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