「菜」是「food」、「dish」、「meal」還是「cuisine」？

FOOD

Food is the most general word, referring to anything you can eat. A banana is food. A hamburger is food. A salad is food. Simple things (like a piece of bread) and complex things (like a seafood stew with many ingredients) are all in the general category of food.

Food是我們使用最廣泛的一個詞，指你能吃的任何東西（食物）。香蕉是food，漢堡包是food，沙拉也是food。不論簡單的（像一片麵包）和複雜的（像是用很多配料燉的海鮮）都屬於food的一般範疇。

例：

What』s your favorite food?

你最喜歡吃什麼？

Let』s go get some food.

我們去吃點什麼吧。

The word food is usually singular – so you should say 「I ate a lot of food (not foods) last night.」 But there are some exceptions – we use foods, plural, when specifically talking about multiple distinct types, for example, 「At the international festival, I tried foods from around the world.」

Food經常用作單數形式，你應該說「I ate a lot of food last night.」，這裡不能用foods。但是也有一些例外，我們說多種不同種類的食物時，用foods，複數形式。比方說，「At the international festival, I tried foods from around the world.」

DISH

The word dish has two meanings. One is a physical object used to hold, cook, and serve food. When we talk about washing the dishes, we are washing the plates, bowls, pots, pans, spoons, forks, etc.

Dish這個詞有兩個意思。一種是用來盛食物、做飯和上菜的容器。當我們說洗dishes時，我們是在洗盤子、碗、鍋、盤、匙、叉等。

The word dish can also refer to one prepared item of food, like a lasagna or a fruit salad. If you go to a type of social event called a potluck, each person who attends brings a dish – one person brings a salad, another person brings an apple pie, another person brings beef stew, etc. Each of these prepared items of food is a dish.

Dish這個詞也可以指一種做好的食物，比如千層面或者水果沙拉。如果你參加一種叫「百樂餐」的社交活動，每個人都會帶一道菜（dish）——某人帶一份沙拉，另一個人帶一個蘋果派，還有一個人帶燉牛肉等等。每一種準備好的食物都是一道菜（dish）。

At a restaurant, you might encounter the terms main dish (a large amount of food – like a steak) and side dish (a small amount of food that accompanies the main dish – like a small bowl of broccoli).

在餐館裡，你可能會遇到主菜（main dish）(分量比較大的菜，如牛排)和配菜（side dish）(分量比較小的，如一小碗西蘭花)。

MEAL

The word meal refers to the customary time/occasion of eating food. Most people eat 3 meals – breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Meal also refers to all the food eaten during one of these occasions – so one meal can include multiple dishes. Dinner is one meal, but you might have chicken, rice, salad, and ice cream. Each of those is one dish, and when eaten all together on one occasion, they are a meal.

Meal這個詞指的是我們進食的習慣時間或場合。大多數人吃三餐（meals）：早餐，午餐和晚餐。Meal也指在以上某個吃飯場合吃的所有食物，所以一頓飯（meal）可以包括多個菜（dishes）。晚餐是一個meal，但是你可能會吃多個食物，比如吃雞肉、米飯、沙拉和冰淇淋。上面說的每個食物都是一道dish，如果把它們放在一起吃，就成了一頓meal。

A meal may include many dishes.

一頓飯可能會包含很多菜。

You might have abig/heavy meal(with a lot of food) or alight meal(with little food).

你可以有一頓豐盛的飯（有很多食物），也可以有一頓簡單的飯（只有很少食物）。

CUISINE

The word cuisine describes a typical manner/style of preparing food. We usually use this word with with country adjectives (Italian cuisine, Brazilian cuisine, Moroccan cuisine) or ethnic or regional adjectives (Cajun cuisine, Jewish cuisine, South Indian cuisine).

Cuisine這個詞描述了一種典型的烹飪方式。我們通常用這個詞與國家形容詞(義大利菜、巴西菜、摩洛哥菜)或民族或地區形容詞(卡津菜、猶太菜、南印度菜)搭配使用。

In everyday English, however, many people simply say 「food」 when talking about getting something to eat:

在日常英語中，我們簡單地用food來指我們要吃的東西：

I love Chinese food.

我喜歡中國菜。

Do you want to try some Ethiopian food?

你想嘗嘗衣索比亞菜嗎

When talking more specifically about the techniques and traditions, then we would say cuisine:

當說到更為具體的（像是包括烹飪技巧，傳統習俗），我們會用cuisine：

Palm oil is used prominently in West African cuisine.

棕櫚油在西非菜系中被廣泛使用。

The chef specializes in French cuisine.

這位廚師專做法國菜。

總結：

food可以概括我們能吃的所有「食物」

dish一般指做好的，可以供人享用的一或幾道「菜」

meal指我們的「一日三餐」的「餐」

cuisine主要針對地方或有特色的「菜系」

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