This study analyzes six Croatian and six English verbs related to food and eating: swallow and devour, as verbs of food intake, chew and digest, as verbs of food processing, and regurgitate and spit, as verbs of food outtake. The aim of the research is to observe the similarities and differences in the way these verbs convey metaphorical meanings in Croatian and English, what affects the creation of these metaphorical meanings, and how syntax, specifically the transitivity of the verbs and types of objects they take, affects metaphoricity. The analysis was carried out on the basis of examples of the metaphorical use of verbs extracted from the Croatian Web corpus hrWaC and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). As for the theoretical part of the work, the key terms relevant to the research are presented. The concept of metaphor is viewed from two different perspectives, the concept of conceptual metaphor is presented, as well as the process of creating metaphors related to food. The research showed that there are indeed numerous similarities in the ways of creating and using metaphors related to food in Croatian and English, but also that there are some differences. It was established that in certain cases the transitivity of the verb and the objects it takes influence the metaphorical meaning. Also, the creation of metaphorical meanings is significantly influenced by the main determinants of the literal meaning of these verbs in the context of the eating process; in other words, the concepts of internalization, processing and outtake are the main determinants of the construction of metaphorical meanings.