IELTS food and farming vocabulary

Food and farming connect personal habits with global issues, which is why they are common in IELTS. Speaking Part 1 might ask what you usually eat or whether you like cooking, while Writing Task 2 can ask about fast food, vegetarian diets, world hunger or the use of genetically modified crops. A good answer moves comfortably between the kitchen and the farm.

This deck groups vocabulary for producing, buying and eating food. For agriculture, learn agriculture, agricultural, farm, farmer, farming, crop, harvest, cultivate, livestock, cattle, grain, wheat, rice, irrigation, fertiliser and soil. Note the British spelling fertiliser, and remember that produce can be a noun meaning fresh fruit and vegetables: "local produce" (stressed on the first syllable).

For food and diet, you have ingredient, recipe, meal, snack, protein, fat, sugar and beverage, along with vegetarian and vegan. A vegetarian does not eat meat, while a vegan avoids all animal products, a difference worth getting right. Processed food is a frequent essay topic: "Processed food is cheap and convenient, but it often contains too much sugar and fat."

Global issues require hunger, famine and supermarket, and debates about technology use genetically modified: "Genetically modified crops could reduce hunger, but some people worry about their long-term effects." Restaurant and fast food complete the picture of modern eating habits.

Food questions are also a good place to practise cause and effect. For example: "Because farmers use more fertiliser, harvests have grown, but soil quality has declined in some regions." Linking two or three topic words with because, so and but builds the kind of extended, logical sentences that higher bands require.