Acerbic is anything sour, bitter, or sharp – cutting, caustic, acid, mordant, barbed, prickly, biting, pointed. The opposite flavor would be mild, sweet, or honeyed.
Acidic is food with a sharp taste. Often used to refer to tart or sour foods.
Acrid taste can be considered pungent, bitter, choking, sharp, unpleasant, harsh – sharp, cutting, caustic, bitter, vitriolic, mordant, trenchant – sour, tart, sharp, biting, acerbic.
Aftertaste is the trace, hint, smack, relish, savor food leaves behind.
Ambrosia is the food of the gods, and epicurean delight, food fit for a king, delicacy, heavenly spread, gastronomical delight, some apply this term to the pièce de résistance in a meal.
Ambrosial is, therefore, fit for the gods, delectable, mouthwatering, heavenly, savory, delicious, tasty, toothsome, divine. It is not distasteful or disgusting at all.
Appealing food is attractive, tempting, interesting, pleasing, alluring, likable, engaging, charming, fascinating, glamorous. It is never repulsive, disgusting, or repellent.
Appetite is the hunger, craving, desire, taste, ravenousness, sweet tooth, thirst, penchant, or passion we experience. When we have an appetite for something, we don't find it revulsive, repulsive, or distasteful.
Appetizing is everything we find appealing, mouth-watering, delectable, savory, delicious, palatable, inviting, tantalizing, toothsome, luscious, tempting, tasty, enticing. Makes yuo feel like you want to eat it. Opposed to what we find nauseating, sickening, repulsive, unappetizing, revolting.
Aromatic is food that has a pleasant smell.
Astringent is biting, harsh, sharp, cutting, acerbic, severe, rough, acrid, mordant, caustic. It is not mild, soft, gentle.
Biting taste means caustic, piercing, penetrating, stinging, sharp, severe, mordant, stinging. It is not gentle, balmy, or soothing.
Bitter is acrid, tart, sour, harsh, acidic, vinegary, acerbic. The opposite of sweet, honeyed, mild, gentle, warm.
Brackish means salty, briny, saline.
Briny, Another word for salty. Often used to describe pickled foods.
Buttery food has a similar texture or taste to butter.
Caustic is something cutting, biting, acid, acidic, sharp, astringent, stinging, scathing, excoriating. To say the opposite, you would call it mild, sweet, or smooth.
Chewy food needs to be chewed a lot before swallowing, usually not a pleasant experience.
Choice can mean selection or pick, but in relation with food -like a choice steak- means more often superior, excellent, select, top-notch, fine, first-rate, high-quality, cream of the crop, vintage, prime. second rate.
Citrusy is a bright flavor like that of lemons, limes, oranges and other citrus fruits.
Cooling is taste that mimics the feeling of cold temperature. Often used to describe mint.
Creamy is smooth and rich food, infrequently applied to sauces or dessert.
Crispy food is firm, dry, and brittle, typically in a way considered pleasing or attractive.
Crunchy is food that makes a sharp noise when bitten or crushed.
Decadent, in the context of food, is about indulgence, luxury, and potentially the pleasure one derives from eating something that is possibly not very good for one's health if consumed in large quantities or too frequently.
Delectable food is delicious, tasty, mouth-watering, appetizing, scrumptious, luscious, enjoyable, palatable, delightful, toothsome, pleasing, satisfying. Never tasteless, disgusting, or nauseating.
Delicious meals are tasty, appetizing, scrumptious, yummy, luscious, delectable, mouth-watering, fit for a king, delightful, lovely, wonderful, pleasant, enjoyable, appealing, enchanting, charming and highly pleasant to the taste. You wouldn't call delicious that what is tasteless or unpleasant.
Divine cooking is fit for the gods, heavenly, godly, celestial, great, marvelous, delightful, lovely, blissful. Nothing earthly.
Dry food can be desiccated and withered like an old prune. Sometimes dry food keeps better, as beans and pulses; then being dry is a desirable trait. The dry weight –the solid part- in canned food gives you an idea of the real nutritional value. But most times dry food is juiceless and tasteless, lacking moisture -it will need a sauce. Food with a sharp, biting taste, or with a high proportion of strong alcohol is also dry. Food eaten without any spread, sauce or garnish would be eaten dry. Overcooked meat gets dry, having lost all juices.
Dulcet is sweet, honeyed, pleasant, in a gentle way, something in harmony with your taste or likings. It is never harsh.
Dulcified is what has been made sweeter, or softer, in taste, edulcorated, sweetened.
Earthy is reminiscent of fresh soil. Often used to describe red wines, root vegetables, and mushrooms.
Fatty food contains a lot of fat and is frequently greasy.
Fermented foods often have a distinctive, strong, salty and slightly sour flavor. The taste can be funky, umami, tart, sweet or savory.
Fiery is a taste that feels as though it gives off heat. Another word for spicy.
Flaky food tends to break into small thin pieces, like puff pastry.
Flavored equals seasoned; food that has been given flavor, by normal seasoning or by artificial flavoring. Which flavor? Any, but by being flavored, it is sure to give some kind of taste experience.
