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, fish,

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vegetables and herbs and spices.

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Cooking styles: boiling, frying and steaming.

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Cuisines: Italian, Indian and Japanese.

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Cooking utensils: pots, pans and woks.

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Eating utensils: plate, bowl, knife, fork, spoon, chopsticks.

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There are many things to say and ask about these things. With food types, you might want

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to say that you don't eat meat and that you are a vegetarian. You may even avoid eggs,

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milk and fish as well, in which case you are a vegan.

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You could be asked why people choose to be a vegetarian or a vegan.

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A good reason to be vegetarian is that it is a healthy diet, something our speaker is

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aware of:

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I try and have a healthy, balanced diet - not much fried, fatty food, and a good mix of

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fruit and vegetables.

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You may be asked about what healthy food is or if junk food is bad for you and why.

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With utensils it's possible that you may be asked to compare chopsticks with forks with

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a question like:

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Do you prefer to eat with chopsticks or a fork?

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Now let's see if you can work out what question might have prompted our speaker's reply. Listen

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to the clip, and think what question might have been asked.

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Rice is the main staple in my diet. I try and have a healthy, balanced diet - not much

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fried, fatty food, and a good mix of fruit and vegetables.

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Perhaps she was asked: 'Describe what you usually eat?' That would require describing

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in the answer.

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Or

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'What do you usually eat?', where you would have to identify what you eat.

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Which question is more likely? Listen again:

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Rice is the main staple in my diet. I try and have a healthy, balanced diet - not much

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fried, fatty food, and a good mix of fruit and vegetables.

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She's identified or named the things she usually eats, so the most likely question would be:

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'What do you usually eat?'

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Let's try it again. What question? Think about the language function she uses:

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The family usually gets together on Sunday for a traditional Chinese banquet, or yumcha,

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either at home or in China town, but usually I eat on my own, or have lunch at work with

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a colleague.

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What about: 'Is it better to eat alone or with others?'

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That needs you to give an opinion. She talks about eating alone, but doesn't say that it's

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better or worse than eating with others.

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So that's not right. She explains who she eats with and when, so it's more likely to

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be: 'Who do you usually eat with?'

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Does the answer fit? Let's try it.

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The family usually gets together on Sunday for a traditional Chinese banquet, or yumcha,

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either at home or in China town, but usually I eat on my own, or have lunch at work with

7:34

a colleague.

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Let's try one more. What might the question be?

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I don't cook much. My mother is a good cook, and can create great meals just from a wok!

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We have many dishes including roast duck - my favourite.

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What about 'Can you cook?' She doesn't really say if she can or can't. She just says she

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doesn't cook much. It's probably: 'Who does the cooking where

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you live?'

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I don't cook much. My mother is a good cook, and can create great meals just from a wok!

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We have many dishes including roast duck - my favourite.

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These questions might be asked individually in Part 1 of the Speaking Test, or joined

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together in Part 2.

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Part 2 is the long turn, where you have to talk for one to two minutes in response to

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a prompt card like this:

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Talk about what you usually eat every day.

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You should say:

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what you eat who you eat with, and

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who does the cooking where you live

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Let's listen to the response:

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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. That

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often consists of some meat, maybe grilled, some steamed vegetables and rice.

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Rice is the main staple in my diet. I try and have a healthy, balanced diet - not much

9:09

fried, fatty food, and a good mix of fruit and vegetables.

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The family usually gets together on Sunday for a traditional Chinese banquet, or yumcha,

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either at home or in China town, but usually I eat on my own, or have lunch at work with

9:26

a colleague.

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I don't cook much. My mother is a good cook, and can create great meals just from a wok!

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We have many dishes including roast duck - my favourite.

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That's all for now.

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To find more information about the IELTS Speaking Test, visit our Study English website.

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Good luck with your studies.

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