Japanese Food and Eating Vocabulary: Cooking Verbs, Tableware, and いただきます

Food and eating are among the first vocabulary areas a Japanese learner meets. This article covers core foods, the cooking verbs 焼く 煮る 蒸す 揚げる, tableware, restaurant phrases, and the mealtime expressions いただきます and ごちそうさま.¹ It is anchored to JLPT N5 and N4, and it pairs the casual native word with its more formal Sino-Japanese partner wherever both are in everyday use.²

Overview

The core noun lists, the verbs 食べる and 飲む, and the fixed expressions いただきます / ごちそうさま are N5 material. The four cooking verbs, their transitive/intransitive nuance, the keigo register ladder, and the politer restaurant register reach into N4.³¹

Why food vocabulary is high-frequency

Food, meals, and eating are among the earliest and most-used vocabulary areas in daily Japanese. That is why words like ご飯, 食べる, and 飲む appear in the first chapters of N5-aligned courses.¹ Learning this set early pays off quickly because the words recur in nearly every conversation about daily life.

A separate frequency article covers how much everyday Japanese a small core of common words accounts for. This page focuses only on why the food core is worth learning early.

How this list is organized

Where two common forms exist, this article pairs words by vocabulary stratum: a native 和語 (wago) word and a Sino-Japanese 漢語 (kango) word. It also includes 外来語 (gairaigo) loanwords where the loanword is the everyday term.² For example, "meal" is the 和語 ご飯 (gohan) or the 漢語 食事 (shokuji); the cuisine labels 和食 / 洋食 / 中華 are themselves 漢語.²

The 漢語 forms tend to be more formal, written, or technical, while the 和語 forms are the everyday spoken core. This is a tendency, not a rule.

漢語 is not the same as polite

The 和語 / 漢語 / 外来語 split is a property of the lexicon, not of politeness. 漢語 often sits in a more formal register, but do not treat "漢語" as a synonym for "polite speech."²

Core food words

Staples and meals

ご飯 (ごはん, gohan) has a double sense: cooked rice, and a meal in general; context disambiguates.¹ The more formal 漢語 counterpart for "meal" is 食事 (しょくじ, shokuji), which pairs with する as 食事をする.²

The blunt, casual 和語 word for rice or a meal is 飯 (めし, meshi), common in rough or informal speech.⁴ Meal-time compounds build on ご飯: 朝ご飯 (あさごはん) breakfast, 昼ご飯 (ひるごはん) lunch, and 晩ご飯 (ばんごはん) dinner. The 漢語 set is 朝食 (ちょうしょく), 昼食 (ちゅうしょく), 夕食 (ゆうしょく).²¹

Other staples include パン (pan) bread, a 外来語 from Portuguese, 麺 (めん, men) noodles, and 米 (こめ, kome) uncooked rice.¹

Word	Reading	Romaji	Stratum / sense
ご飯	ごはん	gohan	和語; cooked rice / a meal1
食事	しょくじ	shokuji	漢語; meal (formal); 食事をする2
飯	めし	meshi	和語; rice/meal, blunt/casual4
パン	ぱん	pan	外来語; bread1
朝ご飯	あさごはん	asagohan	breakfast (和語)1
昼ご飯	ひるごはん	hirugohan	lunch (和語)1
晩ご飯	ばんごはん	bangohan	dinner (和語)1

朝あさご飯はんはパンを食たべます。¹
"For breakfast I eat bread."

食事しょくじの前まえに手てを洗あらいます。¹
"I wash my hands before a meal."

