Foods that start with P

List of Foods That Start With P

1

Packham Pear

A bumpy, green-skinned Australian pear variety with sweet, buttery white flesh — one of the most commercially important pear cultivars grown in the Southern Hemisphere and a familiar supermarket staple worldwide.

2

Pad Thai

Thailand's national noodle dish — rice noodles stir-fried with egg, bean sprouts, and choice of protein in a tangy-sweet tamarind sauce, finished with crushed peanuts, chilli flakes, and a squeeze of lime.

3

Paella

Valencia's showpiece rice dish — short-grain rice cooked in a wide, shallow pan over open fire in a saffron-and-sofrito broth, forming a caramelised bottom crust (socarrat) prized above all else.

4

Pancakes

A flat, round griddle cake of batter — leavened or thin — eaten worldwide for breakfast or as a wrapper for savory and sweet fillings.

5

Pandanus Leaves

Long sword-shaped tropical leaves used as the vanilla of Southeast Asia — adding a distinctive grassy, nutty, faintly floral aroma to rice, sweets, and curries.

6

Pandoro

A tall, eight-pointed-star-shaped Christmas cake from Verona — buttery, eggy, and dusted with vanilla-scented icing sugar.

7

Panettone

A tall, dome-topped Italian Christmas bread from Milan — leavened slowly with a sourdough starter and studded with candied fruit and raisins.

8

Paprika

A red powder made from dried ground sweet or hot peppers — a defining Hungarian, Spanish, and Eastern European spice, with sweet, smoked, and hot varieties that fundamentally differ in flavor and use.

9

Parmesan Cheese

An aged, hard cow's-milk cheese made for centuries in northern Italy — the most-imitated cheese in the world, with the genuine *Parmigiano-Reggiano* protected by EU law.

10

Parrotfish

A vividly colored tropical reef fish eaten across the Pacific and Caribbean — firm white flesh with a slightly sweet flavor, controversial because of its ecological role.

11

Parsley

A bright-green Mediterranean herb with two main forms — flat-leaf for cooking, curly for garnish — and the foundation of countless Middle Eastern, Italian, and French recipes.

12

Pasta

Dough of wheat flour and water shaped into hundreds of forms, dried or fresh — the foundation of Italian cooking and a global pantry staple.

13

Pavlova

A meringue dessert with a crisp exterior shell and soft, marshmallow interior — topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit; the subject of a passionate New Zealand vs. Australia origin debate.

14

Peanut

A South American legume that grows underground (despite being called a nut) — the world's most widely-consumed legume, source of George Washington Carver's hundreds of agricultural innovations and a defining American snack food.

15

Peking Duck

China's most famous dish — a whole duck lacquered with a sweet glaze, air-dried for hours, then roasted until the skin crackles and shatters; served tableside with the sliced crispy skin separately from the meat, both wrapped in thin pancakes with hoisin sauce, sliced cucumber, and spring onions.

16

Pesto

A Genoese sauce of crushed basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan, and olive oil — traditionally pounded with mortar and pestle, now a global pasta sauce and ingredient.

17

Pho

Vietnam's national noodle soup — a clear, deeply aromatic bone broth simmered with charred ginger and onion, star anise and cinnamon, served over rice noodles with thinly sliced beef or chicken and a platter of fresh herbs.

18

Pierogi

Poland's beloved stuffed dumplings — unleavened dough folded around potato-cheese, sauerkraut-mushroom, or fruit fillings, boiled then pan-fried in butter with onions; Poland's most recognisable culinary export.

19

Pizza

A round of yeasted flatbread topped with sauce, cheese, and toppings, oven-baked at high heat — born in Naples and now eaten everywhere.

20

Polenta

A Northern Italian porridge of slow-cooked cornmeal — eaten loose, set firm and grilled, or layered with cheese and meat sauce.

21

Popcorn

A specific corn variety whose kernels explode under heat — the world's most popular movie-theater snack and one of humanity's oldest known foods.

22

Porridge

Oats cooked in water or milk until creamy and thick — one of humanity's oldest foods and Britain's most sustaining breakfast, eaten across the whole country but with particular cultural importance in Scotland where it was historically made with salt and eaten standing up; now topped with everything from honey to whisky.

23

Poutine

Quebec's cult comfort food — thick-cut fries covered in fresh cheese curds and hot brown gravy; the curds must squeak against the teeth, the gravy must be hot enough to soften them slightly without melting them completely.

24

Pretzel

A baked knot-shaped bread dipped in lye solution before baking — the alkaline bath creates the glossy, mahogany crust and distinctive chewy-crisp bite; Bavaria's signature bread, inseparable from beer culture.

25

Profiteroles

Small choux pastry puffs filled with whipped cream or crème pâtissière and topped with warm chocolate sauce — a classic French dessert found on the menus of bistros and brasseries worldwide; the choux pastry puffs are hollow, light, and airy, and the combination with cold cream and warm chocolate sauce is one of the great textural contrasts in French patisserie.

26

Pulled Pork

Slow-smoked pork shoulder cooked for 12–18 hours at low temperature until the collagen breaks down and the meat can be torn apart by hand — the centrepiece of American barbecue culture, particularly in the Carolinas.

27

Pumpkin Pie

America's Thanksgiving dessert — a spiced custard of pumpkin purée, eggs, cream, and warming spices baked in a shortcrust shell; the pumpkin spice flavour profile is among the most commercially influential in American food.