How To Talk About Food In German

Chances are, you could spend a week in Germany and get away with just knowing das Schnitzel and das Bier in German. But you might want to expand your German food vocab at least a little bit more than that. Whether you’ll be eating out at restaurants every night or attending an intimate dinner party, you’ll want to know some simple terms for food and drink. Here’s a helpful sampler of vocabulary, as well as audio so you can practice the pronunciations as you learn German.

Meal-Related Words

to eat — essen

the starter — die Vorspeise

the main dish — die Hauptspeise

the side dish — die Beilage

the dessert — die Nachspeise

vegetarian —vegetarisch

vegan — vegan

gluten-free — glutenfrei

lactose-free — laktosefrei

Food Words

the meat — das Fleisch

the beef — das Rindfleisch

the pork — das Schweinefleisch

the poultry — das Geflügel

the fish — der Fisch

the seafood — die Meeresfrüchte

the vegetables — das Gemüse

the chicken — das Huhn

the lamb — das Lamm

the fruit — das Obst

the potato — die Kartoffel

the cheese — der Käse

the bread — das Brot

Drink Words

to drink — trinken

the drink — das Getränk

the lemonade — die Limonade

the mineral water — das Mineralwasser

the juice — der Saft

the coffee — der Kaffee

the milk — die Milch

the wine — der Wein

the beer — das Bier

the tea — der Tee

the tap water — das Leitungswasser