Food Talk - Conversation Class for Advanced Learners

A Food Photography Experience!, a group on Flickr.

• Advanced
• Teens; Adults
• Speaking class
• Food
• 
  

1. You will tell your partner about the last time you had or cooked a fantastic meal. Use the questions below to help you remember and organize your thoughts.

Where were you?
Why was the meal special?
What did you have to drink?
Who was with you?
How complex was the recipe?
Who prepared the food?
What were the ingredients?

 2. What do these sayings mean? Do they say anything about the people's culture?
 Worries go down better with soup. ~Jewish Proverb
Rice is born in water and must die in wine. ~Italian Proverb
 Eat little, sleep sound. ~Iranian Proverb 3. T

3. Talk to a partner and find the odd one out in each set of words.
  Beef / steak /pork/ lamb / garlic Garlic is the odd one out because the others are all type of meat.
 a) Mango / rice /pear/raspberry
 b) Butter / cottage cheese/ yogurt / broccoli
 c) Turkey/cauliflower/pepper / spinach
 d) Lamb / chicken / turkey / Duck
 e) Pasta / sauce / pie / grapes
 f) Chocolate/chickpeas/syrup /jam
 g) Whole grain bread/ brown rice/chocolate/sugar
 h) Beef / steak /pork/ lamb / rocket

What other cooking verbs do you know? Make a list. If you had to remember all of them for a test, what strategy would you use? Why? 
Sites that might help you remember vocabulary:

Wordle 

Thinglink

4. Write a dictionary entry for the word ethnic. Check a dictionary to see how similar your definition is.

Discuss in pairs.

What ethnic food have you tried?

What is your favorite cuisine? Can you prepare a special ethnic meal or dish?

Is there any ethnic food that you would never consider eating? Why? Why not?

How does typical or ethnic food reflect the culture of a country?

Can you write down the ingredients for a local food from a country you have been to?

Do foreigners usually like or reject the typical food from your country? Why?

5. Watch a movie scene and discuss the following questions.

What happens in the scene? 
Correct sentences to make them true.

She liked the idea of cooking ratatouilli to the food critic because it's a peasant dish.
They used only yellow zucchines.
They started by grating carrots.
The rat stirred the souce with a metal spoon.
The lady chep spreaded the tomato souce on a frying pan.
All the vegetables do not have to be thinly sliced. 

Where is the food from? What does it say about the people who created it?

Have you ever seen/eaten that dish before?

Would you like to have it one day? Why (not)

What are the ingredients?

What is your comfort food? Is there any food that brings you memories?

Is there a special recipe in your family? What is it like?

Do you remember any other movie that shows ethnic food or food?

6. Watch the movie scene below and write the questions the actors answer. Use the same questions to interview a partner.

Group work 
Ethnic Food
Part 1: Expert Group (15 min)

Goals of this part of the activity:
• Learn about a dish in one country.
• Become an expert on your country’s dish.
• Prepare to teach your classmates about your country’s dish.

Learn about a dish in one country. One person in your group should read the information out loud. Then take notes here with your group:

I am going to teach others about a dish in _________________________.
There are many interesting aspects to be shared.

What are the ingredients? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to prepare this dish?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Difficult vocabulary I’ll teach my classmates: 
*Check meaning and pronunciation 
of difficult words.
1. ____________________
2. ____________________
3. ____________________


Now that you are an expert, teach your classmates about your country’s dish. You can only use your notes.

_________________________________________________________________________________


Part 2: Home group (5 minutes per country)


Goals of this part of the activity:
• Teach your classmates about you’re your dish.
• Learn about dishes in other 3 countries.
• Become an expert!

You will learn about 3 different dishes around the world. Listen to your group members and take notes in the chart below.

Classmate’s name and country name Pieces of information about the dish.

_____________________          _____________________________________________________

____________________           ______________________________________________________

If you finish before other groups, discuss the following questions in your group:

1. Which dish is more interesting to you? Why?
2. Which country is more similar to yours in terms of eating habits? Why?
3. Which country might be the most difficult one to adapt as a foreigner? Why?

