Made from vs made up of for dishes

Question

If I want to question someone about what makes up a given dish, which of the following sentences is the most appropriate ?

What is this dish made up of ?

What is this dish made from ?

It seems to me that the first sentence is more appropriate when we want to know all of the food found on a dish while the second one is more for ingredients, am I right ?

In addition to the proper way to question a person, how can we answer someone who asked us to describe a given dish ?

This dish is composed of eggs, french fries, rice ...

Is this construction fine or is there a more proper way to say that ?

None of those sounds right. Things are just made of or made from other things. — tchrist, Oct 06 '13 at 22:34
You could use either “this dish is made of this and that” or that is it “made from this or that”. You might even try “made with this or that”, but that might suggest you didn’t list all the ingredients. — tchrist, Oct 06 '13 at 23:05
possible duplicate of made of vs made up of. Also 'Made of' vs. 'Made from' and “Made of” vs “made from” — FumbleFingers, Oct 06 '13 at 23:47

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 07 '13 at 01:30

Dictionary.com offers two related definitions for dish:

the food served or contained in a dish

and

a particular article, type, or preparation of food

In my experience (AmE), the second is used more commonly than the first; or at least, when the first is used it implies that only one type of food is placed on the dish.

If you ask "what is this dish made of?" you are asking about a single food item and what ingredients were used to prepare it.

In a restaurant, if several items are served together on one dish, we more often talk about it as a plate than a dish. In a restaurant it might also be called a combination, a meal, or a dinner (and probably others I'm not thinking of at the moment). In other countries I've seen it called a set meal or set at restaurants.

If you want to ask what items make up a combination at a restaurant, you can ask, for example,

What comes with the felafel plate?

If you are dining at someone's home, you can ask,

What are you serving for dinner?

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 07 '13 at 01:45

I would prefer, for both sentences 1. & 2. : "made with" or rather "prepared with".

Or better : "What is used for / to prepare / to cook this dish ?"

And, for the last one, something more direct : "To prepare this dish, you use / need ...". Or : "..., ..., ..., and ... are used to cook this dish"

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 07 '13 at 02:46

You say, "ask", which implies a spoken question, hence, informal. I would ask "What is this dish made of?" Or simply, point (or indicate the dish) and ask "What's this made of?"

"Made from" is probably more correct - at least in writing - but in informal speech, "made of" is OK.

(We assume that you're asking about what's ON the dish, not what the dish itself is made of (clay, porocelain, plastic, &c.))

Made from vs made up of for dishes

3 Answers3