Proteins, vegetables, fruit

肉 (にく, niku) is meat, and its types use 漢語 compounds: 牛肉 (ぎゅうにく) beef, 豚肉 (ぶたにく) pork, and 鶏肉 (とりにく) chicken.¹ Other core words are 魚 (さかな, sakana) fish, 野菜 (やさい, yasai) vegetables, and 果物 (くだもの, kudamono) fruit.¹⁵

The reading of 果物 is a jukujikun: a reading assigned to the kanji as a whole rather than morpheme by morpheme.⁵ The word 卵 (たまご, tamago) egg has a spelling split. 卵 is the biological or raw egg, while 玉子 (same reading) is conventionally used for prepared egg dishes such as 玉子焼き.⁶

Word	Reading	Romaji	Sense
肉	にく	niku	meat1
牛肉	ぎゅうにく	gyūniku	beef (漢語 compound)1
豚肉	ぶたにく	butaniku	pork1
鶏肉	とりにく	toriniku	chicken1
魚	さかな	sakana	fish1
野菜	やさい	yasai	vegetables1
果物	くだもの	kudamono	fruit (jukujikun)5
卵 / 玉子	たまご	tamago	egg (raw / dish)6

野菜やさいと魚さかなをよく食たべます。¹
"I often eat vegetables and fish."

果物くだものの中なかでりんごが一番いちばん好すきです。¹
"Among fruits I like apples best."

Drinks

Drinks give a clear 和語 / 漢語 / 外来語 trio. 水 (みず, mizu) water and お茶 (おちゃ, o-cha) tea are everyday native forms. 牛乳 (ぎゅうにゅう, gyūnyū) milk is 漢語, while ミルク (miruku) is its 外来語 partner.²

Other common drinks are コーヒー (kōhī) coffee, お酒 (おさけ, o-sake) alcohol or sake, and ジュース (jūsu) juice.¹ In ordinary polite use, お茶, お水, and お酒 carry the お- prefix of beautified speech. Good to know returns to this point.⁷⁸

Word	Reading	Romaji	Stratum
水	みず	mizu	和語; water1
お茶	おちゃ	o-cha	美化語 お- + tea1
牛乳	ぎゅうにゅう	gyūnyū	漢語; milk2
ミルク	みるく	miruku	外来語; milk2
コーヒー	こーひー	kōhī	外来語; coffee1
お酒	おさけ	o-sake	alcohol / sake1

水みずを一杯いっぱいください。¹
"A glass of water, please."

朝あさはコーヒーを飲のみます。¹
"I drink coffee in the morning."

Cuisine categories

Japanese diners often sort meals into three 漢語 categories: 和食 (わしょく, washoku) traditional Japanese food, 洋食 (ようしょく, yōshoku) Western-style food adapted to Japanese tastes, and 中華 (ちゅうか, chūka) or 中華料理 (ちゅうかりょうり) Chinese-style food.²

A 定食 (ていしょく, teishoku) is a set meal, typically a main dish with rice, soup, and sides, and is a standard restaurant format.²

Word	Reading	Romaji	Sense
和食	わしょく	washoku	traditional Japanese cuisine2
洋食	ようしょく	yōshoku	Western-style (adapted) food2
中華 / 中華料理	ちゅうか / ちゅうかりょうり	chūka / chūka-ryōri	Chinese-style food2
定食	ていしょく	teishoku	set meal2

今日きょうは中華ちゅうかが食たべたいです。¹
"I feel like Chinese food today."

Cooking verbs

The four core methods

The four core heat methods are 焼く (やく, yaku) to grill, bake, or pan-fry;⁹ 煮る (にる, niru) to simmer in seasoned liquid;¹⁰ 蒸す (むす, musu) to steam;¹¹ and 揚げる (あげる, ageru) to deep-fry.¹²

Each verb also has a dish-noun form built from the verb stem plus 物. These nouns name the dish category: 焼き物 (やきもの) grilled dish, 煮物 (にもの) simmered dish, 蒸し物 (むしもの) steamed dish, and 揚げ物 (あげもの) deep-fried dish.^9101112

Verb	Reading	Romaji	Method	Dish noun
焼く	やく	yaku	grill / bake / pan-fry9	焼き物 (yakimono)
煮る	にる	niru	simmer10	煮物 (nimono)
蒸す	むす	musu	steam11	蒸し物 (mushimono)
揚げる	あげる	ageru	deep-fry12	揚げ物 (agemono)

焼き物 also means "pottery"

Outside the kitchen, 焼き物 (やきもの) names fired ceramics and pottery; context tells the two senses apart.⁹

魚さかなを焼やきます。¹
"I grill the fish."

