my %act = ("food"  => "eat it",
           "drink" => "drink it",
           "Perl"  => "play it");

##</code><code>##

my $item = "Perl";
my $out = "-p $act1{$item} -p $act2{$item} -p ... ";

##</code><code>##

-p $act1{$item} -p $act2{$item} ...