KS3 Food Preparation & Nutrition Key Terms & Vocabulary

Proteins

made of building blocks called amino acids.

Iron-deficiency anaemia

caused by too little dietary iron (or by blood loss), reducing haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Human body

approximately 60% water by mass.

Bread

mainly starch (a complex carbohydrate); eggs/yoghurt/cheese are not predominantly carbohydrate sources.

Calcium

essential for building and maintaining strong bones and teeth.

Calcium's main function

to form and maintain strong bones and teeth (also: nerve transmission, muscle contraction, blood clotting).

Calcium

found in dairy AND in many other foods: leafy greens (kale, pak choi), tinned fish with bones (sardines), fortified plant milks, and fortified bread/flour.

Calcium

the key mineral for strong bones.

Complex carbohydrates

released slowly into the blood because they need to be digested first into glucose.

Eatwell Guide

the UK government's official healthy-eating advice.

Eggs

an HBV (complete) protein source.

Fat

needed by the body in small amounts; it shouldn't be cut out completely.

Fat-soluble vitamins

A, D, E and K.

Fat

a long-term energy store the body draws on when food is unavailable.

Fat

needed to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Adult

recommended to eat about 30 g of fibre daily.

Fibre

important because it supports digestion and prevents constipation.

Fibre

a type of carbohydrate that is not digested for energy but supports gut health.

Most dietary fibre

not digested or absorbed for energy in the human small intestine; it passes to the large intestine.

Fibre

found in plant foods (cereals, fruit, veg, beans), not in animal foods (meat, fish, eggs, dairy).

UK adults

advised to eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

UK guidance

to drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluid per day (around 1.5 to 2 litres).

Food energy

measured in kilocalories.

Glucose

a simple sugar (monosaccharide); starch, cellulose and glycogen are complex polysaccharides.

Extra carbohydrate

stored short-term as glycogen in the liver and muscles.

Protein intake

especially important during recovery from illness or surgery for tissue repair.

Iodine

needed to make thyroid hormones that regulate metabolism.

Iron

needed to make haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen.

Iron

needed to make haemoglobin in red blood cells.

Adults

advised to drink 1.5 to 2 litres of fluid daily.

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Starch

broken down in the mouth by the enzyme amylase.

Appearance

the property of food that affects how appealing it looks.

Baking powder

classified as a chemical raising agent — it produces CO₂ through a chemical reaction with moisture (and heat).

Boiling

cooking food in water at 100 °C.

Butter

mostly saturated fat and is solid at room temperature.

Coagulation

the name for proteins setting solid when heated.

Conduction

heat transfer through direct contact between objects.

Convection

heat transfer through the movement of currents in liquids and gases.

Cooking

done to kill bacteria, improve texture and develop flavour.

Cornflour

the typical starch used to thicken a Chinese-style stir-fry sauce.

Dextrinisation

when starch goes brown under dry heat.

Melted fat

used in roasting potatoes to crisp the surface.

Gelatinisation

when starch absorbs water and thickens with heat.

Gluten

developed by mixing flour with water and kneading the dough; the kneading aligns and strengthens the gluten strands.

Gluten

the protein in wheat flour that gives bread dough its stretch.

Mechanism behind blanching

that heat denatures (unfolds) the browning enzymes so they can no longer catalyse the reaction.

Bread dough

"knocked back" after the first rise to remove large gas bubbles and even out the yeast distribution.

Mayonnaise

an emulsion (specifically an oil-in-water emulsion).

Poaching

gentle simmering below boiling point (~70–80 °C); it suits delicate foods like eggs and fish.

Two everyday prevention methods

adding lemon juice and quick blanching.

Raw chicken

unsafe to eat because it often carries harmful bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella.

Steam

the raising agent that makes choux pastry expand in the oven.

Steaming

considered a healthy cooking method because it retains nutrients and adds no fat.

Toffee

an everyday example of caramelisation.

Unsaturated fats

usually liquid at room temperature; they are not solid.

Wood

a poor conductor of heat, so it is often used for pan handles and utensils that stay cool enough to hold.

Yeast

classified as a biological raising agent because it is a living microorganism.

Acidic liquids such as lemon juice slow enzymic browning by lowering pH.

In cake making, the role of fat creamed with sugar is aeration — adding air to lighten texture.

Apples turn brown when cut because enzymes in the cut surface react with oxygen in air.

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Once a tin

opened, the printed date is no longer the relevant guide — follow the "after opening, refrigerate and use within X days" guidance.

Aprons

worn because the clothes underneath have travelled through public spaces and carry bacteria that should not contact food.

Food

generally still safe to eat after its best-before date; quality (taste, texture, appearance) may have declined but the food is not unsafe.

Cross-contamination

the transfer of harmful bacteria from raw to cooked / ready-to-eat food.

Display-until dates

used by shops to manage shelves.

Enzymic browning

the reaction that causes cut apple, pear, banana, and potato surfaces to turn brown when exposed to air.

Freezing

the preservation method that uses very low temperatures (typically -18°C in domestic freezers).