野菜やさいを蒸むすと甘あまくなります。¹
"When you steam vegetables, they turn sweet."

Transitive vs intransitive cooking verbs

Several cooking verbs come as 自他動詞 (じたどうし, jita-dōshi) pairs. A transitive (他動詞) member means "someone cooks X," and an intransitive (自動詞) member means "X cooks" or "X gets done."⁹¹⁰¹² The transitive member takes the object marker を. The intransitive member takes が for the thing that changes state.

Transitive (他動詞, を)	Intransitive (自動詞, が)
焼く yaku (grill X)9	焼ける yakeru (X browns / gets grilled)9
煮る niru (simmer X)10	煮える nieru (X cooks through)10
揚げる ageru (deep-fry X)12	揚がる agaru (X is fried / done)12

The verb 蒸す is the odd one out. It works as a transitive ("to steam X") and as an intransitive meaning "to be muggy," so it does not form the same clean 他/自 cooking pair as the other three.¹¹ The full theory of why these pairs exist, and how to predict which member is which, belongs to the dedicated transitivity-pairs article. Here, the point is only the food-domain pattern.

パンを焼やきます。⁹
"I bake the bread."

パンが焼やけました。⁹
"The bread is done baking."

肉にくが煮にえるまで待まちます。¹⁰
"I wait until the meat is cooked through."

Everyday kitchen verbs

Beyond heat methods, everyday kitchen verbs include 切る (きる, kiru) to cut, 混ぜる (まぜる, mazeru) to mix, 炒める (いためる, itameru) to stir-fry, 茹でる (ゆでる, yuderu) to boil in water, and 作る (つくる, tsukuru) to make or cook.¹

The basic pattern is ingredient + を + cooking verb, as in 鶏肉を焼く (grill chicken), 野菜を切る (cut vegetables), and 卵を茹でる (boil eggs).¹ 茹でる (boiling in plain water, for pasta or eggs) is distinct from 煮る (simmering in seasoned liquid). Choose between them by the liquid and the seasoning, not by the English word "boil."

Verb	Reading	Romaji	Sense
切る	きる	kiru	to cut1
混ぜる	まぜる	mazeru	to mix1
炒める	いためる	itameru	to stir-fry1
茹でる	ゆでる	yuderu	to boil (in water)1
作る	つくる	tsukuru	to make / cook1

鶏肉とりにくを焼やいて、野菜やさいを切きります。¹
"I grill the chicken and cut the vegetables."

卵たまごを茹ゆでました。¹
"I boiled the eggs."

Tableware and the table

Utensils and dishes

Core tableware includes 箸 (はし, hashi) chopsticks, usually said with the beautified prefix as お箸; 茶碗 (ちゃわん, chawan) rice bowl, which also names a tea bowl;¹³ 皿 / お皿 (さら, sara) plate; and 椀 / お椀 (おわん, o-wan) soup bowl or lidded bowl.¹

Western utensils are 外来語: コップ (koppu) cup or tumbler, from Dutch; グラス (gurasu) drinking glass; スプーン (supūn) spoon; フォーク (fōku) fork; and ナイフ (naifu) knife.¹ Everyday tableware commonly takes the お- prefix of beautified speech in polite contexts: お箸, お皿, お茶碗, お椀.⁷⁸

Word	Reading	Romaji	Sense
お箸 / 箸	おはし / はし	(o-)hashi	chopsticks1
茶碗	ちゃわん	chawan	rice bowl13
お皿 / 皿	おさら / さら	(o-)sara	plate1
お椀 / 椀	おわん	(o-)wan	soup bowl1
コップ	こっぷ	koppu	cup / tumbler1
スプーン	すぷーん	supūn	spoon1
フォーク	ふぉーく	fōku	fork1

お箸はしでご飯はんを食たべます。¹
"I eat rice with chopsticks."

スプーンとフォークをください。¹
"A spoon and fork, please."

