I found somthing in that says

El pollo es riquísimo - The chicken is very good

El pollo está riquísimo - The chicken is testes delicious.

Then it says that "this is ambiguous. El pollo es riquísimo is either a general statement about chick or it could mean "the chicken (uncooked) is very good quality'.  Estar could only mean 'to taste' ."

This came from:

A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish Forth Edition by John Butt, and Carmen Benjamin. Section 29.4.3

Now get some sleep and think about it some more in the morning.

I just asked my Colombian girlfriend and she said that both la comida está riquísima  and la comida es riquísima are used.

Steve

Dímelo si me equivoque pero "a él" no puede ser "al", ¿verdad?

Por ejemplo "a él le gusta la gramática".  Quiero estar seguro de eso porque lo uso mucho!

These ser and estar questions are a trap! 

A lot of teachers make the mistake of saying ser is the only possibility in once case, estar is the only possibility in another case, and when their students find counter-examples, they find themselves backpeddling for an explanation.  The difference between ser and estar is intuitive to Spanish-speakers, but it is tough to articulate.

To complicate the matter, words like rico, delicioso, and riquísimo all change the equation.

So la comida está riquísima and la comida es riquísima both grammatically correct sentences; they mean different things, and therefore are used in specific contexts. 

la comida es riquísima:  you might say this if a) the food has a lot of money; b) the food is rich in something like fiber or protein; or c) you're talking about the food in a way that's bigger than just the momentary fork-in-mouth taste experience. 

For example: 

• La comida vasca está rica.  The Basque food tastes good.  Maybe you're at a table with several dishes, and you're pointing out that the Basque dish is yummy.
  
• La comida vasca es rica.  Basque cuisine is delicious.  In this case, we're not talking about the momentary fork-in-mouth experience, but rather the cuisine as a whole.

donperigo, for your question about Lili's sentence: 

• "De niña la comida que mi mamá preparaba era deliciosa." Lili is talking about all the food her mama used to prepare when Lili was little.
  

If we swap in estar (and remove de niña): 

• La comida que mi mamá preparaba estába deliciosa.  The food my mama was making was yummy.  Now it feels like she's talking about one particular instance of her mama preparing food.  She tasted it, and it was tasty.

Ok, in conclusion, ser and estar have different connotations.

The standard way of teaching the difference between ser and estar is by setting tricky semantic traps like this and frustrating the students.

I think a better way to teach (and to learn) ser and estar is to concentrate on practicing correct usage, and not spending a lot of time on analysis. 

Analysis works best as a review, not as an initial presentation.  By the way, there are times when I am unsure about whether to use ser or estar, and in those cases, I just turn to Esti and ask.  :)

Thank you and it is good to know that somtimes even you are not sure.

a + el (followed by a noun) = al / This rule works for the determiner article masculine singular "el"=the, and not for the pronoun personal masculine singular "él"=he (notice the pronoun has an accent mark).

Some examples:

- Vamos al mercado. = We're going to the market.

- Díselo a él. = Tell him. (Literally "tell it to he").

hace mal tiempo asi que, mas spanishpod :-)

JP, and stevestrv  thanks, hi 5. lots to learn there. It sounds to me like I need to be Spanish (ser) or live in Spain (estar)  to have a chance of getting this right ,especially at talking speed. Sadly my opportunities for live practice are almost non existant.........
(psst.jp. thats your cue ;-)

I believe it was Harrison Ford who once said,
 "you can write this stuff George but you cant say it.
(although he wasnt talking about spanish.)

" when i am , and lets be generous here, "speaking" spanish its real seat of the pants pick a verb and  move on sort of affair.
i supppose i have at least a 50/50 chance of picking the right "to be " verb and a few rules probably push the success rate up to maybe 75% so it doesnt hurt to have a go.
I dont think it would be an issue were it not for the fact that some phrases have "special" meanings.

what are the ser/estar critical phrases that we need to know if we are to avoid our spanish speaking interlocutors choking on their cervezas?

At the end of the lession you mentioned marking the lesson as finished.  I haven't been doing this.  (This is partially because I didn't know to begin with and now I wonder that if I mark the lesson as completed I will not be able to return to it.)

Forgive me for not writing this in Spanish, but I have to leave soon and it takes me forever to construct things in Spanish.

Ann