What it means
Tucker means food, a meal, or provisions, especially the kind that actually fills you up. It’s strongly Australian and very at home in New Zealand too. You’ll hear good tucker for proper satisfying grub, not fancy little art-on-a-plate business. In the UK it can pop up with an old-school or cheeky feel. Not related to tuckered out, which means exhausted.
Usage examples
"This café’s all chia seeds and foam. I’m starving, let’s find some proper tucker, grab a pie from the servo and bail."
"After a day on the trail there's nothing like proper tucker, a big plate of stew and crusty bread."
"Bring your own tucker for the picnic, the kiosk up there charges a fortune for a soggy sandwich."
"We’ve been on the road since sparrow’s fart, mate. Pull over at the roadhouse and get some tucker in us."
"There’s bugger all in the fridge but we can still whip up a bit of tucker and call it a night."
Where it comes from
Tucker comes from older English use around food and supplies, linked to the verb tuck in the sense of eating heartily. In Australia it settled in hard and became a classic everyday word for decent, filling food. That’s why it still sounds warm, practical, and a bit no-fuss.
Other ways to say it
This expression also appears in