Counters for food and drink

Food and drink use the general counters. Use 杯 (-hai) for cupfuls and bowlfuls (drinks, and bowls of rice or noodles), 個 (こ, -ko) for small round or discrete items, and 本 (-hon) for long thin items such as bottles and bananas.¹

The counter 杯 shows the standard sound-change pattern: 一杯 (いっぱい, ippai), 二杯 (にはい, nihai), 三杯 (さんばい, sanbai).¹ The full counter system and its sound changes are a topic of their own. This is only the food-relevant subset.

Counter	Reading	Use
杯	-hai / -bai / -pai	cupfuls, bowls (drinks, rice, noodles)1
個	-ko	small discrete items1
本	-hon / -bon / -pon	long thin items (bottles)1

ご飯はんをもう一杯いっぱいください。¹
"Another bowl of rice, please."

Eating and drinking verbs

食べる and 飲む

食べる (たべる, taberu) "to eat" and 飲む (のむ, nomu) "to drink" are the neutral N5 verbs. Their polite forms are 食べます and 飲みます.¹ The 漢語 alternative for "to have a meal" is 食事をする (しょくじをする, shokuji o suru), which is more formal than 食べる.²

In blunt or coarse register, 食う (くう, kuu) "to eat" is colloquial and rough relative to 食べる, and 食らう (くらう, kurau) is stronger still, closer to "to devour."⁴

毎日まいにち野菜やさいを食たべて、水みずを飲のみます。¹
"Every day I eat vegetables and drink water."

The register ladder

The eat-and-drink verb climbs a register ladder: blunt 食う at the bottom, neutral 食べる / 飲む in the middle, and the humble いただく and honorific 召し上がる above them.⁷⁸⁴ Polite 丁寧語 (the です・ます layer) is separate and can sit on any rung.

Register	Form (eat / drink)	Reading	Type	Source
Blunt / coarse	食う	くう (kuu)	casual-vulgar, colloquial	4
Neutral plain	食べる / 飲む	たべる / のむ	plain	1
Neutral polite	食べます / 飲みます	たべます / のみます	丁寧語 (teineigo)	1
Humble (yours)	いただく	いただく (itadaku)	謙譲語I (kenjōgo I)	7814
Honorific (theirs)	召し上がる	めしあがる (meshiagaru)	尊敬語 (sonkeigo)	7815

The two keigo rungs point in opposite directions. いただく lowers your own action toward another party, while 召し上がる elevates the other person's action. The diagram below shows the neutral verb branching into these two keigo forms by whose action is being described.

いただく is the 謙譲語I verb covering もらう (receive) and 食べる / 飲む. You use it for your own eating or receiving to lower yourself relative to the other party.⁷⁸¹⁴ 召し上がる is the 尊敬語 verb for 食べる / 飲む. You use it for the other person's eating or drinking to elevate them.⁷⁸¹⁵

Both 召し上がる and いただく are irregular keigo verbs. They are suppletive forms, meaning replacement forms, rather than regular お〜になる / お〜する derivations. The full keigo conjugation system and its irregular-verb tables are in the keigo articles.

どうぞ召めし上あがってください。¹⁵
"Please go ahead and eat."

先生せんせいのお宅たくでお茶ちゃをいただきました。¹⁴
"I had tea at my teacher's home."

Never use 召し上がる for your own eating

召し上がる honors the other person's eating, and いただく humbles your own; reversing the direction is the classic keigo error. Use いただく for what you eat and 召し上がる for what your guest eats, never the other way around.⁷⁸

Restaurant phrases

Ordering

The two core request patterns are 〜をください (please give me ) and the politer 〜をお願いします ( please, or I'd like ~).¹ Useful table nouns include メニュー (menyū) menu, おすすめ (osusume) recommendation, and 定食 (ていしょく, teishoku) set meal.²¹

Staff greet entering customers with いらっしゃいませ (irasshaimase) "welcome." They take the order with ご注文 (ごちゅうもん, go-chūmon) "(your) order," as in ご注文はお決まりですか, "Have you decided on your order?"¹

Phrase	Reading	Use
いらっしゃいませ	いらっしゃいませ	staff: "welcome"1
ご注文	ごちゅうもん	"(your) order"1
〜をください	〜を ください	"please give me ~"1
〜をお願いします	〜を おねがいします	"~ please" (politer)1
おすすめ	おすすめ	"(the) recommendation"1

定食ていしょくをお願ねがいします。¹
"I'll have the set meal, please."

