Hold the food while you say it. Answer Amen to your own blessing only in Birkat Hamazon, never here.

Every blessing over food starts the same way: Baruch atah Adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam. Only the last few words change. Learn the opening once and you have most of it.

If you genuinely do not know which blessing applies, say Shehakol. It works after the fact for almost anything.

The catch-all. Also used for food where the original form is unrecognisable - most processed food, soups where the vegetable has dissolved, and so on.

Bananas are ha'adama, not ha'etz - the plant dies back each year, so halachically it is not a tree. Same for pineapple. Strawberries too.

The five grains are wheat, barley, spelt, oats and rye. Rice has its own ruling and in practice most say mezonot on it too.

If you eat a large amount of cake - enough to be a meal - it may need HaMotzi and Birkat Hamazon instead. Ask a rav where the line is.

Wine has its own blessing because of its status in Kiddush, Havdalah and at weddings. It also covers all other drinks at the same sitting.

Pour water three times over each hand, alternating, then dry, then say the washing blessing. Then HaMotzi over the bread, dip in salt, eat.

HaMotzi covers the whole meal. Once you have said it you make no further blessings on anything you eat as part of that meal - and afterwards you say Birkat Hamazon rather than a short after-blessing.

Otherwise, when several foods are in front of you, the order is: mezonot, hagafen, ha'etz, ha'adama, shehakol. Say the higher one first; it does not exempt the others, so you still bless each category.

Common mistakes worth knowing:
• Bananas, pineapple, strawberries and melon are ha'adama, not ha'etz.
• Peanuts are ha'adama. Almonds and walnuts are ha'etz.
• Orange juice is shehakol, not ha'etz - juicing drops the blessing.
• Chocolate is shehakol. Chocolate cake is mezonot.
• Soup with recognisable vegetables is ha'adama; blended soup is shehakol.

Said the wrong blessing? If you said shehakol on anything, you are covered after the fact. If you said ha'etz on a vegetable, say ha'adama before eating more.

The wording changes slightly depending on what you ate: al hamichya for grain, al hagefen for wine, al ha'etz for the fruits. Use a bencher, which prints all three.

Open Birkat Hamazon from the menu. That page teaches it one blessing at a time.

Said with a minyan, normally right after an aliyah to the Torah, so in practice on a Monday, Thursday or Shabbat. The congregation answers.

Thunder, or a storm, or an earthquake: oseh ma'aseh v'reishit - who makes the work of creation.

Lightning, a shooting star, mountains, a desert: the same blessing.

A rainbow: zocher habrit v'ne'eman bivrito v'kayam b'ma'amaro - who remembers the covenant. Do not point at it or call others to look.

The ocean, seen after thirty days away: she'asa et hayam hagadol.

Trees blossoming in Nisan: Birkat HaIlanot, once a year.

Good news that benefits you and someone else: hatov v'hametiv. Good news for you alone: Shehecheyanu.

Bad news, including a death: dayan ha'emet. Said in full with God's Name when hearing of a death.

Said standing if you can, or seated in a car. Once per day of travel; if you stop overnight, say it again the next day.

Say it in the plural even travelling alone. Try to say it within the first mile or so of leaving.