You would tend to put the more significant component of the meal first. Typically, that would very often be the meat. So you'd tend to say: Chicken and rice Pork and beans But you could say: Chick peas and chorizo Potatoes and pancetta It depends what you want to express as the most important thing Pork and tomatoes / Tomatoes and pork both sound fine to me. But I'd assume the first has more pork and the second has more tomatoes ☺️ It's almost always 'fruit(s) and vegetables (or veg or veggies). In English, there are conventions for how pairs of words are said. So we tend to say fruit and vegetables, black and white, knife and fork, etc. The reverse order is not wrong exactly, but is much, much less common so can sound strange. If you can access Google, there is a useful feature where you can search for vocabulary alternatives and it will show you how common they are in comparison with each other.

ummmmm... i’m a native english speaker and i’m afraid i don’t agree with claire (sorry claire!). there’s no rule about food. it doesn’t matter if you say “meat and vegetables,” or “vegetables and meat.” nor does it matter if you say “fruit and veggies” or “veggies and fruit.” now, i’m sure there are a million opinions on this-just like asking: “should the toilet paper be behind the roll or in front of the roll- IMO it’s just a matter of preference: TO-MAY-TO, TO-MAH-TO. you say meat and potatoes, i say potatoes and meat. i’m confused as to why your friend would tell you that you have to put “meat” first. 😊

yes! claire has very valid points! totally agree with her argument! 😊

No I don't think so there's this kind of any rule I've been learning English and speaking it since like 7 years, it's just the order of words to be put in a sentence and it totally depends on the person that is speaking. For example ( I told you that I've been learning English and speaking it since 7 years, So even if I say "I've been speaking English and learning it since 7 yrs") ITS THE SAME MEANING, DON'T WORRY!