TED TALK – Listen to two chefs talking about theirs experiences. Use the questions below to help you focus on what they have to say.

What did people think Moto was? Why?

What kind of requests did customers have?
What is flavor transformation?
What did they do to the carrot cake?
What do they charge customers 20 bucks for?
What did they decide to do after the experiment with the edible cigar?
What’s special about their nachos?
What’s their kitchen like?
What’s special about their hamburger?
What’s a miracle berry? What’s special about them?
What do they do to the watermelon? Why do they do that?
What are the chefs plans for the future?

Discuss

What do you think about their work?
Would you be willing to experiment the food at Moto? Why? Why not?

 Dilemma

You are about to have 4 guests over. They are from a different country and you want them to have an idea of what the food in Brazil is like. What would you serve for appetizers, main dish and dessert? You want to impress and be original, but you only have 200 to spend.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I think we should…                                            That’s a good idea, but don’t you think…

I believe we could.. …                                        Why don’t we…      

I tend to agree with you, but maybe we…

Read the ingredients and equipment list of a Jamie Oliver’s recipe. What kind of dish will he make? How would you put the ingredients together?

ingredients • 3 cloves of garlic • a small bunch of fresh basil • olive oil 1 fresh red chilli • 2 x 400g tins plum tomatoes • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper • red wine vinegar • 4 x 150g white fish fillets such as coley, whiting or pollock, skin off and bones removed • a handful of black olives, stone in 1 tablespoon capers, drained

Equipment list Chopping board Knife Large pan Wooden spoon Tin opener Roasting tray (approximately 20cm x 30cm)

Close test - You can also do it interactively online. http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.php

To  -  around  -  but – by – for –from – in – into – of – off – on – over- through – to – until – up - with

Baked white fish  olives and a simple tomato sauce

The most important thing  remember  this recipe is  buy good-quality fish  your local fishmonger or supermarket. The recipe Ive given you here can be used  all sorts  dishes  � Ive shown you how  tweak it  go  fish,  you can try using it  anything  pasta  grilled chicken. If you want  save some time, double the quantities and freeze half  the sauce (it will keep  a couple  months), or pop it  the fridge    a week.

 make your sauce

1. Peel and finely slice the garlic cloves. Pick the basil leaves and put aside, finely slice the stalks.

2. Add a good couple  lugs  olive oil  a large pan  medium heat. Add the garlic and basil stalks. Pierce the chilli once  a knife so it doesn't explode when frying, and add  the pan. Fry gently  the garlic is soft  not coloured, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the tins  tomato and season lightly  salt and pepper. Gently simmer  low heat  30 minutes. Remove the chilli. Break and mush the tomatoes  a wooden spoon. Season the sauce really carefully  more salt and pepper if needed, and add a tiny swig  red wine vinegar  give it a little twang.

 prepare and cook your fish

4. Preheat the oven  220°C/425°F/gas 7.

5. Pour your tomato sauce  a roasting tray (approximately 20cm x 30cm). Season the fish fillets  both sides  a little salt and pepper, then place  top  the sauce. Squash the olives, using the base  a jar or something heavy, and remove the stones. Sprinkle the olives and capers  the fish. Scatter the reserved basil leaves  the fish.

6. Cook  the oven   15 minutes or  the fish is cooked  (check  cutting  the thickest part  one or two  the fillets). Lovely served  new potatoes and a green salad.

Pronunciation practice

Take a look at the words below:

save and time

What do they have in common? Have you ever heard of the silent final “e”? Watch a pronunciation tip and decide what’s the right pronunciation for the words on the table.

Watch a movie scene and answer the following questions. Describe the scene. How does the food make her feel? What’s your comfort food? When do you feel you need it?

 How well you cook?

 Do you think food help people bond?

 Are you environmental aware when comes to your eating habits?

 How many different color foods did you eat for dinner last night?

 How much have your eating habits changed over the years?

 Was there any dish or ingredient that you talked about today that you’d be excited to try out?

Going beyond

Take a look at a pinterest about food. Do you have a good suggestion to add to it? Is there any family recipe that you’d like to share with the group?