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I'm a bit uncertain whether 'food' or 'foods' should be used in the example below.

I found a lot of canned food(s) in the kitchen. (I found several cans with food in them)

Could anyone help me out? Are both okay?

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  • (For reference, in British English you'd use ‘tinned’ instead of ‘canned’ here, as food comes in tins; cans are for drink, petrol, water for plants, headphones, etc.  The ‘food’/‘foods’ distinction is probably common, though.) Commented May 10 at 22:17

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We're comparing Sentences 1 and 2:

  1. I found a lot of canned food in the kitchen.

  2. I found a lot of canned foods in the kitchen.

Sentence 1 is much more common and preferable.

Sentence 2 is grammatically correct but much less common and so should be avoided.

Sentence 2 might be used if you want to specifically emphasize that you found a wide variety of different types of foods (a can of beans, a can of tomatoes, a can of lentils, a can of tuna, a can of sardines, etc.).

But if you merely want to emphasize the sheer overall quantity/amount of food that you found, then you should stick with 1.

(The difference between food and foods here is similar to those between fish and fishes or fruit and fruits.)

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  • +1 This is how I would interpret it. You might also consider explaining the notion of "countability". "I found a lot of cans of food" - the emphasis is on the count of cans. "I found a lot of canned food" - the emphasis is on the total amount of food. Maybe it's many cans, but maybe it's a few REALLY BIG cans. "I found a lot of canned foods" - the emphasis is on the count of foods contained in the cans, i.e. variety. Commented May 9 at 23:10
  • Your statements are misleading. Sorry. If you are a detective, 2) might be very well said. Context is everything and you do not explain that. Commented May 10 at 13:25
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For standard, everyday meaning:

  • canned food

BUT: if you or your company cans food, we'd say it produces canned foods.

  • The company exports canned foods from X.

As for what one finds in kitchens, therefore, mostly we'd say canned food. Food can be countable or uncountable but unless you're a producer, there is no need to use food with an s.

Personally, I would never say: I found a lot of canned foods in the kitchen.

I'd say: I found a lot of cans of food or canned food in the kitchen.

Therefore, this is not about grammar but about context.

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I am about 98.6% in agreement with Lambie on that answer but want to tease out what lies behind the phrase unless you're a producer.

The phrase canned foods in the plural is used in contexts where focus is on that specific preservation method, as distinct from other types of preservation methods, such as dried foods or pickled foods. It refers to the results of the canning process as results of that process.

canned food refers to the food that happens to be in cans which you might find in someone's pantry, if you're not going out of your way to distinguish it from other forms of preserved foods, and even then you might distinguish it another manner instead of using the phrase canned foods.

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  • Well, there's also fried foods, frozen foods, fatty foods and who knows what else... Commented May 9 at 15:36
  • @Lambie Those are types of food preparation not food preservation (except for frozen). The key sentence in my answer is rather abstract: It refers to the results of the canning process as results of that process. Maybe if I had written qua instead of as it would have stood out more. I was answering the question abstractly, to complement your "unless you're a producer", which is more concrete, a little too specific, I thought. Commented May 9 at 15:58

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