T-learning # Idiom
Speak Like a Native

food for thought

Choose the correct definition a, b or c.

a) to seriously think about something

Well done ! That’s the right answer.

This expression ’food for thought’ is used to say when something is seriously worth thinking about.

French translation

matière à réflexion

How NOT to translate : *de la nourriture pour la pensée

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Examples in context

Food for thought : Infographic reveals what the world consumes - with China being the biggest meat eaters and Germany drinking the most alcohol

It may not come as a surprise that people in Somalia eat less than Europeans and Americans.
But an infographic detailing the precise qualities of meals consumed by citizens of different countries provides some serious food for thought. The interactive pie chart shows that Germans drink the most alcohol, while Americans consume the most sugary and fatty food and Indians are most likely to be vegetarian.

It was created by data experts at National Geographic, as part of its Future of Food series, using data from FAOSTAT.
The interactive chart reveals how diets vary around the world and how they have evolved over the last 50 years, as well as showing quantities of food consumed per person in each place, in calories and grams.’

The Daily Mail, 22nd October 2014

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’Nanotechnology offers small food for thought

Nanomaterials are already part of our diet and the vast majority are naturally occurring. But should ’artificial’ nanoparticles be added to our foodstuffs ?

Imagine a humble grain of rice. Shrink it down a thousand times, and it becomes the size of a human skin cell. Shrink it a thousand times more, and you arrive at the nanoscale, where matter is measured in billionths of a metre.

Over the past three decades, scientists have developed a plethora of techniques that allow them to design and build structures at the nanoscale. Now they are applying these to our food.

Nanoparticles could smuggle vitamins into our daily diet, help deliver medicines where they are needed in the body, or even help to reduce food waste.’

The Guardian, 1st October 2014

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Everyday usage

Your essay has provided me with some interesting food for thought.

My adviser gave me some food for thought about job opportunities.

b) to eat more food

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.

c) to stop thinking

Sorry, wrong answer. Please try again.


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