Research Guides: FSA 107 Menu Planning: Food Adjectives & Writing Menu Descriptions

About Menu Descriptions

The Purpose:

To communicate to patrons what is offered, how the menu item is cooked, presented, and at what price.
To effectively market (advertise) your menu items for your restaurant operations.

The Rules:

To be simple, clear, and graphic.
To present an exact description of what the customer will receive.
To avoid catchy slang if it will confuse the diner.
To be accurate: e.g. if the description says it is from Maine, it better be from Maine.

The Truth:

To avoid irregularities by descriptions.
To avoid the "switch". Don't indicate one food item and serve another.

Tips for Writing Accurate & Appealing Menu Descriptions

Use accurate preparation methods, point-of-origin information, and quality representations.
Use accurate weight or portion sizes.
Use readily understood terms such as: charcoal broiled, deep fried, sautéed, baked, broiled, poached, roasted, barbecued and smoked.
Provide nutritional information for any nutritional claims made.

Descriptive Terms to WATCH

Absolute accuracy is a must when using terms in menu descriptions that are affected by the Truth in Menu Labeling Laws. Descriptive words are often the determining factor in the customer's selection of a menu item.

black angus beef	flown in daily	low-calorie	reduced
center-cut ham	heart healthy	low-fat	sugar-free
cholesterol-free	heart smart	made from scratch
corn-fed or milk-fed	homemade	natural
fresh	kosher	non-fat

Additional terms affected by these laws are flagged with an asterisk * in the Descriptive Terms for Menus table provided below.

Examples of Menu Phrases

The Salad Course: The Georgia Salad is a delightful combination of roasted pecans, fried green tomatoes and Virginia ham on a bed of spinach, arugula and bibb hearts, with sweet onion slices and buttermilk dressing ($11.95).
Entrée: Baby Clams Over Linguine - Baby Clams sautéed with garlic, herbs, clam broth, and white wine over linguine pasta served with an Italian roll.
Dessert: Peach Melba - Peaches sautéed in rum over vanilla ice cream topped with fresh raspberries and sauce.

Descriptive Terms for Menus

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

* = Terms that have to meet Truth in Menu Labeling Laws

A	aged	aromatic	array / array of	artfully
	assorted	an assortment of	authentic

B	baked	beautiful	bite-size	bitter
	bland	blazed	a blend of	blended
	blunt	boiled	braised	browned
	burnt	buttered	buttery	black angus beef *

C	caked	calorie free	candied	caramelized
	char-broiled	cheesy	chilled	choice
	choice center cut	chocolate	chocolate flavored	cholesterol free *
	chunked, chunky	cinnamon	classic	clove
	coated	cold	colorful	cool
	corn-fed *	country, country style	covered	crafted
	creamed	creamy	crisp	crumble, crumbly
	crunchy	cured	center-cut *

D	dazzling	decadent	deep-fried	delectable
	delicate	delicious	delight	delightful
	distinctive	doughy	dressed	drizzle, drizzled
	dry, (dry-aged)	dull

E	elastic	encrusted	epicurean taste, treat	ethnic
	exquisite	exotic	extraordinary

F	famous	fantastic	fat	fat-free *
	festive	finger-food	finger-licking	fizzing, fizzy
	filet / fillet, filleted	flaky	flavorful	flavored with
	fleshy	fluffy	fragile	free--range *
	fresh	fried	frosty	frozen
	fruity	full, full-bodied	furry	flown in daily *

G	garlic, garlicky	generous	generous portion	gingery
	glazed	gluten-free *	golden	gooey
	gourmet	greasy	grilled	gritty

H	hand-rubbed	half, halved	heaping	hearty
	heart healthy *	heart smart *	honey-glazed	honeyed
	hardboiled	heavenly	hot	homemade *

I	ice-cold	icy	indulgent	infused
	intense	intriguing

J	julienne	juicy	jumbo

K	kosher - salt, meat, etc. *

L	large	lavish	layered	lean
	leathery	less	light / lite *	lightly-breaded
	lightly salted	loaded	low *	low-calorie *
	low-fat *	low sodium *	lukewarm	lemon-flavored
	luscious

M	marinated	mashed	meaty	messy
	mild	minty	mixed	mixture of
	moist	mouth-watering	mushy	made from scratch *

N	nationally famous	natural *	non-fat *	nutmeg
	nutty	nutritious *

O	oily	open-faced	organic *

P	palatable	peppery	perfection	petite
	pickled	piquant	plump	poached
	popular	pounded	prepared	prickly
	pulpy	pungent	puréed

Q	No entries for Q

R	rancid	reduced *	refresh / refreshing
	rich	ripe	roasted
	rubbery

S	salt / salty	satin, satiny	sautéed	savory
	scrumptious	sea, sea-salt	seared	seasoned
	served in	served steaming	served with	sharp
	silky	simmered	sizzling	slow-cooked
	skillfully	small	smoky, smoked	smothered
	smooth	soothing	southern style	sour
	special	spiced	spicy	spiral-cut
	spongy	sprinkled	steamed	steamy
	sticky	strawberry flavored	strong	stuffed
	succulent	sugary	sugar free *	superb
	sweet	sweet-and-sour	syrupy

T	tang / tangy	tantalizing	tart	tasteful
	tasteless	tasty	tempting	tender
	tepid	terrific	thick	thin
	toasted	topped	tossed	traditional
	tough

U	unflavored	unseasoned

V	vanilla	vanilla flavored	velvety	vinegary

W	warm	waxy	wet, wet-aged	whipped
	whipped-cream topped	whole	wild	wonderful
	woody

X	No entries for X
Y	yummy
Z	zesty	zippy