30 Food Conversation Questions for ESL Adults (Free PDF)

Ask a class what food they like and you will hear pizza, sushi and my mother's cooking, and then the room goes quiet. The topic is not the problem. The question is.

So these thirty are arranged the way a meal happens: what goes in the shopping cart, what happens at the stove, what gets said at the table, what the check starts, and the argument that comes after. Each of the five sets has a rule attached, and the rule is the only reason the answers run past three words.

Ten to fifteen minutes a set, A2 through to C1. Every set is also in the free Food Conversation Cards below: the six questions as cut-out cards, the rule on a green card for the middle of the table, and the words the rule makes students reach for.

The meal in five sets

#	Set	Level	Time
1	In the Cart	A2-B1	10 min
2	At the Stove	A2-B1	10 min
3	At the Table	B1-B2	10 min
4	The Check	B2-C1	15 min
5	The Argument	B2-C1	15 min

The five rule cards in the deckSet 1 · In the CartNo general wordsYour partner stops you at some, a few, stuff, things and a lot of. Say which one, and how much.Set 2 · At the StoveOne step, out loudBefore the next card, your partner must hear one step of the method. Not the dish, the step: You put the oil in first.Set 3 · At the TableNo delicious, tasty or niceAfter each answer your partner gives a verdict: I want it or I don't. Then they name the one word that decided it.Set 4 · The CheckOne-sentence verdictEnd every answer with a verdict in one sentence. The group votes, agree or disagree, before anybody comments.Set 5 · The ArgumentArgue the other sideSay which side is really yours. Then argue the side you do not hold. You get ninety seconds to prepare.Free · printable PDFFood Conversation CardsAll 30 questions below as cut-out cards, one page per set and numbered like this post. Each set has its green rule card for the middle of the table and a word strip with the language the rule asks for. Sets 4 and 5 add a worksheet each: a group verdict sheet and a sheet to prepare the side you don't hold. Page 9 puts all 30 on one page for online lessons.30 question cards5 rule cards2 worksheetsA2 to C1Download the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

Before you start

Deal one set at a time. Each pair gets the eight cards of one set: the green rule card face up in the middle, the six questions face down, the white card for a question of their own. The word strip stays on the table.
Model the rule once. Answer the first card yourself and let a student hold you to the rule. Pairs that have seen you caught out will catch each other.
One-to-one or online. You and your student both answer every card and hold each other to the rule. Online, share page 9 of the PDF, which has all 30 questions and the five rules on one page.

1. In the Cart

Questions about the fridge and the weekly shop. Easy to answer, and very easy to answer badly.

What is in your fridge right now that you will definitely eat this week?
What has been in there untouched for over a month?
What goes in your cart every week without you deciding to put it there?
What did you buy once, use once, and never buy again?
Which shelf or cupboard is the messiest, and what is on it?
What would a guest figure out about you from your kitchen?

1of 5A2-B1Pairs10 minFree printable · page 2

The rule: No general words

No general words are allowed. Not vegetables but which vegetable. Not some cheese but which cheese and how much is left. The partner challenges every some, a few, stuff and things, and the speaker has to replace it. Take away a lot of and they have to reach for half a bag or two spoonfuls. That is how the quantity language arrives, with nobody teaching it.

The tip

Phones face down and answers from memory. A student picturing their own kitchen door produces slower and better English than a student reading a photo of it.

The trap

The challenge feels rude the first time, and pairs abandon it by question two. Model it before they start. Say a few tomatoes about your own fridge, let a student pull you up on it, and answer properly. They will keep it going after that.

Free printable · page 2What's on page 2Page 2Up closeQuestion 1 as it prints: big enough to read across a table.✓The rule card for the middle of the table✓Questions 1 to 6 as cut-out cards, plus a blank card✓A word strip of quantity phrases: containers, pieces, how much is leftDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

Fridge Restock is the hour underneath this set, where much, many and a lot of get taught on a real shopping list instead of a grammar table. If your class is still short of the nouns, start one step earlier with the Food Vocabulary worksheet: 14 everyday food words, a real cafe menu and a shopping list.

The full hour behind set 1

Fridge RestockA1A2ProSee the Pro lesson →Food VocabularyA1A2ProWorksheetSee the Pro lesson →

2. At the Stove

Questions about cooking, including the cooking that went wrong.

What do you cook when you are too tired to cook?
What is the last thing you cooked that went wrong?
What can you make without looking anything up?
Who taught you to cook, and what did they teach you first?
What have you eaten that you could not identify?
What would you cook for a guest you had just met?

