Food
Theme: “Food”
Student: Sophy (IX form)
Teacher: Smirnova T. V.
Kostanai, 2002
P L A N:
1. Food celebrates life.
2. Food nourishes language.
3. Food for different cultures:
a. From land and sea
b. From high in the mountains
c. Meals in Britain
d. American food and drink
e. Kazakh traditional dishes
4. Food is symbolic.
5. Food as a fad or cult.
6. Plan a healthful diet.
7. Food is the staff of life.
“Every man is the builder of a temple called his body (1817-1862) ”
Thoreau, Henry Davia
English will have become an important tool for communication and
discovery rather than just another class to attend. And we would like to
look at the all-important topic, Food.
Food Celebrates Life.[1]
Have you ever noticed how much of our life is centered on food? Look at
all the meetings held, decisions made, and mergers consummated over a meal:
power breakfast, power lunch, dinners, banquets, receptions, and those
endless toasts. Consider all the celebrations where food is all-important:
weddings, birthdays, religious feast days, national holidays, etc. Food is
the great icebreaker when people meet for pleasure or business. Food is at
the center of many of our important activities.
Food Nourishes Language.[2]
Because of this importance, much of our language (regardless of the
language) contains references to food. These references conjure up images
worth a thousand words each. The idiom page contains several references to
food and shows how these are used in a non-food-related discussion. Think
about the idioms and expressions in your native language related to food
and how and when you use them. Do you use food expressions to describe
someone’s physical characteristics (e.g., He’s as skinny as a string bean;
his belly shakes like a bowl full of jelly.); or, to describe someone’s
personality (e.g., Harry is a cre3am puff; she’s as sweet as sugar.) or, to
describe a situation or activity (e.g., Something is fishy here; That
crossword puzzle is a piece of cake.). How we use food expressions depends
on how we perceive the food, or the culture associated with the food.
Food For Different Cultures.[3]
Have you ever stopped to really think about what you and your
family eat
everyday and why? Have you ever stopped to think what other people eat? In
the movie Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom, there are two scenes in which
the two characters are offered meals from a different culture. One meal,
meant to break the ice, consisted of insects. The second meal was a lavish
banquet that featured such delicacies as roasted beetles, live snakes,
eyeball soup, and chilled monkey brains for dessert. Some cultures eat such
things as vipers and rattlesnakes, bush rats, dog meat, horsemeat, bats,
animal heart, liver, eyes, and insects of all sorts.
Often the differences among cultures in the foods they eat are related
to the differences in geography and local resources. People who live near
water ( the sea, lakes, and rivers) tend to eat more fish and crustaceans.
People who live in colder climates tend to eat heavier, fatty foods.
However, with the development of a global economy, food boundaries and
differences are beginning to dissipate: McDonalds is now on every continent
expect Antarctica, and tofu and yogurt are served all over the world.
Mexico: Beans and rice[4]
Corn tortillas (2 servings)
Black beans (2 servings)
Rice (2 servings)
Salsa
Morocco: Couscous4
Couscous (wheat pasta)
Carrots
Zucchini
Peppers
Chickpeas
Lamb
India: Sag paneer4
Indian cheese (2 servings)
Spinach
Peppers
Oil
Onion
Rice (2 servings)
Chapati (wheat bread)
Italy: Spaghetti[5]
Spaghetti (2 servings)
Tomato sauce (2 servings)
Parmesan cheese
Chicken breasts, baked
Japan: Tempura5
Shrimp
Eggplant
Peppers
Mushrooms
Flour
Oil
Egg white
Rice (2 servings)
USA: Barbecue chicken and potato salad5
Chicken breast, barbecue
Potatoes
Mayonnaise
Onion
Peppers
Corn (1 ear)
What do people eat?
Many factors determine the foods that people eat. Geography and climate,
tradition and history: They all go into our meals. In European country of
Spain and the Asian country of Nepal, different cultures and customs affect
what people eat.
From Land and Sea.[6]
Spain occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula, on the western edge of
Europe. It is nearly surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean
Sea.