おすすめは何なんですか。¹
"What do you recommend?"

During and after the meal

During the meal, useful words include お代わり (おかわり, okawari) a refill or second helping, and お水 (おみず, o-mizu) water. You call staff over with すみません (sumimasen) "excuse me."¹ When asking for the bill, お会計 (おかいけい, o-kaikei) and お勘定 (おかんじょう, o-kanjō) both mean "the check."¹

For takeout, the choices are 持ち帰り / お持ち帰り (もちかえり, (o-)mochikaeri) and the 外来語 テイクアウト (teikuauto). Staff may ask 店内ですか ("for here?") or お持ち帰りですか ("to go?").¹ After eating, diners say ごちそうさまでした, covered in the next section.¹⁶

Phrase	Reading	Use
お代わり	おかわり	refill / second helping1
お会計	おかいけい	the check / bill1
お勘定	おかんじょう	the check / bill1
持ち帰り / テイクアウト	もちかえり	takeout / to-go1

お会計かいけいをお願ねがいします。¹
"Could I have the check, please?"

ご飯はんのお代かわりはできますか。¹
"Can I get a refill of rice?"

いただきます and ごちそうさま

What いただきます literally means

いただきます (itadakimasu) is the polite present of the verb いただく, the 謙譲語I humble form of もらう (to receive) and of 食べる / 飲む (to eat and drink).⁷⁸¹⁴ The verb's root sense is "to place on or above one's head" (頂, the crown of the head or a summit). The humble "receive" sense grew from the gesture of respectfully raising a received thing to head height.¹⁴

At the table, then, it means roughly "I humbly receive this food." Culturally, it expresses gratitude toward everyone and everything involved in the meal, the cook and the ingredients alike. That gratitude reading is the everyday explanation, while the grammatical core is simply the humble verb いただく.¹⁴

いただきます。¹⁴
"Thanks for the meal" (said before eating).

Hear the humble verb inside the set phrase

いただきます is the same いただく that appears in お茶をいただく, "to humbly have some tea." This connection is the payoff of the register-ladder section: the mealtime phrase is not a frozen idiom but a live humble verb.¹⁴

ごちそうさまでした

ごちそうさま(でした) (gochisōsama (deshita)) is said after eating. It breaks down as 御 (ご, honorific) + 馳走 (ちそう, chisō) + 様 (さま). The でした adds the polite past.¹⁶

The word 馳走 literally means "running about": 馳 "to gallop a horse" plus 走 "to run." It once referred to the host's effort of rushing around to gather ingredients and prepare a feast. That is why ご馳走 came to mean "a feast" or "a treat," and ごちそうさま became the thanks for that effort.¹⁶

The register split is casual ごちそうさま versus polite ごちそうさまでした; the でした past form is the politer, more complete version.¹⁶

ごちそうさまでした。¹⁶
"Thank you for the meal" (said after eating).

Good to know

ご飯 means both "rice" and "meal"

The same word ご飯 (gohan) names cooked rice and a meal in general, and context decides which is meant. 朝ご飯 is "breakfast," not literally "morning rice."¹ When the meaning must be unambiguous, the 漢語 word 食事 (shokuji) is "meal" and nothing else.²

Don't stick chopsticks upright in your rice (立て箸 / 仏箸)

Standing chopsticks vertically in a bowl of rice (立て箸 tate-bashi, also 仏箸 hotoke-bashi) imitates the rice-and-incense offering placed for the dead at a Buddhist altar. Because it suggests a funeral image, it is avoided at the table.¹⁷ Rest chopsticks horizontally on a chopstick rest or across the bowl instead.

Reversing いただく and 召し上がる

A learner who wants to say "I have already eaten" sometimes reaches for 召し上がる and produces 私はもう召し上がりました. That actually honors the speaker's own action. The correct form humbles the speaker:

私わたしはもういただきました。⁸
"I have already eaten."

