What's The Difference Between Tabemono and Ryouri?
/"Why does this homework say the Japanese word for food is ryouri? I thought you said the word for food was tabemono?"
I love it when students ask questions like this. It shows you’re really thinking about the language.
So, what’s the difference between ryouri and tabemono? Consider the following:
Potatoes are tabemono, but they're not ryouri.
Fish and chips is tabemono AND ryouri.
Does that give you a clue?
食べ物 (tabemono)
Tabemono is food in quite a general sense. The unprepared ingredients in your fridge are tabemono. The food on your plate is also tabemono.
For example:
好きな食べ物は?
Suki-na tabemono wa?
What's your favourite food?
体に良い食べ物ベスト10!
Karada ni ii tabemono besuto 10!
Top ten foods that are good for you!
料理 (ryouri)
Ryouri, on the other hand, is cooking or cuisine. Specifically, it's food which has been cooked or otherwise prepared.
The food on your plate is ryouri, but the ingredients in your fridge are not ryouri yet.
Some more examples:
その店の料理は美味しかったです。
Sono mise no ryouri wa oishikatta desu.
The food at that restaurant was great.
Ryouri can be the cuisine of a whole country:
フランス料理が大好きです。
Furansu ryouri ga daisuki desu.
I love French food.
イギリス料理はまずいと言われます。
Igirisu ryouri wa mazui to iwaremasu.
It's said that British food is disgusting.
料理をする (ryouri o suru) means "to cook", too:
ロバートさんはあまり料理をしません。
Robaato san wa amari ryouri o shimasen.
Robert doesn't cook very often.
Question time!
Can you answer these questions?
1. 好きな食べ物は何ですか。
(すきな たべものは なんですか。)
2. よく料理をしますか。何を作りますか。
(よく りょうりを しますか。なにを つくりますか。)
Or, you could hop on over to Twitter and ask me a question. I love a good question 😊
Updated 10th August 2021
Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.