Spain’s dry climate and poor soil make farming difficult. Extensive
irrigation allows farmers to raise strawberries and rice in dry areas.
Vegetables and citrus trees grow on the coastal plains, and olives and
grapes grow in the river valleys.
The grasslands of the large dry central plateau are used for grazing
sheep, goats, and cattle. People in this region eat roasted and boiled
meats. They also raise pigs for ham and spicy sausage called chorizo. And
people all over the country eat lots of seafood from the Atlantic and the
Mediterranean.
One classic Spanish dish, paella, includes sausage, mussels, lobster, or
chicken, plus red pepper, peas, tomatoes, and saffron rice. Peasants were
the first to make paella, using whatever food was available. But this dish
and others also reflect Spain’s history of traders, conquerors, and
explorers who brought a variety of food by land and by sea.
Phoenicians from the Middle East introduced grapes to Spain in about
1100B.C. Hundreds of years later, Romans brought olives from what is now
Italy. In the 8th century A.D., Moors (Muslim Arabs and Berbers from
Africa) introduced shortgrain rice and za faran, or saffron – the spice
that colors rice yellow. And in the 1400s, 1500s, and 1600s, Spanish
explorers and traders returned home with nutmeg and cloves from the East
Indies: and peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and chocolate from the Americas.
From High in the Mountains.[7]
Nepal is a landlocked country in the Himalayas, the highest mountain
range in the world. Nepal has three distinct geographical zones – lowlands;
hills, mountains, and valleys; and the Great Himalayan Range – with
subtropical to alpine-arctic temperatures and wide variations in vegetation
and animal life.
Most people in Nepal are farmers. They grow fruits, fruits, and other
crops in the lowlands, where temperatures are the warmest. Rice and corn
grow in terraced, or stairlike, fields in the cooler hill regions. And
potatoes and barley are the staple, or chief, crops at higher elevations,
where temperatures are the coolest.
The Nepal raise goats, cattle, and yaks for dairy products. Meat is
eaten mostly on special occasions. Religious rules affect which meats
people in Nepal eat: Hindus, who make up almost 90 percent of the
population, do not eat beef, and Muslims do not eat pork. The Buddhist
religion prohibits the killing of any animals but allows the eating of
meat, so Buddhists hire butchers to slaughter animals for food.
A typical family meal in Nepal might include daal bhat (rice with lentil
gravy) or chapati (a flatbread), steamed vegetables, and achaar (a paste of
spiced pickled fruits). About 90 percent of the Nepalese people live in
rural areas. They often lack electricity for refrigerators or for cooking,
so they rely on dried foods such as grains, lentils, and beans.
People carry traditions and foods with them when they move from one
place to another. You might recognize examples when you look at your
classmates’ special family foods or at specialty restaurants in your
community.
Meals in Great Britain.[8]
The two features of life in England that possibly give visitors their
worst impressions are the English weather and English cooking.
A traditional English breakfast is a very big meal – sausages, bacon,
eggs, tomatoes, and mushrooms. People who do have a full breakfast say
that it is
quite good. The writer Somerset Maugham once gave the following advice:
“If you want to eat well in England, eat three breakfasts daily.” But
nowadays it is often a rather hurried and informal meal. Many people just
have cereal with milk and sugar, or toast with marmalade, jam, or honey.
Marmalade and jam are not the same! Marmalade is made from oranges and jam
is made from other fruits. The traditional breakfast drink is tea, which
people have with cold milk. Some people have coffee, often instant coffee,
which is made with just hot water. Many visitors to Britain find this
coffee disgusting!
For many people lunch is a quite meal. In cities there are lot of
sandwich bars, where office workers can choose the kind of bread they want
– brown, white, or a roll – and then all sorts of salad and meat or fish to
go in the sandwich. Pubs often serve good, cheap food both hot and cold.
School-children can have a hot meal at school, but many just take a snack
from home – a sandwich, a drink, some fruit and perhaps some crisps.
British kids eat more sweets than any other nationality.
“Tea” means two things. It is a drink and a meal! Some people have
