hi i'm oli welcome to oxford online
english
in this lesson you can learn how to talk
about food
you'll see how to talk about different
cuisines talk about food you like
or dislike and talk about cooking and
eating habits
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what kind of food do you like i like a
bit of everything really
i grew up in the uk and you can get food
from all over the world there
my mom's cooking is a combination of
different cuisines a bit of french a bit
of italian
a bit of indian and so on what's british
cuisine like
i know about fish and chips but there
must be more there is but not that much
there are a few famous dishes like
shepherd's pie or sunday roast
but most people eat a mix of things what
about you
what food do you like i'm half spanish
so when i was young we ate a lot of
mediterranean food at home
now i live in berlin and it's a pretty
cosmopolitan place
so you can get all kinds of food like
the uk i suppose i've never really had
much spanish food
is it similar to italian in some ways
yes
they both use a lot of fresh ingredients
and there's a lot of seafood
salads and so on pasta isn't so common
in spanish cooking though
what are some typical spanish dishes i'd
be interested to try some
i guess paella is quite well known my
personal favorite is a dish called
arbondigas
which is meatballs in a tomato sauce
it's simple but so tasty
sounds good here's a question do you
know the difference
between the words cuisine dish and meal
cuisine means the kind of food you find
in a specific country or culture
for example you have chinese cuisine
french cuisine local cuisine and so on
cuisine means something like cooking
style
you can use the word food or cooking in
the same way
so you can say chinese cuisine chinese
cooking
or chinese food the meaning is very
close
a dish means something which is cooked
or prepared
usually a dish is made from different
kinds of food
a meal is food eaten at a specific time
most people eat three meals a day
breakfast lunch
and dinner we often hear english
learners make mistakes with these three
words
so be careful with them in the dialogue
you heard how to talk about different
cuisines and dishes which you like
look at some questions you heard
think about how you could answer these
when you answer these questions try to
be detailed
for example don't just say vietnamese
food is delicious
give some more details say what kind of
dishes are the best
or try to explain why you like it
for example you could say vietnamese
food is delicious
because it uses fresh ingredients and
it's a little bit spicy
which i like okay
pause the video and try to answer the
questions now
could you do it if not go back and
listen to the dialogue again
next let's look at how to talk about
food you like
or don't
so what do you think oh no this is
terrible really first you haven't cooked
the meat long enough
it's tough and really chewy you need to
keep cooking it until it's tender i
cooked it for two hours
just like you said yes but you also have
to check
that it's done also these vegetables are
awful
they're mushy because you've overcooked
them they should be fresh and crunchy
right what about the sauce
it's not bad but it's a little bland a
dish like this should be rich
spicy and a little sour while you're
cooking don't forget to taste it and add
more spices or more vinegar
or whatever it needs hmm okay i'm a
little scared to show you my dessert now
ah wow this is amazing oh
you mean it yes it's a perfect tart
it's crumbly but not dry which is a
difficult balance to get right
the fruit gives a nice tangy flavor very
tasty thank you
to describe something you ate you could
start with the flavor
for example you can use words like spicy
sour
sweet bitter or rich
rich can be used to describe heavier
foods
you also heard bland in the dialogue
bland
describes something which has little or
no flavor
then you could also describe the texture
in the dialogue
you heard the word mushy do you know
what this means
mushy means something that is soft but
in an unpleasant way
if you cook vegetables too long they'll
get mushy
in the dialogue you also heard tough
chewy
tender crunchy and crumbly can you think
of foods which these words could
describe
tough and chewy are similar both
describe
foods which are difficult to eat because
you have to chew them for a long time
meat can be tough or chewy especially if
it's cooked too long
and it gets dry tender means something
like soft but it's mostly used to
describe
meat which is cooked well so it's soft
and juicy
crunchy foods make a lot of noise when
you're eating them
dry food like potato chips or hard
cookies can be crunchy
crumbly food is soft and easily breaks
into pieces
crumbly can be good or bad for a cake
it might be a good thing but crumbly
bread could be bad because
it will fall apart when you try to do
anything with it
if you like the taste of something you
can use general adjectives like great
amazing or fantastic you can also use
tasty or delicious
be careful delicious is a strong
adjective
that means you can't say very delicious
if you want to add
emphasis say really delicious or
absolutely delicious
to talk about food you don't like use
