John 21:5

Children. In the gospel records Jesus addresses the disciples by this title only here. John uses the title in his epistle (1 John 2:13, 18). Moulton and Milligan suggest that here the title may be equivalent to “lads,” and cite a ballad in which the term is used of soldiers (The Vocabulary of the Greek Testament). At any rate the form of address did not identify the speaker. The disciples doubtless took Him to be a stranger.

Meat. Gr. prosphagion, that which is eaten in addition to bread, such as flesh, fish, eggs, vegetables, etc. (cf. on John 6:9). Bread was the principal article of diet of the Jew. Here, where the question is put to fishermen, prosphagion refers most probably to fish. The form of the question in Greek shows that a negative answer is expected.