Food vocabulary is the most practical set in the language after greetings, because you use it every day, usually three times. The good news is that most food signs are iconic: they look like eating or holding the thing. The better news is that breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all built from one sign.
The EAT family
Eat brings a flattened O handshape to the mouth, as if putting food in. Breakfast is EAT followed by MORNING. Lunch is EAT followed by NOON. Dinner is EAT followed by NIGHT. Learn EAT and the three times of day from the days and time guide and you have all four.
Hungry, thirsty, full
Hungry draws a C handshape down the chest, like an empty stomach. Thirsty draws an index finger down the throat. Full brings a flat hand up under the chin and stops: nothing more fits. Delicious touches the middle finger to the lips and flicks it away with a satisfied face.
The phrases I'm Hungry, I Want To Eat, and I Want To Drink are how you actually say it: a point to yourself, then the feeling or want. In casual signing the point is often dropped and HUNGRY with a nod is a full sentence.
Drinks
Drink tips a C handshape toward the mouth like a cup. Water taps a W on the chin. Coffee grinds one fist on top of the other, like an old coffee mill. Tea dips a pinched hand into an O, a teabag in a cup. Juice is the letter J at the chin.
Fruit and snacks
Apple twists a bent index finger knuckle on the cheek. Banana peels one index finger with the other hand. Bread slices a flat hand with the other hand. Pizza has several versions; the clip shows a common one that draws a Z with a P-like handshape, or a bent V bringing a slice to the mouth.
Cake rises a claw hand off the palm, batter rising. Chocolate circles a C on the back of the other hand.
The full lists are in Fruit, Vegetables, Protein and Dairy, and Snacks and Drinks.
Ordering and asking
To ask what someone wants: YOU WANT WHAT? with the eyebrows down. To offer: YOU WANT COFFEE? with the eyebrows up. To answer: COFFEE PLEASE, or WATER, THANK-YOU. To say you like something: I Like and the food. To say it was good: Delicious and a satisfied face.
Practice
Narrate your next meal. HUNGRY. I EAT ... and sign each thing on the plate. DRINK WATER. FULL. DELICIOUS. It takes a minute, nobody has to see it, and it is one of the fastest ways to make food signs automatic.
Next: Deaf culture basics, because once you can eat and greet, you are ready to meet people.