The nouns ‘food and fruit’ are both countable and uncountable nouns.

Both nouns are usually used as uncountable nouns, i.e., food and fruit.

In this poster’s opinion, the uncountable nouns ‘food and fruit’ are used in the uncountable form 98% of the time.

You can’t count one food or two foods.

Use food as an uncountable noun when you are talking about food in general.

- People need to eat food to survive.

- I can’t eat all this food!

- What kind of food do you like the most?

- I miss the food my mother used to cook.

Sometimes we talk about specific kinds of food, different types of food, various varieties of food.

In this case we use the countable form of the noun, foods. 

- Chinese food and Italian food are examples of foreign foods.

- The doctor said you need to eat more fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods.

- I have intolerances to a lot of foods. I can’t eat wheat, dairy, soy, almonds and a lot of other things! 

- I’m having frozen food for dinner tonight. I looked in the freezer and I found all kinds of frozen foods, so I took one and put in the microwave.

If you are not sure if you should use food or foods, use food.

 

Usually, fruit is an uncountable noun. You can count fruit by saying 1 piece of fruit, 2 pieces of fruit, or a bowl of fruit. Use fruit when you are talking about the entire group in general.

- You should eat five servings of fruit and vegetables every day.

- Fruit is good for your health.

- Would you like some fruit?

- There isn't much fresh fruit available in winter.

- I had a sandwich for lunch and then fruit for dessert.

Fruit is used as a countable noun when talking about particular types of fruit/kinds of fruit/different varieties or categories or groups of fruit.

When we think of fruit as a group collectively, in a non-specific, general way, we use the countable form of the noun fruit, i.e., fruits.

- They grow mainly citrus fruits.

- He really loves tropical fruits like mangoes, durian, and pineapples.

- My three favourite fruits are bananas, melons, and strawberries.

- The supermarket has a wide selection of exotic fruits such as Papaya and Mango.

- The juice is made from a variety of fresh fruits.

- I love oranges and other citrus fruits.

- You can find bananas, grapes and other fruits in the produce section.

- Make sure to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables daily.

- We grow different kinds of fruits on our farm: apples, pears, blueberries, cherries, and peaches. 

If you are not sure if you should use fruit or fruits, use fruit.

 *******************************

Something you didn’t need to know... Believe it or not, these are not vegetables… they are fruits

The following are actually fruits in a botanical sense, though are commonly thought of as vegetables:

- avocado, cucumber, eggplant, green beans, peppers, pumpkin, squash, tomato, zucchini