Flavorful, obviously full of flavor, or you could say, instead, flavorsome, tasty, tangy, appetizing, palatable, savory or sweet -for a particular flavor- and, if you want to try less known words, sapid or saporous. It wouldn’t be flavorless, tasteless, bland, flat, or insipid.
Flavoring or seasoning, anything added to food for the flavor it imparts or the act of adding flavor to food. Think of herbs, spices, condiments, seasonings, or some food additives as different flavorings.
Flavorsome indicates good tasting, full of flavor, specifically pleasant flavor; implying delicious, tasty, appetizing, scrumptious, yummy, juicy, succulent, heavenly, inviting, luscious, mouthwatering, palatable, saporous, savory; may be divine, toothsome, and tempting. Consider flavorsome just the opposite of distasteful, nauseating, repulsive, sickening, unappetizing, unsavory.
Fruity food will be having a taste, smell or flavor of fruit; anything tasting or smelling richly of or as of fruit. A wine full of fruity flavors will probably be considered concentrated, full-bodied, full-flavored, heady, heavy, lusty, mellow, potent, redolent, rich, strong, well-matured.
Full-bodied is rich flavor that can feel heavy in the mouth. Often used to describe wines.
Gamy refers to the flavor or strong odor of game, especially game that is starting to spoil. It would be malodorous and rancid, certainly not fresh. It is a word more often applied to other areas than to food.
Gooey food is soft and sticky.
Greasy food is covered with or full of fat or oil.
Gustatory, relating to the sense of taste, to the sensation in the taste buds.
Harsh, unpleasant to the taste, abrasive, coarse, acerbic, astringent, biting, bitter, caustic, cutting, dry, mordant, nasty, sharp, stinging, vitriolic. Not smooth.
Hearty food is wholesome and substantial, satisfactory.
Heavenly, considered divine, wonderful, blissful, delightful, lovely, fantastic, glorious, sublime; opposed to horrible and dreadful.
Herbal/ Herbaceous is a bright, fresh or sometimes earthy taste created by the incorporation of herbs.
Honey, honeyed and let us say sweet, sugar, sweetened, sugarcoated, syrupy, candied. Never harsh, acerbic or salty flavor.
Hot as in burning, scorching, boiling, blistering, sizzling, searing, blazing, torrid; or hot as in spicy, peppery, piquant, pungent, so strong flavored that makes one feel burning, fiery, intense, vehement, ardent, fervent flavors – definitely not cold, mild, soft or tasteless.
Juicy food is succulent, luscious, thirst quenching, moist, ripe, usually flavorful, full of juice, many times fascinating. Dry and bland don’t apply.
Luscious food and we are talking juicy, moist food; delicious and delectable food; scrumptious or succulent food; super tasty, toothsome, more than palatable, surely mouthwatering food. Dry, disgusting or nauseating? No way!
Lush would be a rich, lavish, opulent meal; sumptuous, luxurious, certainly abundant. You would not be presented with sparse food, a scanty meal or a thin plate.
Mellow flavor is smooth, rich, full, soft, or melodious; usually a pleasant, fully developed flavor reached after an adequate aging period. In this sense of matured, softened, developed flavor, is often used when writing about cheese or wine. But it could be used perfectly for preserved or canned food, or to describe a particularly rich dish.
Mouth-watering is that savory, flavorful, succulent, gorgeous, delicious food which gets you salivating, by no means unappetizing or distasteful.
Nectarous stands for ambrosial, delicious or sweet; something that reminds you of nectar, the drink of the gods –in Greek mythology, therefore it would seem more to the point using it for liquids than for solid food. Any sweet, stimulating drink could be nectar to your lips.
Nutty is any taste similar to the flavor of nuts. Often used to describe cheeses.
Palatable indicates edible, pleasant, tasty, just OK, appetizing, toothsome, I would not say delicious. Palatable food is acceptable to the palate, something in between mouthwatering and foul. It is NOT inedible, tasteless, or disgusting either.
Say peppery and piquant comes to the mind. Others could think of gingery, spicy, hot, fiery, sharp, stinging, pungent or somehow lively and strong. Tasting like pepper, no one would think it mild.
Pickled would account for that briny flavor that food preserved in a pickling liquid gets. Food is pickled, marinated or cured –pickling would prevent from spoiling- in some liquid with plenty of salt, vinegar, or similar, and spices.
Piquant and salty, savory, spicy, tasty or zesty are very similar words. Also to be considered having a pleasant pungent taste, hot, tangy, agreeably biting or sharp; never bland or insipid.
Pungent can be seen as strong, spicy, hot, heady, overpowering, sharp, biting, a penetrating taste or smell; or you could take it by the forceful, biting, cutting, caustic, acerbic side. Forget about bland or mild.
Rancid food is bad, stale, rotten, completely off, the opposite of fresh food.
Rank means pungent but in the fetid, smelly, foul, stale, rancid, definitely bad way, offensive to the smell or taste and not fresh.
