The Spanish publishers of Spanish as a Foreign Language (SFL) usually do not specify the origin of the words that they compile in their books, or the criteria used for collecting their lexicon. These omissions become more relevant if we consider the importance of the Corpus in the context of second-language teaching over the past ten years. In this regard, this study aims to identify and characterize the food lexicon for Spanish in the A1 level. The data collected from the analysis of eight SFL manuals served to conduct a critical comparison based on the selection criteria of basic lexicon to obtain the essential Spanish vocabulary, such as lexicon availability or frequency, besides contrasting this information versus reference documents (PCIC and CEFR). As an end result, this study includes a proposal for the selection of food lexicon to be used in the A1 level.