召し上がる is 尊敬語 and honors the other person's eating. For your own eating, you must use the 謙譲語I いただく. Using 召し上がる for yourself elevates yourself, which is the classic keigo error.⁷⁸¹⁵

食う / 食らう in polite company

食う (kuu) is a blunt, colloquial word for "eat," and 食らう (kurau) is coarser still, closer to "devour."⁴ Neither belongs in polite or mixed company. In those settings, 食べる, or the higher-register 召し上がる or いただく, is the norm.

美味しい vs まずい, and the おいしい spelling

美味しい (おいしい, oishii) "tasty" has まずい (mazui) "bad-tasting" as its opposite. おいしい is very often written in kana rather than 美味しい.¹ The casual, masculine synonym for "tasty" is うまい (旨い), which also means "skillful," so context disambiguates the two senses.¹

Why お- attaches to food words (美化語, not keigo)

The お- or ご- on お茶, お水, お酒, お箸, and ご飯 is 美化語 (word-beautification). It makes speech sound refined and is not, by itself, respect toward a listener.⁷⁸ The 文化庁 keigo guidelines list お酒 and お料理 as the model 美化語 examples, kept separate from 尊敬語 and 謙譲語.⁷⁸

いただきます as "raising it to my head"

The humble いただく literally means "to place above one's head" (頂). Picture lifting the bowl in thanks.¹⁴ The same image explains why いただきます marks humble receiving before a meal, and why the one verb covers both もらう and 食べる / 飲む.¹⁴

See also

• Ordering Food at a Restaurant in Japanese: Phrases for the Full Dining Flow
• What Is Gairaigo? A Guide to Loanwords in Japanese
• Japanese Transitivity Pairs List: 50 自他動詞 Pairs (Reference)
• How to Learn Japanese Vocabulary: A Strategy by Level
• Body Parts and Health Vocabulary in Japanese: 体, 痛い, and the が-Pattern
• Counters by Category: A Reference Index

References

Footnotes

1. Banno, Eri, et al. Genki I: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese. 3rd ed., The Japan Times, 2020. Standard elementary-course treatment of the N5/N4 food set, the 食べる/飲む verbs, restaurant request patterns (〜をください / 〜をお願いします), and the register/particle patterns the example sentences are built on. (General textbook reference; specific page numbers not pinned in this pass; see Open issues.) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴ ↩²⁵ ↩²⁶ ↩²⁷ ↩²⁸ ↩²⁹ ↩³⁰ ↩³¹ ↩³² ↩³³ ↩³⁴ ↩³⁵ ↩³⁶ ↩³⁷ ↩³⁸ ↩³⁹ ↩⁴⁰ ↩⁴¹ ↩⁴² ↩⁴³ ↩⁴⁴ ↩⁴⁵ ↩⁴⁶ ↩⁴⁷ ↩⁴⁸ ↩⁴⁹ ↩⁵⁰ ↩⁵¹ ↩⁵² ↩⁵³ ↩⁵⁴ ↩⁵⁵ ↩⁵⁶ ↩⁵⁷ ↩⁵⁸ ↩⁵⁹ ↩⁶⁰ ↩⁶¹ ↩⁶² ↩⁶³ ↩⁶⁴ ↩⁶⁵ ↩⁶⁶ ↩⁶⁷ ↩⁶⁸ ↩⁶⁹ ↩⁷⁰ ↩⁷¹ ↩⁷² ↩⁷³ ↩⁷⁴ ↩⁷⁵ ↩⁷⁶ ↩⁷⁷ ↩⁷⁸ ↩⁷⁹ ↩⁸⁰ ↩⁸¹ ↩⁸² ↩⁸³ ↩⁸⁴

2. Wikipedia contributors. "Japanese cuisine." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cuisine . The three-way native taxonomy of meals into 和食 (washoku, traditional Japanese), 洋食 (yōshoku, Western-style adapted), and 中華 (chūka, Chinese-style); 定食 (teishoku, set meal) as a restaurant format. (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

3. 国際交流基金・日本国際教育支援協会 (Japan Foundation & Japan Educational Exchanges and Services). JLPT Japanese-Language Proficiency Test (official site). https://www.jlpt.jp/e/ . JLPT level structure and can-do framework. The JLPT does not publish an official vocabulary list; level placement of the food set follows standard N5/N4 curricula consistent with the official can-do statements. ↩

