These culinary descriptions pepper most medical textbooks, helping physicians identify often unusual ailments - from harmless birthmarks to sight-threatening conditions.
Dr Ritu Lakhtakia, from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman, described these titbits of knowledge in the journal Medical Humanities.
She says they were an integral part of her medical degree, making hard scientific facts less dry and huge chunks of biochemical wisdom more palatable.
Cafe au lait:
Food imagery has been used in medicine for many years. Here is an easy one to start with.
Cafe au lait spots - flat patches of milk-coffee coloured skin are a tell-tale sign of diseases such as neurofibromatosis in which usually non-cancerous masses grow along nerves.More solitary spots can be seen in people without disease too.
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Cherries:
A cherry red spot at the back of the eye suggests the main vessel supplying blood to the eye has been blocked - an emergency situation, which needs immediate medical attention.
Splashes of port:
And harmless birthmarks that look like a splash of a favourite tipple are described in medical text as port wine stains.The relatively common marks are caused by areas of small, abnormal blood vessels and can vary in hue from deep red to purple.
About one in 3,000 babies is born with one and laser treatment can help them fade.
Growing grapes:
Some bacteria, such as staphylococcus aureus, that are often present harmlessly on our skin, can resemble bunches of grapes as they grow.
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Seeds:
Some people with tuberculosis can develop masses of bacteria in their lungs. And if you were to inspect them more closely they are said to resemble and have the consistency of soft cheese - medical students learn of them as caseating (cheese-like) granulomas.
Dr Lakhtakia says: "For me it changed forever the delights of the cheese counter at the delicatessen."
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