I cook the meal
Does “I cook the meal” have the same meaning as “I cook the food”?
Thank you.
9 Answers
I personally think the verb cook is not very idiomatic in English in this case.
I am cooking the meal...I would have chosen: I am preparing the meal. or even better: I am making/preparing lunch/dinner etc
I am cooking the food....esto me da que se diría para distinguir lo de I am frying/boiling etc something
Yo no diría esto para hacer la comida.
Veamos lo que dicen los nativos
This is what I have understood after reading your answers. I hope not to be wrong. I would like to know your opinions.
“I cook the food” is incorrect
I would like to add that all alone, that sounds slightly odd. However it would be perfectly acceptable if it had more context, such as "I cook the food in my household" or "I cook the food on tuesdays". Those sound natural to me.
“I cook the meal” is incorrect.
If you pluralize meal, it is correct:
Bob: Who cooks at your house?"
Susan: "I cook the meals."
Although I guess you could say "I will cook the meal"...
I don't know, just some thoughts...
Does “I cook the meal” have the same meaning as “I cook the food”
Taking into consideration what Heidita and Nicole have already said, I would agree that both, while not incorrect, seem somewhat stiff to say. I do, however, disagree in that I think that "cooking" is very idiomatic. I think the problem is that you would usually name the food that you are cooking or the meal that you are preparing when you use the word "cook." For example: "I cooked breakfast" or "I cooked the rice." "Cooked" would often not be used for dishes that were baked, however. For example, "I baked the pie (not I cooked the cake).
I also think (at least in my own experience) that "prepare/preparing" is much more formal and not very idiomatic. Much more common would be "make/making" and "fix/fixing."
Her: "Do you want to come over for dinner, tonight? I'm cooking"
Him: "Sure. What are you fixing/making/cooking/preparing/serving? (or "what are we having?")"
Her: "I was thinking about cooking/making/fixing/having/preparing some steaks."
Most people refer to the actual meal they are preparing and then say, I will make breakfast, lunch, dinner.", etc., as Heidi just said.
I agree with this, and would just add that in the Southern portion of the U.S. (I can't speak to whether this is true where Nicole lives), it is also quite common to use the verb "fix" as in "I'm fixing/making/cooking/preparing breakfast, right now," or "I'm fixing/making/cooking/preparing (some) eggs and bacon for breakfast; if you want any (just let me know)."
For all of the examples that I have listed above, I think the more idiomatic expressions to say would be "fix" or "make" with "cook" being used occasionally, and "prepare" being used for more formal occasions. Again, I am speaking to my own experiences and cannot attest to what would be correct to the English spoken in the UK, but from what I have read of Nicole's and Heitita's posts, it seems like you can't go wrong with "make."
“I cook the food” is incorrect
“I cook the meal” is incorrect.
One other thing that you might want to consider is the specificity of what you are saying in regards to the use of "cook" as a transitive or intransitive verb. If you are being very specific, such as naming the meal or actual dish then you would use the verb transitively. "I'm cooking the turkey for thanksgiving," "I cooked the pasta last night." The words "meal" and "food" are very general in that they do not name a specific meal or food. Since this is the case, you would probably just drop them altogether and use "cook" intransitively with the idea of "meal" or "food" being inferred from the context: "I cook." It is not necessary to say "the meal" or "the food" because usually when we speak of cooking, we are generally speaking about meals or food.
One other problem that I see, in regards to specificity, is that you are using the definite article "the" along with a two very non-specific nouns "meal" and "food." It sounds somewhat stilted to say this (without any additional clarifying information as cheeseisyumm has pointed out) like this, especially in the present tense.
I make the breakfast/lunch/dinner
I think that it comes down to what exactly you are trying to say with your sentence. Are you trying to say that in general, you are the one who cooks this meal on a daily basis at your house? If so, then you would say:
• At my house, I make/cook/prepare/fix the breakfasts/lunches/dinners
• I make/cook/fix the breakfast/lunch/dinner at my house
• I make/cook/fix/prepare the breakfast/lunch/dinner every day (around here)
• I do (all) the cooking at my house.
I think that the last two are probably the most colloquial of the four ways to express this idea. If, however, you are trying to imply that you are actually in the process of cooking a specific meal or dish or that the action is in progress - even if it is not taking place at the exact moment, then you would use the present progressive for this:
• I am cooking/fixing/making/preparing the dinner right now
• I am cooking/fixing/making/preparing the turkey right now.
• I am cooking/fixing/making/preparing the meal right now.
• I am cooking/fixing/making/preparing the food right now.
• I am cooking right now.
Each of these would be OK to say, but as I mentioned before, it would be more idiomatic to leave off "the meal/the food" for cooking because both can be implied from the intransitive use of "cook." The others (fixing/making/preparing), however, must all be used transitively in this case.
Does this make sense to you?
in the Southern portion of the U.S. (I can't speak to whether this is true where Nicole lives), it is also quite common to use the verb "fix" as in "I'm fixing/making/cooking/preparing breakfast,
Just so you know, "fix" sounds very informal in this context, and kind of has a regional flavor. However I agree that it's very common (it was the first thing that came to mind when I read the question). 
cocino un plato de comida
Would this be similar to:
I am making/fixing/cooking/preparing a plate of food?
Nila,
In the US at least, there is nothing grammatically wrong with saying, "I cook the food.". However, it does not sound natural.
Most people refer to the actual meal they are preparing and then say, I will make breakfast, lunch, dinner.", etc., as Heidi just said.
Whenever the word meal is used, "prepare" is the verb of choice.
Whenever you are referring to a specific meal, you would use the verb "make".
This is what I have understood after reading your answers. I hope not to be wrong. I would like to know your opinions.
“I cook the food” is incorrect
“I cook the meal” is incorrect.
“I prepare the meal” is correct.
“I make the breakfast/lunch/dinner” is correct
After that, Izanoni adds that other sentences are possible with “cook/fix/make/prepare”
“cook…. breakfast/rice/steaks and so on”
Now, I was thinking that "I cook a meal" is "cocino un plato de comida". That is why instead of "the meal", it would be better "a meal".
"To cook the meal" would sound strange. What do you think?
