淇淋。上面說的每個(gè)食物都是一道dish，如果把它們放在一起吃，就成了一頓meal。

A meal may include many dishes.

一頓飯可能會(huì)包含很多菜。

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

你可以有一頓豐盛的飯(有很多食物)，也可以有一頓簡(jiǎn)單的飯(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這個(gè)詞描述了一種典型的烹飪方式。我們通常用這個(gè)詞與國(guó)家形容詞(意大利菜、巴西菜、摩洛哥菜)或民族或地區(qū)形容詞(卡津菜、猶太菜、南印度菜)搭配使用。

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

在日常英語(yǔ)中，我們簡(jiǎn)單地用food來指我們要吃的東西：

I love Chinese food.

我喜歡中國(guó)菜。

Do you want to try some Ethiopian food?

你想嘗嘗埃塞俄比亞菜嗎

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

當(dāng)說到更為具體的(像是包括烹飪技巧，傳統(tǒng)習(xí)俗)，我們會(huì)用cuisine：

Palm oil is used prominently in West African cuisine.

棕櫚油在西非菜系中被廣泛使用。

The chef specializes in French cuisine.

這位廚師專做法國(guó)菜。

總結(jié)：

food可以概括我們能吃的所有“食物”

dish一般指做好的，可以供人享用的一或幾道“菜”

meal指我們的“一日三餐”的“餐”

cuisine主要針對(duì)地方或有特色的“菜系”

今天的內(nèi)容你都學(xué)會(huì)了嗎?