2of 5A2-B1Pairs10 minFree printable · page 3

The rule: One step, out loud

The partner cannot move to the next card until the speaker has said one step of the method out loud. Not the dish, the step. You put the oil in first, or you leave it for twenty minutes. That single instruction is what drags the cooking verbs out, and those verbs are the entire vocabulary load of this set.

The tip

Question 8 is the one to protect. Cooking failures are funny, students tell them well, and a class that has laughed once in the first ten minutes will give you the rest of the lesson.

The trap

Students who do not cook will stall on four of the six. Let them answer about the person who cooks in their home. Describing another person's method is the same language and slightly harder, which suits a strong student who happens to live on takeout.

Free printable · page 3What's on page 3Page 3Up closeQuestion 7, the one every student can answer tonight.✓The rule card for the middle of the table✓Questions 7 to 12 as cut-out cards, plus a blank card✓A word strip of method verbs, from peel to leave it for twenty minutesDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

Students will reach for boil, fry and roast and stop there. Boil, Fry, Bake! sorts that out, setting the methods against each other so a class learns why a cake is baked and a soup is simmered. In November, Pumpkin Recipe and Turkey Recipe give the same verbs a real recipe to follow on video.

The full hour behind set 2

Boil, Fry, Bake!A2B1ProWorksheetSee the Pro lesson →Pumpkin RecipeA2B1ProSee the Pro lesson →

3. At the Table

Describing food, which is harder than it sounds when the obvious words are gone.

Describe the best thing you have eaten this month without naming the dish.
Describe a dish from where you grew up to a classmate who has never heard of it.
Describe a food you loved as a child and cannot face now.
Describe something that tastes far better than it looks.
What gets talked about at your table, and what is never mentioned?
Who do you most like eating with, and what is it about them?

3of 5B1-B2Pairs10 minFree printable · page 4

The rule: No delicious, tasty or nice

After each description the partner says one of two things: either they now want to eat it, or they do not. Then they name the single word that decided it. Hunting for the word that lands is the whole of describing food, and without a verdict students give three adjectives and stop.

The tip

Ban delicious, tasty and nice inside the first minute. They are the three words a class reaches for, they carry no information at all, and a pair that loses them has to describe texture, temperature and what the food reminds them of instead.

The trap

The partner will say yes to everything out of kindness. Tell them a no is worth more, because the speaker learns more from a description that failed than from one that was politely accepted.

Free printable · page 4What's on page 4Page 4Up closeQuestion 13: describe it, but never name it.✓The rule card for the middle of the table✓Questions 13 to 18 as cut-out cards, plus a blank card✓A word strip of texture and taste words, with the two verdict linesDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

For a full hour of this, It Melts In My Mouth has a travel food writer doing exactly what the set asks for, and doing it well enough to copy.

The full hour behind set 3

It Melts In My MouthB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson →

4. The Check

Restaurants, prices and the moment the check arrives. Groups of three or four this time, because the rule needs a vote.

What makes a restaurant worth its price?
When is a bad review deserved, and when is it just a bad evening?
Should tipping be expected, built into the check, or gone?
What should a kitchen do when a dish comes back?
Is an expensive restaurant selling food, or something else?
What would make you leave a restaurant before you had eaten?

4of 5B2-C1Groups of 3-415 minFree printable · pages 5-6

The rule: One-sentence verdict

Every answer finishes with a verdict in one sentence, and the group votes on that sentence before the next question. The vote is what stops six questions turning into four people agreeing politely. Knowing a vote is coming makes students build toward a position instead of trailing off at the end.

The tip

Write the verdicts down as they land. By question 24 the group is looking at six sentences of its own, and asking which two contradict each other is the best ten minutes in this post. The verdict sheet on page 6 is set up for exactly that.

The trap

Groups drift into voting on whether they enjoyed the answer. Say the vote is agreement only, and take it before anybody is allowed to comment.

Free printable · pages 5-6What's on pages 5-6Page 6Up closeThe verdict sheet on page 6. Alone, a student writes a verdict for each card; a group writes the one it voted on and counts the hands.✓Page 5: the rule card, questions 19 to 24 and frames for the verdict and the vote✓Page 6: the verdict sheet, one line and one tally per card✓A box for the two verdicts that cannot both be trueDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

Coherence for reviews is the writing half of this, where students put two restaurant reviews side by side and work out which one holds together and why. For a lower-level class, the restaurant itself is in Menus Unplugged, a free A1-A2 lesson with four different menus to read and order from.

