IELTS Preparation Series 3, Episode 23: Talking About Food
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Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.
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The topic of food and the customs around preparing food come up often in the IELTS Speaking Test.
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It is useful to look at this topic area and think about how to select language and organise
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a response if you're asked to talk about food, cooking and diet.
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Let's begin by listening to someone talk about the various meals she has during the day:
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I usually have breakfast every morning, and lunch in the early afternoon, a sandwich usually
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or some instant noodles, but the main meal of the day for me is normally dinner.
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Let's go over the language of meals. She mentioned breakfast, the morning meal, lunch, the meal
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we have in the middle of the day and dinner, which is the evening meal.
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So what other words are there?
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In the United States and Britain another word for dinner is supper.
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In Australia the word supper isn't used very often and usually refers to a light meal late
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at night.
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In Australia the other word for dinner is tea.
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Tea can also refer to afternoon tea or high tea, a formal English meal of small sandwiches,
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scones and a cup of tea.
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A tea break or a coffee break is a short time during the working day when people have a
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break with a cup of tea or coffee.
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Food and drink consumed between meals during the day or night are called snacks.
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You might hear people talk about 'brunch', which is a mid morning meal that combines
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breakfast and lunch, a bit like the Chinese yum cha.
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Yumcha is quite familiar to westerners these days and it would be reasonable if asked what
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your favourite meal is to talk about it as the speaker does here:
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The family usually gets together on Sunday for a traditional Chinese banquet, or yum
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cha, either at home or in China town, but usually I eat on my own, or have lunch at
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work with a colleague.
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So what might you be asked about meals?
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You might be asked what you usually have to eat for breakfast or whether you eat breakfast
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at all.
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Another common question is 'What is the main meal of the day?'
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How does the speaker answer that?
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I usually have breakfast every morning, and lunch in the early afternoon, a sandwich usually
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or some instant noodles, but the main meal of the day for me is normally dinner.
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Her answer is dinner, but, as would be expected, she expands her answer to talk about other
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meals too.
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It is important to distinguish between meal and staple. Staple means the basic food most
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commonly eaten. For most people in Asia this is rice as it is with our speaker:
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Rice is the main staple in my diet.
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Staples in other countries are potatoes, and wheat in its various forms such as bread,
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pasta or couscous.
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When preparing for the IELTS Test, it is important to brainstorm a variety of topics and issues
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- to begin to develop your own ideas, and build up possible responses.
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You should:
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think of examples think of reasons
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think of useful vocabulary
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To start you could divide the topic of food into various aspects such as: meat,