La comida es deliciosa o la comida está deliciosa?
This just came up in another question. I've always said es deliciosa, and the translators agree with me, as little as I trust them. My thinking is that food is either delicious or not, it's not temporarily delicious. Two of the responders said that you should use estar. Would this change if you were talking in the preterite or past imperfect? Would es deliciosa become estuvo deliciosa?
9 Answers
When saying "The food is delicious", you are talking about its characteristic. That's why you use the verb "ser". And it is: La comida es deliciosa. (View this reference article for the usage of ser and estar)
Imperfect tense: La comida era deliciosa.
Preterit: La comida fue deliciosa.
If you are talking about a specific empanada, you would use "está" in the sense of "this empanada tastes really good." "Esta empanada está sabrosa".
If you are talking about empanadas en general, then you would say "Las empanadas son sabrosas", because that is a general characteristic of empanadas.
"La comida china/japonesa/española es sabrosa." They taste really good (I like"them). This is an (positive) assertion about the nature of those cuisines. "El pollo/el sushi/ las hamburguesas está(n) delicioso(as). This is a statement about their preparation and ones reaction to the specific results. (One can like the cuisine, in general, but dislike a particular dish [because it is ill-prepared].)
A differing view....
You think the food is delicious, I think the food is terrible. That's not a characteristic of the food, but it's an opinion. When offering opinions, use estar
I agree with Mountaingirl and Jack.
If you are talking about food in general..."Sopa es deliciosa."
But if you are talking about a certain food ..."La sopa está deliciosa hoy."
If someone says "How was your food?" I'd respond with "Estaba deliciosa."
KevinB wrote:
It had nothing to do with opinion.
So, maybe the 'rule' of using estar when expressing opinion is invalid when talking about food?
In my mind, it has everything to do about opinion, that's why you can argue about it. If the food is blue, there's not much to argue about 
If you are talking about a specific empanada, you would use "está" in the sense of "this empanada tastes really good." "Esta empanada está sabrosa".
Exactly. Another 'slant' on this is, assuming all the food was good, but you had an emotional moment of expressing something like "wow, this food is delicious!", that emotional outburst of opinion is cause to use estar.
Another example, you ask someone how the salad is, they might respond "Está rico, pero la lechuga es muy amarga”.
I think it is regional. I lived in Sevilla for many years and at the lunch table, I was asked to say what I thought of the food. I asked how to say it and they told me to say, "Está muy rico." etc.
Está rico (used for that specific plate of food, opinion and day)
Está riquisimo (it is really really good!)
Rayas (ice cream parlor) Rayas es delicioso. (a fact)
Hmmm. I think I'm waffling on this, now.
In general, empanadas are delicious: Las empanadas son deliciosas.
This particular empanada is delicious: Esta empanada está deliciosa.
This particular empanada is not delicious: Esta empanada no está deliciosa.
I don't know. In two years of living in Venezuela I never heard food referred to with estar, unless you were talking hot/cold, etc. Good/bad was ser. It had nothing to do with opinion. You might argue over the opinion, but you still used ser. This just sounds odd to me. Maybe it's regional.
