Which term describes the individual components that make up a dish?

The term that describes the individual components that make up a dish is "Ingredients." Ingredients refer to the specific items or elements used in a recipe to create a dish, such as vegetables, meats, spices, and grains. Each ingredient contributes unique flavors, textures, and nutritional values to the final product, making them essential to the cooking process.

Recipes, while closely related, provide the instructions and method for combining these ingredients, rather than referring to the ingredients themselves. Menus are lists of dishes available at a restaurant or for a meal and do not indicate what is contained within each dish. Meals refer to the complete serving of food that may consist of multiple dishes, but they do not detail the individual components of those dishes. Hence, "Ingredients" is the most precise term to describe the individual components that make up a dish.