Food

Toki Pona has several words and proposed systems for discussing food.

The word moku describes food in general. telo describes any drink or other fluid, such as water, oil, milk, juice, and alcohol.

Many other common words have possible culinary meanings based on context. Often, modifiers such as color and flavor words will need to be added to specify more specific foods. Noun phrases can describe individual ingredients or basic foods. Using full-sentence explanations, more complicated concepts such as specific dishes can be described.

Flavors

This section needs work:

Ways to describe non-lexicalized major flavors (salty, savory, sour)

If you know about this topic, you can help us by editing it. (See all)

Several words can be used as a modifier for flavors.

suwi describes sweet flavors and sweeteners such as sugar. jaki can describe food considered gross or unfit for consumption, as well as bitter flavors; this sense is sometimes taken as an antonym for suwi. namako, though less recognized, can be used to describe spiciness.

Some speakers use an extended sense of kule that can describe flavors and scents; see kule and poki. The words kon and nena can be used to specify aromas, while uta can specify flavor to the mouth.

Temperature

lete describes coldness and ice, as well as raw, rare, and frozen food. It can also occur within explanations of minty flavors, perhaps combined with pilin. Conversely, seli describes heat, fire, and cooking, as well as hot and cooked food. It can likewise occur within explanations of spicy flavors.

Ingredients

Animals

Animal words such as soweli and waso, combined with color words can describe the corresponding animals' meat. kala can describe fish but can also apply broadly to seafood as a whole. Relatedly to these, mama tends to occur within descriptions of animal products used to bear and rear offspring, such as eggs and milk. telo may be used for the liquid from animals (i.e telo soweli for milk, telo pipi for honey).

o seli e moku pi soweli walo　

o seli e moku pi soweli walo.

Cook the beef (lit.literal translation 'white animal food')

waso mama en telo soweli li pona tawa mi　

waso mama en telo soweli li pona tawa mi.

I like eggs and milk.

Plants

kasi describes plants in general, and can occur in descriptions of plant-based meat. It could refer to herbs, stalks, or anything plant-related.

pan describes grain crops (such as wheat, rice, and maize) and grain-based products (such as bread, pasta, sandwiches, and pastries). It can also describe legumes (especially unfruitlike ones), and some speakers extend it to other starchy and carbohydrate-heavy foods.

kili describes any fruit or vegetable, as well as nuts, seeds, legumes (especially ungrainlike ones), and mushrooms for speakers who do not use soko. Some speakers would also extend it to eggs.

lipu, besides documents such as recipes and cookbooks, can describe the leafy parts of plants, and potentially other ingredients and preparations that can be likened to paper.

namako, as stated before, describes spices and garnishes.

mi jo e kili mute e pan suwi mute

mi jo e kili mute e pan suwi mute

I have a lot of fruits/veggies and cake.

Other

kiwen can describe salt, the only mineral within the context of edibility, as well as hard things such as ice (see States of matter); this can also be used a modifier to describe food that is hardened such as cheese.

ko may be used to describe any paste or powder, as well as a modifier for soft foods.

soko is a less recognized word that describes fungi such as mushrooms.

Nonstandard words

The subject of this section is nonstandard and will not be understood by most speakers.

If you are a learner, this information will not help you speak the language. It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the standard style, and to be informed and selective about which nonstandard styles you adopt.

Several nimi sin have been coined to describe foods, ingredients, and flavors:

• aku, a marginal word, describes sour, bitter, and acidic flavor.
• anta is a marginal word for oil, fat, and grease, as well as saltiness and savoriness.
• jami is an obscure word for tastiness. It can also describe other aspects of food that are pleasant to the senses.
• kasan is a marginal word for hard-shelled fruit (such as legumes, seeds, nuts, beans, soy, and lentils). These are generally referred to as kili and kiwen, and sometimes pan.
• lapan is a marginal word for dairy, as well as other creamy, fatty, rich, and smooth foods and ingredients.