daidokoro de ajimi bakari shite itara, bangohan no mae ni mou tabetaku naku natte shimatta.

While I kept tasting things in the kitchen, I ended up not wanting to eat before dinner.

Breakdown of daidokoro de ajimi bakari shite itara, bangohan no mae ni mou tabetaku naku natte shimatta.

• 食たべる: to eat
• の: possessive case particle
• で: location particle
• に: time particle

Questions & Answers about daidokoro de ajimi bakari shite itara, bangohan no mae ni mou tabetaku naku natte shimatta.

Why is で used after 台所?

で marks the place where an action happens.

• 台所で = in the kitchen
• The action is 味見していた (was tasting / sampling), so で is the correct particle.

Compare:

• 台所で料理する = cook in the kitchen
• 台所にいる = be in the kitchen

Use で for where an action takes place, and に for where something/someone exists or goes.

What does 味見 mean here?

味見 means tasting food to check the flavor.

It is not exactly the same as eating a meal. It usually implies small bites taken while cooking.

So 味見ばかりしていたら suggests the speaker kept sampling the food during preparation, probably little by little, to the point that it affected their appetite.

What does ばかり mean in 味見ばかりしていたら?

Here, ばかり means nothing but, just, or too much of one thing.

So:

• 味見ばかりしていたら = if/when I kept doing nothing but taste-testing...

This often carries a nuance that the action was excessive or repetitive.

Examples:

• 遊んでばかりいる = do nothing but play around
• 甘いものばかり食べている = eat nothing but sweet things

In this sentence, it suggests the speaker sampled the food so much that it caused a problem later.