I have seen many ways of saying 'food'. I am wondering if there is ever a difference in appropriateness.
食品、食べ物、～物(type+物)、飯、ご飯、etc.
Most commonly, I think, is 食べ物, but I thought I'd use 食品 for an assignment involving 敬語（けいご）since it sounded more formal to me.
Thoughts?
Answer
食べ物 - appropriate as written or spoken language, a basic word, commonly used in speech
食品 - food product, think of a packaged food product on a shelf in the store
ご飯 - literally rice (polite), used to refer to "a meal" as in breakfast, lunch or dinner
食事 - a meal, frequently used in hotels and restaurants as 「お[食事]{しょくじ}」
〜物 - assuming you mean 揚げ物 (fried food), 煮物 (boiled food), 干物 (dried food), etc... these are self explanatory, just more specific.
Also don't forget:
[食物]{しょくもつ} - Mostly in written language, "food stuffs" is a good English equivalent
And just to whet your appetite (pun definitely intended) here is a breakdown of common food categories.
Animal Food Products (動物性食品)
[肉類]{にくるい} (meat, incl. poultry), [魚介類]{ぎょかいるい} (seafood), [卵類]{らんるい} (eggs), [乳製品]{にゅうせいひん} (dairy)
Plant Food Products (植物性食品)
[穀物]{こくもつ} (cereals), [豆類]{まめるい} (pulses), [芋類]{いもるい} (tubers), [野菜]{やさい} (vegetables), [山菜]{さんさい} (mountain vegetables), [海藻]{かいそう} (sea vegetation, seaweed), [種実類]{しゅじつるい} (aw nuts), [果物]{くだもの} (fruits), ハーブ (herbs)
(ref: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A3%9F%E5%93%81)
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