QUESTION:
Nice from China wants to know when and how to use the word “dish” when referring to meals and eating.

ANSWER:
The word dish is confusing because it has two different meanings and both are very commonly used.

“Dish” as a Container
First, dish is a general term used to mean the container that is used to hold food.  A dish is usually a shallow (not very deep), flat container that is used for cooking or for serving food.  It can be a plate (used for eating), a platter (large plate used for serving), or sometimes even a shallow bowl (something deep enough to hold liquids).
- “My favorite dish is the one with the blue and white pattern.”
- “I need a bigger dish for the potatoes because this one is too small.”

These are common terms using “dish” in this way:

serving dish – a plate or bowl that is large enough and/or looks nice enough to be placed on the table during a meal

baking dish – a plate, bowl, or container used to bake or cook food, usually in the oven
(Often the food is then taken out of the baking dish and put on a serving dish to make it look nice to be placed on the dinner table.)

to do the dishes/to wash the dishes – to wash or clean the plates, bowls, other containers, cups, and silverware (forks, knives, spoons, and other things) used for cooking and eating

“Dish” as Food
Dish is also used to mean one type of prepared food.  For example, if I invite you to eat dinner at my house, I may cook five dishes to serve you: a vegetable dish, a chicken dish, a fish dish, a pasta dish, and a dessert.  (If I were you, I wouldn’t eat any of it!)
- “His favorite dish is spaghetti and meatballs.”
- “I’m full after eating the first dish.  How can I eat two more?”

These are common terms using “dish” in this way:

main dish – the biggest part of a meal. For example, if you ate fish with rice and vegetables for dinner, fish would be the main dish, and rice and vegetables would be side dishes

side dish – a small portion of food, often a kind of vegetable, served with the “main dish”

Note the word “dish” is also used to describe what kind of food is served: “vegetable dish,” “meat dish,” “cold dish,” “one-dish meal” (meaning a stew or other recipe for food where everything for a meal is mixed together in one serving), “Thai dish,” “French dish,” “vegetarian dish” (contains no meat).

Other Uses of “Dish”
“Dish” can also be used as a verb.  First, related to food, we use the term to dish up or to dish out to mean to serve food or to take some food out of a container with a spoon or fork and put it on a plate or in a bowl for eating.
- “After dinner Petra will dish up/out dessert for everyone.”
- “Use this serving spoon to dish up/out the carrots.”

We can use to dish out in other situations not related to food to mean to hand out or to give out.  For example:
- “Every Monday morning we have a meeting for the boss to dish out that week’s assignments.”
- “I don’t think Manny is sincere.  He dishes out compliments to every woman he meets.”

We also use to dish informally to mean to provide information, often when we talk about gossip.  (We use “dish” as a noun to mean the information or gossip itself.)  For example, if my friend went on a date over the weekend and I want to find out what happened, I may ask:  “When are you going to dish about your date?” or “Give me the dish.  I can’t wait to hear what happened.”

Thanks for the question and I hope this is useful!

~ Lucy

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Language & Terms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.