general adjectives like
awful terrible or disgusting
now a challenge for you think about the
last thing
you ate could you describe it
talk about the flavor the texture and
whether you liked it
or not for a bonus try to explain why
you did or didn't like it for example
the last thing i ate was a lentil soup
it was quite spicy
but a little bit mushy because i
overcooked the lentils
i didn't like it so much because it was
a little bland
lentils don't have much flavor
now it's your turn pause the video and
make your
answer
next let's see how you can talk about
cooking habits
do you cook much sometimes i cook maybe
twice a week but
i'm too busy to do more than that what
do you do the rest of the time
for lunch i eat in the canteen at work
in the evening i generally get something
from the supermarket
or get a takeaway i don't like it
because i know it's more expensive
and less healthy than cooking for myself
but i just don't have the time
what about you i make most of my meals
i don't cook every day though i normally
do a lot of cooking on sunday
and then i have food for the week i take
a packed lunch to work
and then eat leftovers in the evening
that's a good system
i wish i could be so organized it helps
that i have a market very close to my
house
they have great fresh produce fish meat
everything you need that means i don't
need to spend much time shopping
plus i prefer eating home-cooked fresh
food
if i don't have food with me i end up
eating greasy fast
food and then i feel bloated and gross
yeah
i'm the same way maybe i'll start
cooking more
think about the first question you heard
in the dialogue
do you cook much how would you answer
this
you could say something like i cook
every day
i don't cook much maybe once or twice a
week
i don't cook i've never learned how
if you don't cook what can you do for
food
you heard some phrases in the dialogue
do you remember
look at some sentences that you heard
imagine you're an english teacher and
you want to explain
the meanings of the words in red
how would you do it
a canteen is a bit like a restaurant but
it's run by a company for its staff
or by a university for its students
canteens are usually cheap
or the food might even be free
a takeaway means you buy or order the
food from a restaurant and then eat it
somewhere else
usually at home
a packed lunch means you take food from
home
and eat it at work or school
if you cook more than you eat the extra
food is called leftovers
you can eat the leftovers on another day
what about you do you cook much if not
what do you do for food pause the video
now and try to make a few sentences to
describe
your cooking and eating habits
done great let's look at our last point
so what do we do first first we need to
fry the aubergine and the potato
while you do that i'll prepare the meat
how are you going to do it
it's easy you saute onion and garlic
then add the meat to brown it
then you add the tomatoes and simmer it
for 15 minutes or so until the sauce
thickens
okay what now now we need to make the
white sauce
you know how to make white sauce i think
so though i've never tried it
it's butter flour and milk right yes but
you need to be careful
add the milk very slowly and stir the
sauce continuously
otherwise it can get lumpy should i use
a low heat
yeah as low as possible
so is that it pretty much we just need
to layer all the parts
sprinkle some grated cheese on top and
then bake it for half an hour
what should i do then get a baking dish
put the potatoes in the bottom
then the aubergine then the meat add
another layer of aubergine on top
then pour in the white sauce is it ready
yeah i think so it should be lightly
brown on top
nice work you made your first moussaka
by the way do you know what moussaka is
it's a famous greek dish it's easy to
find recipes online if you want to try
making it
in the dialogue you heard several
different verbs related to food
preparation
do you remember any look at some pairs
of words could you explain the
difference in meaning between these word
pairs
pause the video to think about it if you
need time
saute and fry both mean to cook
something in hot fat
usually hot oil saute means that you
cook something at high temperature for a
short time
in everyday language people mostly say
fry
but if you're reading a recipe or
watching cooking shows on tv
you might see saute
oil and simmer both mean to heat a
liquid until it bubbles
simmer suggests you keep the heat as low
as possible
boil means you use a higher heat
pour is only for liquids sprinkle means
to spread a small amount of something
over something else
sprinkle is mostly used for powders or
things made of small particles like salt
herbs grated cheese and so on
now it's your turn think about a dish
you know how to make
your job is to give detailed
instructions for how to make it
imagine you're teaching someone and you
want to describe
every step of the process before you do
this
you can watch the dialogue again there
are many more
words and phrases you can use to help
you pause the video
and say your answer out loud or you can
write your answer down
and share your recipe with other
students in the comments
that's all thanks for watching see you
next time
you