The only thing I learnt is that 'pantry' means something different in America.. what we call a 'food bank' (AIUI, difference from 'soup kitchen' being handing out ingredients rather than hot meals) by the sounds of it?

In the UK a pantry is a small room/large cupboard used for cool but not refrigerated storage; so I thought this was going to be a sort of 'asset management system' somehow specifically good for shelf-stable foodstuffs.

They're called both in the U.S. I think "food bank" is at least as common. E.g. SF-Marin food bank (https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/) and the nearby Berkeley Food Pantry (https://www.berkeleyfoodpantry.org/).

The word "pantry" alone has the same meaning in both countries.

It probably makes sense to change terms if one is more universal.

I grew up in the U.S., spent ~7 years volunteering at a soup kitchen (not an actual soup kitchen, but a program which cooked and served meals to the public), and I had no idea what "food pantry" was. The term I'm familiar with is "food bank". Maybe it's regional? I was living in Memphis, TN

We use 'food bank' and 'soup kitchen' here in the US like you do.

I've heard the term 'food pantry' only recently (within the past 3-5 years) and it means the same as 'food bank' (as far as I can tell).

As a sibling post mentions "pantry" has always meant "special room in the house where the shelf-stable food is stored" here in the US. Most middle-class houses don't have one, and those that do the "room" is really more of a closet big enough to stand in than a proper room.

n=1, but my (American) family's always called their food storage room a "pantry".