Rich food is full, heavy, dripping, full-bodied, robust; a rich table is plentiful, abundant, loaded, ample, copious, stuffed. None of them is lacking or plain. Often used to describe foods containing cream.
Robust is a rich taste with some earthiness. Often used to describe wine or aged liquors.
Saccharine is another way to say sugary, syrupy, maybe treacly; certainly, it’s overly sweet and opposite to bitter.
Saline or salty could almost be used without distinction or they could be substituted by briny or brackish because both contain salt. Salty food is sure to be savory. Remember, salty is one of the basic tastes.
Sapid, saporific, or saporous foods are full of flavor, flavorsome.
Savory has flavor. Which one? It might be salty, spicy, pungent, sweet or plainly aromatic and flavorful, but the taste would be pleasant and agreeable. An umami taste. Often used to describe meaty, earthy foods and broths.
Scrumptious is shouting “eat me!” It is delicious, delectable, mouthwatering, tasty, delightful, gorgeous, lip smacking, yummy, wonderful in taste and aroma; never unappetizing, unappealing, or tasteless. Think of a scrumptious pie is very appetizing, pleasing to your taste, your sense of taste.
Sec is another way to say medium dry, un-sweet. This word is borrowed from wine world.
Sharp incisive, harsh, sour, tangy, acid, pungent, tart, bitter; it could be acerbic or astringent, but it is not bland. Often used to describe acidic foods.
Smoky food has the taste or aroma of smoke.
Sour is one of the basic tastes. It is acid, lemon-like or vinegary, tart, bitter, acerbic. Sour food has a sharp biting taste and, certainly, is not sweet.
Spicy food has the piquant, hot, fiery, burning taste of spices. We are talking of highly spiced, piquant, zesty food, certainly savory. It can be also described after the predominant spice, like peppery or gingery food. This is the opposite of mild food.
Strong tasting food is highly flavored i.e. highly seasoned, concentrated flavor, intense, pungent, and as such piquant, hot, spicy and sharp, with an intense aroma. The flavor is never weak or faint. A strong wine is high in alcoholic content.
Succulent food is juicy, moist, tender, lush, luscious food; usually sweet tasting and the opposite to dry, flavorless food.
Sugary or sweet means syrupy, candied, sugar coated, honeyed, sweetened, sugared, maybe saccharine; opposite to bitter, unsweetened or sugarless.
Sweet food has the pleasant taste characteristic of sugar or honey.
Sweet-and-sour, a Chinese specialty and also said of a dish that has a pleasant taste and a bitter or sharp touch in contrast.
Sweetened or syrupy are other ways to say sweet, sugared, candied, honeyed, sugar coated
Tang applied to food refers to a tart spiciness. Describe it as that taste experience which leaves the tongue tingling after taking food to the mouth. Flavor, relish, savor, smack, zest, tanginess, piquancy, nip, all those words can be written in place of tang. Bland or dull food is just the opposite.
Tangy is a tart, biting taste that feels tingly in the mouth.
Tart sharp, sharp-tasting that is, bitter, acid or acidic, harsh, sour taste, just like a lemon. Sweet, honeyed and the like words are the opposite.
Tasteful or full of flavor, flavorful, food; it could mean refined, sophisticated, stylish or classy when it refers to the layout of a dish –the realm of a food stylist; the opposite? The answer is tasteless.
Tasteless is the opposite of tasteful or tasty. We are talking bland, flavorless, flat, insipid, weak, dull, savorless, plain, unseasoned, unsavory, unflavored, probably unappetizing food.
Tasting, sensing and distinguishing food by means of your taste buds. A tasting will usually mean a small sample of wine or food. To have a tasting means taking a small amount of food or wine to test its quality. But, sometimes, the only way to describe food is to say food was good tasting, or it tasted foul.
Tender food is easy to cut or chew; not tough.
Toothsome, strictly used, refers to edible and pleasant food, or you could even write tasty, appetizing or delicious instead, something pleasant to the sense of taste. But you will see it very often meaning healthy food, good tasting food that has something more than good taste going for it. The opposite will be inedible, tasteless, disgusting or foul… yucky!
Treacly is sweet but overly so, syrupy and saccharine to the point of being disgusting.
Umami is a Japanese term for the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. It's described as a particular taste associated with a rich, savory flavor found in foods like meat, cheese, and mushrooms...
Unsweetened or no added sugar, no added sweet flavor; probably sugarless, plain or bitter in taste, but not always. Unsweetened tea is not to everyone’s taste, but unsweetened fruit juices are perfect, as there is no need to add any sweetener to something it is already sweet. Opposites are sweet, saccharine, or syrupy.
Food with a vinegary flavor would taste like vinegar. It would be acetous, sour, acid, acidic, tart, astringent, pungent, harsh, acrid; never sweet.
Yeasty is an earthy taste reminiscent of yeast. Often used to describe beer and bread.
Woody is an earthy sometimes nutty taste. Often used to describe coffees or cheeses.
Zesty food has a vivid, spicy, piquant, utterly savory flavor; feels invigorating, stimulating, fresh and reviving. Food with a zesty flavor never soothing or dull; this is exactly the opposite.