Long before “je t’aime” (I love you), there was “mon petit chou” (my little cabbage). Welcome to French food idioms — the tastiest way to learn a language.
The French are creatures obsessed with their food.
So much so that they invoke them comme d’hatibute in their non-chalant quotidien. They refer to food when talking about something or someone, nourish one’s nostalgia, to flirt and tease, as well as use food as a clear-cut insult.
Their great l’amour of food (as well as women) is what sets the French apart from the rest of the world and it’s no surprise that food has found their way in the French language and expressions.
Learn a few of them and you’ll never look at a cabbage or sausage the same way ever again.
Avoir la patate / To have a potato – “To be energized and get excited”
Rouge comme une tomate / To be as red as a tomato – “To be embarrassed”
Raconter des salades / To tell salads – “To lie”
Occupe-toi de tes oignons / Mind your onions – “Mind one’s own business”
Avoir la moutarde qui monte au nez / To have mustard that goes up the nose – “To get on one’s nerves”
Chanter comme une casserole / To sing like a saucepan – “Someone who really can’t sing”
Petite andouille / Little sausage – “The little idiot”
En faire tout un fromage / To make cheese out of it – “To make a big fuss or deal out of something”
Mettre du piment dans sa vie / to put spice in one’s life – “To spice up one’s life”
Learning a few is certainly one way of adding spice in one’s life. So have a go. You might just surprise yourself how fluent you can become – with french or with food. I hope this visual guide to learning French inspires the curiosity as well as the foodie in you.
How do food idioms help you actually learn French faster?
They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. As it turns out, the way to his memory might be too. Food is visceral. It’s sensory. So while flashcards fight for a corner of your short-term memory, a good food idiom pulls up a chair, orders dinner and stays until the next big bite.
Updated August 2026: Interested in learning Spanish? No pasa nada amigo: A visual guide to learning Spanish idioms
Have you come across with these french expressions while traveling in France? Do you have a favorite? If you do, share them below mes petit choux – my litttle cabbages!
Get ready to use some of these idioms as you travel through France:
>> The South of France On The Other Side Of The River Rhône
Oh my gosh I love these. I can’t wait to use some of them… unless you’re completely pulling our leg and I’ll just get laughed at, in which case well played! I love how they incorporate food so much in these phrases. And “to tell salads” is just hilarious because I think of myself having salads is just a lie about being healthy to balance my chocolate habit. Maybe the French are onto something
What fun! I love learning sayings and idioms in different languages but the French seem to excel. My personal favourites are “chanter comme une casserole” and “raconte des salades”. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a lot of (appropriate) opportunities to use either.
These are the things I want to learn in language classes!
Lyn | http://www.ramblynjazz.com
This post made me ‘avoir la patate’ – it was so much FUN! Some of the expressions are familiar but slightly different in English – the face as red as a tomato, we have a Big Cheese and we really ‘know’ our onions (although we’re not sure we mind our own business with them) but some, such as the salad lie, I’ve never heard of before and they are just wonderful. So enjoyed this – it certainly spiced up my day!
Mitch & Colin from Very Tasty World
I have to admit I’ve never heard of these expressions, despite being able to get by in French.
Some are quite funny in their use of objects etc to enforce the point but some I actually guessed their meaning before reading its translation as they are quite representative of the feeling.
An interesting and amusing article to read that brightened my day.
Well, some of these they don’t teach on Duolingo haha, so I’ll have to practice these with some of my friends from Montreal haha. This is so fun.
Even though I’m not a huge fan of the French language, I had to smile quite a lot at these charming expressions. “As red as a tomato” is identical to the German expression. The word salad is another one which I recently picked up in English. To make cheese out of it is cute, too. I may warm up to the French language here, so consider your mission as accomplished Jan!
Carolin | Solo Travel Story
I have to confess that although I’m not a great lover of the French language, this post is very funny, especially when it comes to the illustrations.
It’s funny how some expressions are replicated in Portuguese, for example: to have mustarde that goes up the nose = fazer chegar a mostarda ao nariz 🙂