Neil: Hello. Welcome to 6 Minute English,
I'm Neil.
Rob: And I'm Rob.
Neil: Now Rob, you like your food, don't you?
Rob: Oh yes, yum yum, food! One of my
favourite things.
Neil: And what do you think of street food?
Rob: I love street food. There are some
great places
in London where you can find delicious foods
from all over the world, cooked in front of
you in market stalls on the street.
Neil: It's quite new though, isn't it - not really
a British tradition.
Rob: I guess not, but it seems to be much more
popular these days.
Neil: Well our topic today is street food, but before
we tuck into that, here is today's question.
Recently archaeologists in Jordan
discovered what they believe is the oldest
remains of bread. How old is this bread? Is it:
a) 18,000 years old, b) 14,000 years old, or
c) 5,500 years old? What do you think?
Rob: I don't know - but what I do know is,
I wouldn't really want to try a sandwich
made from that bread!
Neil: Mmm, it might be a bit mouldy.
Rob: Yes! Anyway, I'm going to have a
guess then. I'll go for c) 5,500 years old.
Neil: Right, we will find out the answer
later in the programme. Mark Laurie is
from the Nationwide Caterers Association.
He is an expert in the business of street
food in the UK. He appeared on BBC
Radio 4's The Food Programme and was
asked how the business of street food
has changed in recent years. In his
answer he talks about the areas where
there is most growth in street food. What
are those areas?
Mark Laurie: It's been phenomenal the growth in street
food, it's really taken off, it's really
become quite mainstream. Part of the
cultural fabric of the country really, or it's
beginning to be, certainly in the bigger
cities and increasingly in the sort of
provinces, if you like.
Neil: So where does he say the popularity
of street food is growing?
Rob: He says that it's in the bigger cities
and also in the provinces. The provinces
is a word which means 'the parts of a
country outside of the cities'.
Neil: So essentially, he's saying it's getting
more popular everywhere.
Rob: Exactly. In fact he says the growth is
phenomenal.
This means he thinks the growth is
spectacular, really big.
Neil: Yes he says that it's really 'taken off'.
'Taken off' is one of those phrasal verbs
that can be used in many different ways.
In this sense, when something takes off it
means it becomes successful and popular.
Rob: You know, street food isn't really something
you associate with Britain. Perhaps it's the
climate or British food - so street food is
something that we are now getting used to
and enjoying more. In fact Mark says
that it's now becoming mainstream. This
means that it's no longer something that is
seen as being unusual or different. It's
becoming an accepted part of the
everyday eating experience.
Neil: Well, let's listen again to Mark Laurie
talking about the growth of street food in
the UK.
Mark Laurie: It's been phenomenal the
growth in street food, it's really taken off,
it's really become quite mainstream. Part
of the cultural fabric of the country really,
or it's beginning to be, certainly in the
bigger cities and increasingly
in the sort of provinces, if you like.
Neil: Mark Laurie goes on to talk about
why street food has become popular.
What kind of food does he say it's not like?
Mark Laurie: Yeah, it's just really captured
the imagination of the public. It's honest
food, it's authentic food and it's people
that you can trust making it. It's not some
microwave food or whatever that you
might get in your local pub.
Neil: So street food is many things, but
what isn't it?
Rob: Well he says that it's not like food
you might get in some pubs. That food, he
says, may be some microwave food.
Which is food prepared in a microwave oven.
Neil: You know I quite like a microwave
meal now and then and I reheat my
leftovers in the microwave.
Rob: But I guess if you were paying for a
nice meal you wouldn't expect reheated
leftovers! I think the point he is making is
that in many places the food you are
served is not freshly made. It may be
pre-prepared and finished off in a
microwave. Street food, he says, is
authentic.
Neil: Yes, authentic. It's real, fresh and cooked
right in front of you and if it's food from
a particular country it's probably being
prepared by people from that culture.
Rob: He also says that this has captured
the imagination of the public. It's
something that the public have
experienced and thought - 'Yep, you know,
I like this, this is a great idea.'
Neil: Well, all this talk of food is making
me hungry, so let's get the answer to the
quiz and review today's vocabulary before
we head off and grab a bite to eat. We
asked about the age of bread discovered
by archaeologists in Jordan.
Was it a) 18,000 years old, b) 14,000 years
or c) 5,500 years.
Rob: Mmm, and I said c) 5,500 years old.
Neil: And I'm afraid it's a lot mouldier than that.
The answer was 14,000 years.
Rob: Very tasty I'm sure.
Neil: Yes! Right then, the vocabulary. We
started off with the adjective 'phenomenal' to
describe something that is amazing,
remarkable and extraordinary.
Rob: Then we had 'to take off', a phrasal
verb which means 'to become popular'.
Street food has really taken off in the UK:
it's become really popular.
Neil: And not just in the cities but also in
the 'provinces', which is a noun to describe
areas of a country that aren't the major
cities.
Rob: Something which 'captures the
imagination' is something which makes
you interested and not just for a short
time.
Neil: And one thing which has captured
the imagination of the British public is
authentic street food. Something
'authentic' is real, it's genuine, it's not a
fake or a copy.
Rob: And finally we had 'microwave food',
food prepared in a microwave oven. And
that kind of food is not seen by some as
authentic.
Neil: Well, it's time to eat, so that's all we
have time for today. Join us again next
time and remember you can find us on
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
and of course on our website
bbclearningenglish.com. See you soon, bye.
Rob: Bye!