CANTO-FOOD

CANTONESE EATING IS MORE THAN JUST FOOD

We are here today to take you on a tasty journey by sharing our favorite Cantonese foods and some idioms you can use daily related to the culinary world. 

Have you ever heard of dim sum baskets, silky cheung fun, char siu, and savoury congee? These are some of our favourite foods and traditional dishes we consider central to our culture. Tasting them, you get that warm feeling of community and comfort that only Asian food can provide. 

But guess what! Cantonese food is not just about eating; it is deeply involved in everyday speech. In today’s newsletter, we are going to see some food-themed slang that can be found in daily conversations.

• 口痕 (hau² han⁴, “itchy mouth”): It means craving a snack because of boredom or restlessness. It can also mean: overly and/or inappropriately talkative.
• I always get 口痕 after the 4 pm meeting, and I snack on whatever is available.
• 餓底 (ngo⁶ dai², “hungry base”): It is used to refer to someone who is always hungry
• Ryan is definitely a 餓底 - he once had two meals in an hour.
• 食檸檬 (sik6 ning4 mung, eating lemon): meaning another person has rejected your romantic advance.
• He finally asked her out after weeks of texting... but she said no. Oof, he totally 食檸檬.
• 食花生 (sik6 faa1 sang, eat peanuts) which means to stand aside and watch the drama unfold. Or it can also mean “sit on one’s hand” and not doing work.
• Everyone in the group chat was arguing, and I was just there 食花生, watching it all go down.

好食/唔好食 (hou²sik⁶/ m⁴hou² sik⁶, yummy/not yummy): So you can let people know if you like the dish or not!

I didn’t really enjoy the soup... 好食/唔好食