Food and diet vocabulary: the words that lift a frequent topic.
Food, diet and health run through Task 2 and Part 3, from nutrition to obesity and food policy. The ideas are familiar; the marks are in precise, topic-specific language. Swap the everyday word for the right collocation and the same point reads a band higher.
Why this matters. Lexical Resource is a quarter of your mark, and on a familiar topic the examiner has read the plain version a thousand times. The lift is not rarer words; it is accurate collocation used naturally. A common phrase used correctly beats a showy word used wrongly, every time.
Four clusters that cover most Food questions.
You do not need a glossary. You need a handful of accurate collocations in each of these areas, ready to deploy.
Diet & nutrition
a balanced diet · nutritional value · essential nutrients · eating habits
What we eat and its quality, the base lexis.
A balanced diet provides essential nutrients.
Unhealthy eating
processed food · junk food · high in sugar and fat · a poor diet
The problem side, a common Task 2 line.
Diets high in sugar contribute to obesity.
Health effects
obesity · diet-related illness · life expectancy · malnutrition
What food does to health, where Task 2 lands.
Obesity is linked to diet-related illness.
Food & society
fast food outlets · food labelling · a sugar tax · home cooking
How diet is shaped and managed, where Part 3 reaches.
A sugar tax aims to cut consumption.
Name the nutrient or effect
The weak answer says “eating bad food is unhealthy”. The lift is precise: a balanced diet, processed food, obesity, diet-related illness. One accurate term signals control.
The same point, from Band 6 to Band 8.
At Band 5
Food is discussed with very general words (healthy food, junk food, fat, bad), with vague verbs (eating too much is bad). Precise terms (balanced diet, obesity) are missing.
At Band 6
“People eat too much junk food these days, which is unhealthy and makes them put on weight.” The idea is fine, but general.
At Band 7
“A diet high in processed food and sugar contributes to obesity and a range of diet-related illnesses.” Topic collocations (processed food, obesity, diet-related illnesses) carry real information.
At Band 8+
“While individuals bear some responsibility for their eating habits, cheap, heavily marketed processed food makes a balanced diet harder to sustain.” Precise lexis, abstraction, and a controlled complex sentence.
The upgrade most worth making.
Each swap takes a vague, everyday phrase and replaces it with the collocation an examiner expects on this topic. Use them where they fit naturally, not all at once.
| Instead of… | Use… | For example |
|---|---|---|
| healthy eating | a balanced diet | A balanced diet supports good health. |
| bad food | processed / junk food | Processed food is often high in salt. |
| getting fat | weight gain / obesity | Obesity rates continue to rise. |
| food with lots of sugar | high in sugar | Fizzy drinks are high in sugar. |
| illness from a bad diet | diet-related illness | Diet-related illness burdens health systems. |
| cooking at home | home cooking | Home cooking is often healthier. |
| tax on sugary drinks | a sugar tax | A sugar tax can cut consumption. |
| information on packets | food labelling | Clear food labelling helps shoppers. |
Two cautions. Weigh personal choice against wider factors such as price and marketing rather than blaming individuals. And keep it impersonal in Task 2. For the general method, see vocabulary & cohesion →
Say it another way.
The Lexical Resource descriptors reward paraphrase, and an answer that echoes the question’s own words proves nothing about your range. Each row takes a phrase the question will hand you and shows the version worth writing instead.
| The question says… | You can write… | For example |
|---|---|---|
| eat healthy food | eat a balanced diet | Children who eat a balanced diet concentrate better in class. |
| junk food | processed food / food high in sugar and saturated fat | Processed food is engineered to be eaten past the point of hunger. |
| people getting fatter | rising obesity / diet-related illness | Rising obesity now costs health services more than smoking. |
| cooking at home | home-cooked meals / home cooking | Home-cooked meals lose to convenience unless someone has time to cook them. |
| food from nearby farms | locally sourced ingredients | Restaurants advertise locally sourced ingredients because diners now ask. |
One caution. Paraphrase the idea once, early, and then move on. Recycling every synonym you know reads as display, not control, and control is what the band descriptors actually reward.
Twenty to drill.
Choose the more precise, topic-appropriate option for each gap. Press Check answers for your score and the reason behind each one. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Ten to produce.
Recognising the right word above is the easy half. Now type the word each sentence needs. The first letter is given, and every answer appears somewhere on this page. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Then use it where it counts. Now take it into the exam. The speaking topic bank carries a Food & cooking topic where this lexis earns its keep, and the word upgrader will ladder the plain words you still fall back on.
You can collect topic words. Using the right one, accurately, under timed pressure is the work.
Memorised “big” words used wrongly cost marks; precise collocations used naturally earn them, and the difference is hard to judge in your own writing.
In a lesson I mark your topic vocabulary the way an examiner does, where a collocation is exactly right, where it is forced, and where a plain word would have been stronger. Lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English; the first lesson doubles as a full assessment. This page is drawn from the vocabulary work in The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking.
The book of the method
The Proper English Grammar Guide to IELTS Speaking
The method this site drills for free, written down properly: five response frameworks, thirteen grammatical structures taken to automation, vocabulary by band, pronunciation with audio demonstrations one scan away, and first-language guidance for eight language families. 614 pages, built from more than two thousand documented one-to-one lessons. Most guides teach every candidate the same English; this one starts from what your first language makes you do.
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