Welcome to Tasty Words, a brand-new blog series all about the surprising stories behind the food words we use every day—and how spelling helps us understand where they came from.
In this series, we’ll explore how your favourite foods got their names, from chocolate to ketchup, burrito to croissant. Along the way, we’ll sound out the words, break them into parts, and spot spelling patterns to help you become a true Word Detective. Whether you’re a curious kid, a teacher on the hunt for fun literacy links, or a parent with a mini spelling bee champion at home—you’re in the right place.
Let’s get our brains (and bellies) warmed up with a few tasty examples from the past…
🥣 Cereal
Where it comes from: The word cereal comes from Ceres, the Roman goddess of farming and crops.
Spelling snack: The “c” makes a soft /s/ sound here (just like in circle and certain).
Did you know? The ancient Romans believed Ceres helped crops grow—so they named grains after her!
🍯 Ambrosia
Where it comes from: This word is from Greek mythology. Ambrosia was the magical food of the gods!
Spelling snack: It has that “sia” ending that sounds like “zhuh” – like in Asia or amnesia.
Word family: Words with “-ia” endings often come from Greek or Latin (utopia, mania, Amelia).
🧈 Butter
Where it comes from: From the Greek boutyron, meaning “cow cheese”!
Spelling snack: This word is nice and phonetic—but + ter. A good one for early readers.
Try it: What other “-er” foods can you think of? (pepper, cracker, ginger…)
✍️ Spelling Tip: Break it Down
When we know where a word comes from, spelling starts to make more sense! Even strange-looking words have a reason behind their letters.
For example:
⦁ Cereal = sounds like serial but comes from a farming goddess
⦁ Ambrosia = sounds fancy because it is! A royal word for a royal food
⦁ Butter = easy to spell, but it’s been around for centuries!
🔎 Try It!
Can you guess the origin of this food word?
⦁ Clue 1: The first part used to mean “spear”
⦁ Clue 2: The second part means “leek”
⦁ Clue 3: Your breath can be a bit smelly when you eat it!
What do you think? (Answer in the next post!)
🍴 What’s Next?
Next time, we’ll explore food words that travelled across the world to end up in your lunchbox—like bagel, burrito, and chimichurri. Get ready for “Bite-Sized Around the World!”