Door shelves

the warmest part of a domestic fridge because they're exposed to room air each time the door opens; milk and very perishable items are better stored on the main shelves.

Not all bacteria

harmful — many are used in food production (yoghurt, cheese, sourdough, salami).

Cross-contamination

prevented by using separate chopping boards, separate utensils, and by washing hands between tasks.

Raw fish

prepared on a blue chopping board in the UK colour-coded system.

Food spoilage

mainly caused by three groups of microorganisms: bacteria, moulds and yeasts.

UHT milk

preserved by heating it to an ultra-high temperature (≥ 135°C) for a few seconds, allowing months of shelf life unopened without refrigeration.

Use-by dates

about safety; best-before dates are about quality.

Clean apron

worn over normal clothes because outdoor clothing carries bacteria from outside the kitchen and the apron also protects clothes from spills.

Dry goods such as flour, pasta, and rice should be stored in airtight containers to keep pests, moisture and contamination out.

Airtight containers prevent stored food from drying out and being contaminated by smells or air.

Under ideal conditions, bacteria can double in number roughly every 20 minutes.

Most harmful bacteria need moisture to grow and multiply (which is why drying, salting and sugar preservation work).

Bacteria need warmth (alongside food, moisture and time) to grow and multiply.

Most bacteria grow fastest at warm body temperatures (around 37°C for human-associated pathogens).

"Best before" means the date until which the food is at its best quality; it is often still safe after.

"Best before" does not mean unsafe to eat after that date — only that quality may decline.

Bacteria reproduce by splitting in two, called binary fission.

Cuts and wounds are covered with brightly coloured (usually blue) waterproof plasters because blue is not a natural food colour, so a fallen plaster is easy to spot. Many also contain a metal strip for detector-based screening.

Bacteria multiply fastest around body temperature (37°C) because it sits inside the danger zone and is close to the optimum for many human pathogens.

Botulinum toxin (from Clostridium botulinum) produced in damaged or bulging tinned food can be fatal.

Mould on bread can produce mycotoxins, so the affected loaf should be thrown away rather than just the visible patch cut off.

Bread goes stale before it goes mouldy because starch in the crumb retrogrades and water migrates out, making the crumb dry and firm; this is a physical change, not microbial spoilage.

Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial food poisoning in the UK.

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One litre

equal to 1000 millilitres.

Balloon whisk

used to whisk cream and egg whites, incorporating air to create foam.

Blunt knife

not safer — it needs more force and is more likely to slip and cause a deeper cut.

Boiling

cooking food submerged in a large amount of liquid at 100°C.

Chef's knife

the best knife for chopping large vegetables because it has a long, wide, heavy blade.

Colander

a perforated bowl used to drain liquid from cooked pasta or vegetables.

Digital kitchen scales

the most accurate tool for measuring 100 g of flour or other solid dry ingredients.

Dovetailing

preparing multiple tasks at the same time so the meal is ready together — for example, boiling pasta while the sauce simmers.

Grilling

a dry-heat method that uses little or no added fat.

Hot-oil burns

typically more severe than boiling-water burns of the same size because oil reaches much higher temperatures and sticks to skin.

Measuring jug

graduated in millilitres and is used to measure liquid ingredients accurately.

Palette knife

a long, blunt, flexible blade used for spreading icing and lifting flat foods.

Paring knife

a short knife used for peeling and trimming small fruits and vegetables.

Pastry brush

used to glaze pastry or bread with egg wash or milk before baking.

Roasted meat

rested before carving so the juices redistribute through the muscle fibres, keeping the meat moist.

Sharp knife

safer than a blunt one because it requires less force, so it is less likely to slip off the food.

Simmering

heating liquid to just below boiling point so it bubbles gently.

Spatula

used to fold mixtures gently and to scrape batter from the sides and bottom of bowls.

Steaming

classed as a moist-heat cooking method because it uses water vapour to cook the food.

UK metric tablespoon

15 ml.

Teaspoon

about 5 millilitres.

The UK emergency number for fire, police and ambulance is 999.

Accurate measuring helps recipes turn out as expected — particularly important for baking and rising mixtures.

Baking ingredients must be weighed accurately because wrong amounts change the chemical reactions and cause failed bakes (collapsed cakes, dense bread).

Baking uses dry oven heat (convection of hot air around the food) and suits breads, cakes and pastries.

Baking heats food primarily through convection currents of hot air circulating in the oven.

Water-soluble vitamins (vitamin C and the B-group) leach into the cooking water during boiling and are lost if the water is discarded.

The bridge hold has the fingers arched over the food while the thumb and a fingertip grip the sides, so the blade passes safely under the arch.

The claw grip curls the fingertips under so the knuckles, not the fingertips, face the blade.

The claw grip protects the fingertips by curling them under, with knuckles guiding the blade.

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Food additives

used to preserve food, colour it, emulsify it, or stabilise its texture.

Aquaculture

the farming of fish and other seafood in controlled freshwater or saltwater conditions.

Apples

a typical British autumn crop; mangoes, pineapples and bananas are tropical and not UK autumn crops.

Brussels sprouts

a winter UK crop.