The full hour behind set 4

Coherence for reviewsB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson →Menus UnpluggedA1A2FreeOpen the free lesson →

5. The Argument

Food arguments with real stakes: waste, delivery, ownership, price.

Is throwing food away a personal failure or a system failure?
Has delivery made us eat better, or only more often?
Can a dish belong to a country?
If a cake is built to look like a handbag, is it still food?
Should healthy food cost less than junk food?
Is cooking a skill everybody should have, or a hobby like any other?

5of 5B2-C1Pairs15 minFree printable · pages 7-8

The rule: Argue the other side

Each student argues the side they do not hold, and states which side that is before they begin. Saying it out loud matters. Once a student has put their real position on the record, they can argue against it without feeling they are defending themselves. That is when the careful language shows up.

The tip

Ninety seconds of silence before each question. Arguing a case you disagree with is genuinely difficult, and with no preparation students slide back into their own view inside two sentences. The prep sheet on page 8 gives those ninety seconds a shape.

The trap

Question 27 gets heated, because students have real stakes in where a dish comes from. Keep it. Set the rule that each person describes the other side's argument before replying to it, and it stays a discussion.

Free printable · pages 7-8What's on pages 7-8Page 8Up closeThe prep sheet on page 8. Alone, a student fills in three boxes for three cards; in pairs, one box each, then they argue.✓Page 7: the rule card, questions 25 to 30 and the language for a side you don't hold✓Page 8: the prep sheet, three boxes for the ninety seconds✓Each box: the real view, the side argued, two reasons, one point to give awayDownload the free PDFUS Letter: PDF

Question 28 has an entire lesson behind it. Hyperrealistic Cakes is about cakes built to look like other objects, and whether the baker making them counts as an artist.

The full hour behind set 5

Hyperrealistic CakesB2C1ProSee the Pro lesson →

Food Conversation CardsThe 30 cards, five rule cards, two worksheets and the one-page screen version, in the order of this post.Download the free PDF

Mistakes your students will make

Teacher's reference

Slips to listen for in food conversations

Students say	Better
I don't have much vegetables.	I don't have many vegetables.
Vegetables can be counted, so many. Much is for rice, milk and cheese. Set 1 brings this out every time.
I bought a bread.	I bought a loaf of bread.
Bread cannot be counted. Students need a loaf of, a slice of or just some bread.
I cooked a cake.	I baked a cake.
Cakes and bread are baked. Cook is the general word, and set 2 is where the exact one gets asked for.
It tastes like delicious.	It tastes amazing.
Taste + adjective, taste like + noun: it tastes like smoke. And in set 3, delicious is banned anyway.
The soup was very delicious.	The soup was absolutely delicious.
Delicious already means very good, so it takes absolutely or really, not very.
I'm agree with you.	I agree with you.
Agree is a verb, so no am. Spanish estoy de acuerdo pulls toward it. Listen for it in the set 4 vote.
Can you bring the account?	Can we have the check, please?
From Spanish la cuenta and Portuguese a conta. In the US it is the check; British English says the bill.

Food lessons, if you want the full hour

These are already planned and ready to teach. Menus Unplugged is free to try, and the two worksheets are the quickest to drop into a lesson.

Level	Lesson	What students do
A1-A2	Menus Unplugged (free)	Read four different menus and order from them
A1-A2	Food Vocabulary	Worksheet: 14 food words, a cafe menu and a shopping list
A1-A2	Fridge Restock	Plan a week of shopping with much, many and a lot of
A1-A2	Dinner with Friends	Talk about cooking with other people, with some and any
A2-B1	Boil, Fry, Bake!	Worksheet: cooking methods taught as contrasts
A2-B1	Grocery Shopping	Watch a supermarket vlog and build a meal plan
A2-B1	Add To Cart	Informal shopping and food words through interviews
A2-B1	Coffee Geek	A street interview on coffee, then a role play at the counter
A2-B1	Do You Diet?	Diets students have tried, with countable and uncountable nouns
A2-B1	Pumpkin Recipe	Follow a roasted pumpkin recipe on video, step by step
A2-B1	Turkey Recipe	Cooking words through a Thanksgiving turkey recipe
A2-B1	Christmas Food	English Christmas dishes, then an international menu
B2-C1	It Melts In My Mouth	Describe food the way a travel food writer does
B2-C1	Hyperrealistic Cakes	Is the person making a sculpted cake a baker or an artist?
B2-C1	Coherence for reviews	Compare a strong and a weak restaurant review