4. Wiktionary contributors. "食う." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/食う . Reading くう / kuu; "to eat," marked colloquial and blunt/coarse relative to 食べる; 食らう (kurau) as a stronger/coarser (chiefly vulgar) variant ("to devour"). (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Wiktionary contributors. "果物." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/果物 . Reading くだもの / kudamono (jukujikun, not *kabutsu in the everyday sense); "fruit." (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. Wiktionary contributors. "卵." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/卵 . Reading たまご / tamago; "egg" (biological / raw); spelling 玉子 conventionally preferred for prepared egg dishes. (limitation) ↩ ↩²

7. 文化庁文化審議会 (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Council for Cultural Affairs). 「敬語の指針」(Keigo no Shishin / Guidelines for Honorifics), 2007. Government keigo report. https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/kokugo/hokoku/keigo.html . The five-way classification of keigo into 尊敬語 (sonkeigo / respectful), 謙譲語I (kenjōgo I / humble toward the object of the action), 謙譲語II・丁重語 (kenjōgo II / courteous), 丁寧語 (teineigo / polite, です・ます), and 美化語 (bika-go / word-beautification, お酒・お料理 type). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

8. 文化庁 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). 「第二話「敬語の基本」理解度チェックの解答」(commentary supporting the Keigo no Shishin). https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/kokugo_nihongo/kokugo_shisaku/keigo/chapter2/detail.html . Lists 召し上がる as a 尊敬語 verb form, 「いただく」as the 謙譲語I form of 「もらう」, and お酒・お料理 as typical 美化語 examples ("ものごとを美化して述べている"). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

9. Wiktionary contributors. "焼く." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/焼く . Reading やく / yaku; transitive godan verb "to burn, bake, grill, roast, fry, toast"; intransitive counterpart 焼ける (yakeru). (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

10. Wiktionary contributors. "煮る." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/煮る . Reading にる / niru; transitive ichidan verb "to boil, to simmer, to braise (in liquid)"; intransitive counterpart 煮える (nieru). (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

11. Wiktionary contributors. "蒸す." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/蒸す . Reading むす / musu; godan verb "to steam, to cook by steaming," and (intransitive) "to be sultry / muggy"; noun form 蒸し (mushi). (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

12. Wiktionary contributors. "揚げる." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/揚げる . Reading あげる / ageru; transitive ichidan verb, cooking sense "to deep-fry"; intransitive counterpart 揚がる (agaru). (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

13. Wiktionary contributors. "茶碗." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/茶碗 . Reading ちゃわん / chawan; "rice bowl; tea bowl." (limitation) ↩ ↩²

14. Wiktionary contributors. "頂く." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/頂く . Readings いただく / itadaku; literal sense "to place on or above one's head"; derived humble senses "humble form of 貰う (morau, to receive)" and "to eat, to drink." Wiktionary aggregates Japanese dictionary sources (大辞林 etc.); treated as a tertiary reference. (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

15. Wiktionary contributors. "召し上がる." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/召し上がる . Reading めしあがる / meshiagaru; sense "(honorific) to eat / to drink"; etymology 召し (mesu, honorific "to summon/partake") + 上がる (agaru). (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

16. Wiktionary contributors. "ご馳走様でした." Wiktionary, the free dictionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ご馳走様でした . Composition 御 (go-, honorific) + 馳走 (chisō, "treat, feast, banquet") + 様 (-sama) + でした; the 馳走 etymology of "running about" (馳 "to gallop a horse" + 走 "to run") to gather and prepare food for a guest. (limitation) ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

17. Wikipedia contributors / Japanetic. Chopstick-taboo references on 立て箸 (tate-bashi) and 仏箸 (hotoke-bashi): sticking chopsticks upright in rice imitates the rice-and-incense offering placed for the dead at a Buddhist altar, so it is avoided at the table. https://www.japanetic.com/rules/dont-stick-chopsticks-in-rice . (limitation) ↩