Cocoa

one of the most prominent Fairtrade-certified products; many UK chocolate brands carry the Mark on packaging because the cocoa supply chain has been a focus of campaigning since the 1990s.

Fairtrade Mark

a black-and- green logo (a stylised arm raised on a blue/green ground) licensed by the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK; spotting it on packaging is the consumer-facing assurance.

Fairtrade

designed to protect producers from sharp drops in volatile commodity prices (especially coffee and cocoa, which historically swing widely on world markets).

Most Fairtrade products

grown in Africa, Latin America, or Asia — regions where smallholder farmers are most vulnerable to price swings.

High food miles

a problem mainly because of the additional CO₂ released during long-distance transport.

Food security

reliable access to enough safe, nutritious food for all people, all the time.

Fortification

the process of adding nutrients to food that are not naturally present (or are present in low quantities), to improve public health.

Organic foods

often more expensive than non-organic because yields are lower and production is more labour-intensive.

Pasteurisation

briefly heating milk (and some other liquid foods) to a high temperature to kill harmful bacteria while preserving most of the taste and nutrients.

Foods

classified by origin as plant-based (e.g. wheat, oats, lentils) or animal-based (e.g. meat, fish, milk, eggs).

Growing world population

one of the major threats to global food security because demand for food rises faster than productive land or yield improvements can keep up.

Preservatives

added to processed foods to extend shelf life by inhibiting microbial spoilage.

Milling wheat into flour

a classic example of primary food processing.

Reducing food waste

one of the ways individuals can make their food choices more sustainable.

Seasonal British produce

often cheaper and fresher than the same food grown out of season and imported.

Seasonal British produce

often cheaper than the same food grown out of season and imported.

Seasonal food

food grown and harvested at its natural time of year, locally.

Baking bread from flour

a classic example of secondary processing (using already-processed ingredients to make a finished product).

UK strawberries

in season from approximately June to August.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs)

industrially formulated products containing many additives and artificial ingredients (sweeteners, emulsifiers, flavourings, colourings).

Wheat

one of the cereal crops grown widely in the UK; rice, bananas and coffee are not commercially grown in the UK climate.

Chemicals added to food to improve colour, flavour, texture or shelf life are called additives.

Approved food additives have passed safety testing; it is not true that all additives are harmful.

Per kilogram of food transported, air freight produces the highest carbon emissions of any common transport mode, far exceeding road, rail or sea.

Air-freighted food has, by definition, very high food miles compared with locally produced alternatives.

Milk and eggs are both animal-based foods; wheat and corn, oats and nuts, and soya and lentils are plant-based.

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Celery

one of the 14 major allergens that must be declared on UK food labels.

Samples

given codes (such as three-digit numbers) instead of brand names so brand loyalty doesn't bias the panellist's judgement.

Coeliac disease

a medical condition that requires complete avoidance of gluten (wheat, barley, rye).

Coeliac disease

the health condition that requires complete avoidance of gluten.

Green traffic-light colour

the food has a low level of that nutrient — a healthier choice.

Pork

forbidden in both halal (Islamic) and kosher (Jewish) diets.

UK pre-packed nutrition information

labelled per 100 g and often per typical portion.

Paired comparison

a sensory test that compares two unidentified (coded) samples.

Tasters

given water (or another neutral palate cleanser) between samples to cleanse the palate so the previous flavour does not bias the next sample.

Peanuts

one of the most common food allergens — required as a declared allergen on UK labels.

Red traffic-light colour

the food has a high level of that nutrient — eat only occasionally.

Sensory testing

evaluating food using sight, smell, taste and touch.

Taste

the sense used to assess the flavour of food (working with smell, which detects aroma).

UK food law requires 14 major allergens to be declared on food labels: cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide/sulphites, lupin, molluscs.

Food advertising influences choice through celebrity endorsements and persuasive images, especially on television and social media.

Allergens must be highlighted in bold (or contrasting colour/type) within the ingredients list on pre-packed food.

Allergens must be highlighted (e.g. in bold or contrasting type) within a packaged food's ingredient list.

A food allergy triggers an immune response; a food intolerance does not.

A severe, life-threatening allergic reaction is called anaphylaxis.

The "best before" date label relates to food quality (texture, flavour) — not safety. The food is still safe after the date if stored properly.

A person with coeliac disease must avoid all gluten in their diet.

Cultural background influences which foods a person chooses — family traditions, festivals and customary dishes are all cultural factors.

For a severe allergic reaction, give the person their EpiPen (adrenaline auto-injector) and call 999.

People choose Fairtrade products because farmers in developing countries get a fair, stable price above the world market rate.

Family traditions and customs are cultural factors in food choice — for example, a Sunday roast, Diwali sweets or Eid biriyani.

In rural areas, people may struggle to access fresh fruit and vegetables because supermarkets are far away and public transport is limited.

Many Hindus avoid beef because cows are considered sacred in Hinduism.

Ingredients on a UK food label are listed in descending order of weight — the largest ingredient first.

Ingredients on a food label are listed from the largest to the smallest amount by weight.

A list of ingredients is legally required on UK pre-packed food labels.

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