Learning the basic signs for food and drink in British Sign Language are useful for a range of environments and for all age groups. They are useful if you work in a restaurant or café and want to open up your business to Deaf customers. Food and drink signs are also useful for babies and small children. Learning these essential signs will help you communicate more effectively and make sign language users feel relaxed and comfortable.
The clip (below) from YouTube shows you how to sign a number of BSL signs and phrases. The video is by Dan from Commanding Hands:
BSL sign language foods in the video:
The video shows 100 BSL food and drink signs. This video was chosen by our BSL tutors as it covers the signs needed for the Level 1 and Level 2 BSL courses. You can stop and search the video if you need to know the BSL sign for:
The sign for food – 0:17
1. Meat – 0:35 2. Chicken – 0:47 3. Pork – 1:00 4. Lamb – 1:13 5. Bacon – 1:25 6. Beef – 1:37 7. Steak – 1:50 8. Turkey – 2:01 9. Burger – 2:19 10. Sausages – 2:30
11. Duck – 2:42 12. Fish – 2:54 13. Prawn – 3:05 14. Roast – 3:31 15. Cheese – 3:43 16. Butter – 3:57 17. Egg – 4:09 18. Vegetarian – 4:21 19. Vegan – 4:34 20. Salad – 5:48
21. Bread – 8:39 22. White Bread – 8:48 23. Brown Bread – 9:03 24. Pasta – 9:19 25. Rice – 9:30 26. Spaghetti – 9:40 27. Cereal – 9:53 28. Toast – 10:02 29. Oat Milk – 10:27 30. Soy Milk – 10:42
31. Pie – 13:01 32. Curry – 13:16 33. Pizza – 13:27 34. Chips – 13:41 35. Pudding – 14:32 36. Peanuts – 14:41 37. Peanut Butter – 14:58 38. Baked Beans – 15:18 39. Soup – 15:29 40. Jam – 15:39
41. Marmalade – 15:52 42. Honey – 16:08 43. Sandwich – 16:21 44. Ice cream – 16:59 45. Chocolate – 17:10 46. Sweets – 17:22 47. Pancake – 17:36 48. Crisps – 17:50 49. Biscuit – 18:05 50. Cake – 18:18
51. Cheesecake – 18:29 52. Salt – 18:42 53. Pepper – 18:52 54. Sugar – 19:04 55. Flour – 19:14 56. Vinegar – 19:25 57. Tomato Ketchup – 19:35 58. Jelly – 19:51 59. Chocolate Cake – 20:04
The sign for Drink(s) in sign language – 0:25
60. Milk – 10:14 61. Coffee – 10:58 62. Tea – 11:08 63. Orange Juice – 11:30 64. Apple Juice – 11:45 65. Coke (Coca cola) – 11:57 66. Water – 12:09 67. Hot Chocolate – 12:22 68. Wine – 12:40 69. Beer – 12:51
Food signs for vegetable(s) – 5:59
70. Tomato – 4:44 71. Cucumber – 4:56 72. Onion – 5:07 73. Cabbage – 5:17 74. Carrot – 5:30 75. Mushroom – 5:39 76. Potato – 6:08 77. Sweet Potato – 6:22 78. Broccoli – 6:35 79. Cauliflower – 6:48 80. Peas – 6:57
Food signs for Fruit – 7:06
81. Apple – 7:14 82. Banana – 7:25 83. Orange – 7:41 84. Pineapple – 7:50 85. Lemon – 8:03 86. Strawberry – 8:14 87. Melon – 8:24 88. Squash – 11:18
Sign language for food related phrases:
89. Fried/Frying – 3:19 90. Breakfast – 13:56 91. Lunch – 14:08 92. Dinner – 14:18 93. Hungry – 16:34 94. Thirsty – 16:46 95. Do you eat meat? – 20:20 96. No, I’m vegan. – 20:33 97. My favourite food is pizza. – 20:50 98. I don’t like peas. – 21:11 99. What’s for dinner today? – 21:26
At the end of the clip, Dan signs that his favourite food is peanut butter and banana on toast – 21.58
Regional variations of BSL Signs for food and Drink:
Be aware that there are regional and contextual variations for some foods in sign language. For example, egg and pie have different signs. Other signs like banana can be signed differently too. Often you see videos for ‘peeling a banana’. This is not the same as describing the banana itself which you show by signing the shape. The best way to see different signs in context is to learn from a deaf tutor who is a native sign language user.
If you want to see BSL sign variations or if you want to see signs from your region, you can also look at the BSL Corpus Project website.
How to phrase questions and responses in BSL?
Most learners are able to learn BSL vocabulary fairly quickly and easily. What most learners struggle with is the signed sentences. Hearing people tend to be quite formal when asking others if they want food or drink. Unfortunately that means we add lots of fluff to the language we use! BSL has a topic-comment structure so food related queries need to be direct and to the point. Here are some examples:
Note: Be aware that you need to use facial expressions when you are signing, especially for questions.
Other BSL food and drink resources
If you want to learn the BSL signs for food and drink in a real life context, you can follow BSL influencers like Punk Chef.
Punk Chef has a YouTube channel showing you how to cook a range of dishes. He is a native sign language user so you can learn how to cook different dishes as well as learn to sign!
In BSL Level 2, you can pick food and drink as an exam topic. You can check out Minna at SignHow. She has a BSL Level 2 food and drink conversation (exam) that is worth watching.
If you need a paper-based resource, you can download Food flashcards from Twinkl.
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