Hello. This is 6 Minute
English from BBC
Learning English. I'm Rob.
And I'm Sam, and I'm having
a boiled egg for lunch today.
I'll just sprinkle some salt
on top - there!
Oh, you've spilled
some salt on the
floor, Sam! Quick,
throw some over
your left shoulder.
Throw salt over
my shoulder?!
What are you
talking about, Rob?
It's bad luck to spill salt!
Oh dear! It looks like
Rob believes in
superstitions - old
beliefs which are
based on magic and
mystery rather
than science. Many
superstitions are
connected to food, as
we'll discover in
this programme.
Right - like throwing
salt over your shoulder
to stop bad luck.
Oh come on, Rob!
You don't really
believe that, do you?
Well, lots of people do
believe food superstitions,
including otherwise
rational, scientific people.
For example, have you
ever blown out the
candles on a birthday
cake and made a wish?
Or thrown rice over the
bride and groom
at a wedding?
Yes to both of those.
Maybe I'm more
superstitious than
I thought!
Well, before we find
out, it's time for
a quiz question about
another famous
food festival - Halloween.
That's when people carve
scary faces into
pumpkins to frighten
away evil spirits.
Yes. Right. The tradition
of carving pumpkins,
or Jack o'Lanterns as
they're called in the
United States, started
out as a Celtic festival
in Ireland - but it was
the Americans who
started using pumpkins.
So what vegetable
did the Irish originally
use to scare
away ghosts? Was it:
a) turnips?,
b) potatoes?, or
c) squash?
I ll say b) potatoes.
OK, Sam, we'll
find out the right
answer later on.
What's for sure is
that cultures from
around the world have
been connecting food
and magic for
thousands of years,
and over time it's
created some
strange beliefs. Here's food historian
Tasha Marks describing
one unusual superstition
to BBC World Service
programme, The
Food Chain:
When you have
superstitions and they
sort of mix with science
and health and medicine...
and one of the examples
of that would be something
like garlic which... we all
know garlic wards off
vampires but it's also
been thought to ward
off the 'evil eye', and if
you come across the term,
the 'evil eye', it's a sort of
blanket term that sort
of applies to any bad luck.
Tasha says that garlic
is believed to ward off
vampires, meaning to
repel or stop someone
from harming you.
According to this
superstition, garlic
also keeps away the
evil eye - bad luck or
magical spells with
the power to cause
bad things to happen.
Tasha describes the
'evil eye' as a blanket
term for any bad luck.
Just as a real blanket
covers the different
parts of your body, a
blanket term is a
phrase that's used
to describe many
examples of
related things.
But food superstitions
aren't only about bad
luck - they also give
our lives meaning.
Jonty Rajagopalan
owns a tourist agency
in Hyderabad, India,
where she introduces
visitors to some of
the city's food traditions.
Here she is talking
with BBC World Service's,
The Food Chain, about a
tradition connected
with the Hindu New
Year. Can you spot
the different tastes
she mentions?
Some of the
traditions give you
a little bit of a lesson,
like every new year,
and not 1st January,
not the Gregorian
calendar New Year, but
the Hindu calendar
New Year, we would
always be given - it's a
kind of a chutney
which is made of all
the five tastes:
so you have sour,
you have sweet,
you have something
bitter in it and your mum
would always give it to
you saying that this is
what the rest of the
year is going to be -
you'll have happiness,
you'll have challenges,
you'll have a little
sadness, you'll have
bitterness in your life,
which I think is a
very nice tradition - it
prepares you for
everything in life.
At Hindu New Year,
mothers give their
children a special
chutney - a mixture of
fruit, spices, sugar
and vinegar. Did you
spot the chutney's
flavours, Sam?
There was sour,
sweet and bitter.
Mothers tell their
children that the
coming year, like the
chutney, will have its
own flavours, both
good and bad.
That's why Jonty
says that traditions
can teach (you) a
lesson - they show you
what you should or
shouldn't do in
the future, as a
result of experience.
What a lovely way to
end our look at
food superstitions!
Yes, maybe we
should make chutney
at Halloween, instead
of carving pumpkins -
or whatever vegetable
the Irish originally used.
Ah, yes - in my quiz
question I asked you
what vegetable was
originally used instead
of pumpkins to
scare away ghosts.
I guessed it was
b) potatoes.
Which was... the
wrong answer! In fact,
turnips were originally
used, so maybe Irish
ghosts are smaller
than American ones!
OK, let's recap the
vocabulary we've
learned about
superstitions - old
beliefs which are
connected with magic.
Garlic is supposed
to ward off, or keep
away, dangers like
the evil eye - bad
luck or harmful magic.
The evil eye is an
example of a blanket
term - a phrase used to
describe many
examples of related things.
One Indian superstition
involves chutney - a
food mixing
many flavours.
These traditions
can teach you a
lesson - show you
how to act in the
future based on
your past experience.
Right. Well, that's
all for this programme.
Good luck with your
language learning!
And if you've
enjoyed this topical
discussion and want
to learn how to use
the vocabulary found
in headlines, why not
try out our News
Review podcast?
Bye for now!
Bye bye!