Most appropriate word for 'food'

Question

I have seen many ways of saying 'food'. I am wondering if there is ever a difference in appropriateness.

食品、食べ物、～物(type+物)、飯、ご飯、etc.

Most commonly, I think, is 食べ物, but I thought I'd use 食品 for an assignment involving 敬語（けいご）since it sounded more formal to me.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

食べ物 - appropriate as written or spoken language, a basic word, commonly used in speech

食品 - food product, think of a packaged food product on a shelf in the store

ご飯 - literally rice (polite), used to refer to "a meal" as in breakfast, lunch or dinner

食事 - a meal, frequently used in hotels and restaurants as 「お食事」 (おしゅくじ)

〜物 - assuming you mean 揚げ物 (fried food), 煮物 (boiled food), 干物 (dried food), etc... these are self explanatory, just more specific.

Also don't forget:

食物 (しょくもつ) - Mostly in written language, "food stuffs" is a good English equivalent

And just to whet your appetite (pun definitely intended) here is a breakdown of common food categories.

Animal Food Products (動物性食品)

肉類 （にくるい - meat, incl. poultry）、魚介類（ぎょかいるい - seafood）、卵類（らんるい - eggs）、牛乳（ぎゅうにゅう - dairy)

Plant Food Products (植物性食品)

穀物（こくもつ - cereals）、豆類（まめるい - pulses）、芋類（いもるい - tubers）、野菜（やさい - vegetables）、山菜（さんさい - mountain vegetables）、海藻（かいそう - sea vegetation, seaweed）、種実類（しゅじつるい - aw nuts）、果物（くだもの - fruits）、ハーブ（herbs)

(ref: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A3%9F%E5%93%81)

Answer 2

For different contexts, here are a few more:

• 料理　【りょうり】 - food/cuisine; 日本料理、料理を作る、など
• 食料　【しょくりょう】 - food, groceries; 食料品 (foodstuffs/groceries)、食料費 (food expenses)
• 糧　【かて】　・　食糧 【しょくりょう】 - food (supply), provisions; 食糧不足　【しょくりょうぶそく】 (food shortage)