65 food and cooking utensils glossaries

Everyone loves food – be it Indian, French or Mexican. As for cooking, well, some love it, some hate it. But either way, if you struggle with terminology in this field or if you are looking to specialise as a translator in this area, then this is the place for you. We have carefully selected a number of glossaries covering general cooking terms, terms specific to certain cuisines and also utensils. To make this page user-friendly, we have created several categories to help you find what you need.

General cooking terms

About.com – This is a webpage featuring both a dictionary and a glossary of cooking-related terms.

All Words – A very well-researched glossary and dictionary of cooking terms.

Amazing Ribs – A glossary listing and defining words related to cooking and barbecue.

Better Homes and gardens – This is a glossary containing cooking terms explained in an easy-to-understand way.

Eat better early – A glossary that explains over 1,000 terms related to cooking (including equipment, ingredients and techniques).

Chef Depot – This is a glossary listing and explaining food and cooking-related terms, arranged alphabetically.

Chefed – A page on which you will find a list of cooking-related and restaurant-related words and their explanations.

Colonial Williamsburg – This is a list containing 18th century cooking-related words and a brief explanation for each term.

Cooking.com – A list of words related to cooking, cooking equipment and tools and their definitions.

Cuisine dy Monde – A short but comprehensive glossary of the most important cuisine-related terms.

Culinary Software Services – This is a detailed glossary of culinary terms, offering a short but comprehensive explanation for each of them.

Dairy Goodness – You will find here the most important terms related to cheese and cheese processing, arranged alphabetically.

Esquire – This is a short glossary containing terms related to sandwiches, each explained in a comprehensive way.

Food Safety and Inspection Service – This well-researched glossary lists food safety terms and acronyms.

FoodWorks International – Easy to understand culinary terminology.

Fruits info – A glossary of terms related to fruits, with a comprehensive definition for each of the terms.

Gode Cookery – A very interesting glossary containing terms related to medieval cooking.

Good Housekeeping – This is a dictionary that explains the most common cooking terms.

Hub Pages – A glossary containing words related to food and cooking, focusing on those which have a French origin.

Hungry Monster – This is a glossary that contains very detailed explanations regarding foods, types of foods (including ethnic food) and popular brands of foods.

International Gourmet – This is a glossary containing the most important cooking terms and techniques and a short explanation for each one.

Iowa State university – A website dedicated to terms connected to food safety, arranged alphabetically.

Kids Cooking Activities – A glossary containing cooking terms and a very comprehensive explanation for each of them.

Linda’s Culinary Dictionary – In addition to presenting a wide range of cooking-related terms, this website also explains the history behind them.

Melinda Lee – Some of the most important cooking terms (including words related to the Mexican cuisine) and a very detailed definition for each of them.

Momo – This is a collection of terms with a special focus on spices. Each definition is accompanied by a picture.

Norish Interactive – You will find here a list of the most basic cooking-related terms, explained in a friendly way.

Oldways – Here you can find a list of well-explained terms connected to diet food.

OKChef – OKChef.org collates information for culinary arts education, including an extensive video glossary of culinary terms, which is what sets them apart from other glossaries.

SOS Cuisine – A glossary and dictionary containing a wide range of cooking and food-related terms.

The Cook’s Thesaurus – The Cook’s Thesaurus features a glossary of terms related to foods and cooking, categorised according to their type (vegetables, fruits, grains, etc.)

The Curry House – On this webpage you will find a list of terms related to curry (including cooking styles and dishes).

The Kitchen Hacker – You will find here terms related to food and the industry of cooking.

The Nibble – On this website you will find a list of glossaries containing food-related words categorised according to their type (beef, cheese, pasta, rice, sandwiches, and so on).

University of Minessota Duluth – Here you will find a list of the most important cooking terms and their definitions.

Cuisine-specific terminology

Zindagee – This is an Indian-cuisine related list of terms, explained in a comprehensive way.

The Great British Kitchen – A webpage that has put together a collection of nicely explained British food-related terms.

Spices of India – This website page features a well-researched dictionary of Indian cuisine-related terms.

Sushi Restaurants Worldwide – You can browse through a list of sushi-related terms (from types of fish, fish-related terms, spices, noodles and sushi ingredients to beverage terminology, cooking and other useful phrases).

Mex Grocer – A glossary of Mexican cuisine-related terms (including spices, foods and beverages).

Lo Mexicano – A glossary containing Spanish and Mexican food-related words and their short explanations.

La Tienda – Here you will find listed and explained the most important words related to Spanish cuisine.

La Cucina Italiana – A website that lists and explains the most important terms connected to the Italian food.

Japan eats – On this webpage you can find a list of terms connected to Japanese foods and beverages, as well as their explanations.

Foodler – On this webpage you can find a list of the most important terms connected to Chinese food. Also, you can find links to similar pages focused on Indian, Thai, Turkish, Italian, Japanese and Mexican cuisine.

Food network – This is a page featuring Italian cuisine-related words, including Italian foods and cooking techniques.

Decanter Wines – This is a dictionary of terms related to Spanish foods briefly defined in English.

Cuisine Cuisine – A detailed and comprehensive glossary of Indian cuisine-related terms explained in an easy-to-understand way.

Alternative-Hawaii – This is a set of glossaries containing the most important terms related to the Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Puerto Rican, Samoan, Thai and Vietnamese cuisines.

Baking and desserts

Sweet Invention – On this website you will find a very well-researched dictionary of dessert-related terminology (including dessert names from all over the world). Yummy!

The Bakery Network – You will find here a list containing the most important terms related to bakery.

The Baking Pan – A glossary focusing on baking, dessert and confectionery-related terms.

Joy of Baking – A very well-researched list of bakery terminology.

Guida Garrubbo – This is a page that has put together a list of traditional Italian dessert names and their explanation.

Hotel Chocolat – Not the film featuring Johnny Depp, but a short and interesting chocolate glossary.

Ghirardelli – A short but well-informed list of cocoa and chocolate terminology explained.

From Karen’s Kitchen and Yours – This webpage features a list of terms connected to baking, cake decorating and candy making.

Delishhh – A glossary centred on less commonly encountered terms related to desserts.

Dr Oetker – On this website you can find a list of bakery-related terminology.

Cookery India – This is a glossary/ dictionary containing words related to the field of bakery.

Chocolate Source – This is a list of words related to chocolate, chocolate production and assortments. Mouth-watering!

CocoaJava – On this website you will find a list of terms related to cocoa and chocolate, as well as their definitions.

Candyland Crafts – For everyone with a sweet tooth and not only, a glossary of some of the most important terms related to cake decorating and candy making.

Cooking utensils

WhereInCity – A glossary of kitchen utensils, from common ones like ‘tray’ and ‘chopping board’ to more unusual/unknown such as ‘Hamam-Dasta’, specific to Indian cuisine.

cooking-ez – We fell in love with this glossary not only because each utensil comes with a definition and a couple of pictures, but also with advice on buying them. Brilliant!