Vegetarianism

It is theory or practice of living solely upon vegetables, fruits, grains and nuts, generally for ethical, ascetic, or nutritional reasons. Meat, fowl, and fish are excluded from all vegetarian diets, but some vegetarians use milk and milk products; those in the modern West usually eggs also, but most vegetarians in India exclude them, as did those in the classical Mediterranean lands.

Vegetarianism – belief in and practice of eating foods obtained exclusively from the vegetable kingdom, and hence of abstaining from meat and other animal foods. Non-vegetable food is usually considered by vegetarians to include fowl and fish but practice varies. Vegetarianism is an ancient custom. It has long existed among certain Hindu and Buddhist sects that consider an animal life sacred, and it was advocated by numerous philosophers and writers of ancient Greece and Rome.

Although vegetarianism originated as a religious or ethical practice, it has also gained acceptance among many for aesthetic, nutritional, and economic reasons.

Humanitarian vegetarians refuse meat because they believe that the killing of animals is unnecessary or cruel, or that such a practice can conceivably lead to a disregard for human life; the trades that the slaughter of animals support, such as butchering, are considered degrading. People who adhere to vegetarianism for health reasons believe that meat is harmful to the human body and that a purely vegetable diet is more nutritious. Some vegetarians reject meat eating because of the poor conditions in which livestock may be kept. Others argue that eating meat is a waste of precious resources when there are so many people in the world who are starving. Because a meatless diet might result in a protein deficiency, vegetarians need to satisfy their protein needs with corn and seeds of legumes.

The strictness of diet also varies among vegetarians. Purist vegetarians reject all foods that are derived from animals, including dairy products such as eggs, milk, cheese and butter. Other vegetarians abstain only from foods whose production involves the destruction of living animals. Moderate practitioners allow themselves to eat foods that can be obtained without what they believe to be unnecessary suffering or pain, for example, net-caught fish. Most vegetarians, preferring food in its most natural state, oppose the use of both agricultural chemicals and of food processing or canning.

Vegetarianism is the practice of eating only foods from plants and avoiding all animal flesh including red meat, poultry, fish and sometimes dairy products. A vegetarian diet consists of grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits and the foods made from them, such as tofu, pasta, rice dishes, bean burritos and even simulated meats.

People may choose a vegetarian diet because of a variety of religious, philosophical and ethical beliefs. Some people abstain from eating meat for religious reasons. They believe that the killing and eating of animals violates the ethical precept of non-violence. Ecological reasons motivate other people, because much less land and food outlay is required to raise vegetables and grain than livestock. Some people avoid animal products for health reasons. Vegetarians may live longer and have much lower risks for heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and other serious illnesses. They also tend to be thinner, to have lower blood pressure. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in fat and cholesterol and higher in fibre and certain vitamins.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

Step 1. Discuss the questions below in pairs.

1. Why is healthy and nutritious food so much spoken about these days?

2. When do people keep the diet?

3. What are the negative consequences of using exhausting diets?

4. Why should people be aware of correct eating habits?

5. What is “junk” food? How can you characterize it?

6. What is your attitude to farinaceous foods? Are they healthy?

7. What kind of food do you enjoy? What are the most delicious things you have ever eaten?

8. Do you ever count calories in food you eat? If yes/no, why?

9. What is your attitude to eating out? Where can people go to eat in Belarus?

10. What are your eating habits? What do you usually have for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

11. What does a traditional English breakfast consist of?

12. What is a continental breakfast?

13. What time do they have lunch in England? What kind of meal is it?

14. What is the difference between the evening meal in Britain and Belarus?

15. Why are take-away restaurants so popular in England and the USA?

16. What is your speciality? Can you share your recipe with your classmates?

17. Why do so many people consider cooking an art?

18. What are the pros and cons of being a vegetarian?

19. What is traditional food? What determines national food?

20. Why has fast food spread all over the world?

Step 2. Approve or disapprove of the following ideas reasoning your opinion.

1. People don’t pay attention to what and when they eat.

2. Belarusian food is really healthy.

3. Meals at weekends always differ from the ones during the working week.

4. Very few people consider themselves gourmets.

5. The variety of cuisines in America is amazing.

6. Americans prefer eating out in restaurants.

7. Cooking can be a great hobby for both men and women.

8. The best chefs in the world are men.

9. Overeating leads to cardiovascular disease.

10. Pubs are good places to go for lunch in Britain.

11. Some people dislike fast food for its predictability.

12. One should be born a cook.

13. People keep the recipe of their specialities as treasure and never share them with anybody.

14. We choose our favourite dishes in childhood and never change our tastes ever since.

15. To make good tea is very simple.

16. Really delicious food always leads to obesity.

17. All women are fed up with cooking.

18. Undernourishment is better than overeating.

19. After being on a diet people always regain the weight.

20. It’s necessary to observe table manners only in a company.

Step 3. Comment on the quotations below. Be as specific as you can.

1. “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” A. Brillat-Savarin

2. “A gourmet is just a glutton with brains” P.W. Haberman Jr.

3. “Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.” S. Butler

4. “The whole of nature, as has been said, is a conjugation of the verb to eat in the active and passive.” W.R. Inge

5. “Where the guests at a gathering are well-acquainted, they eat 20 percent more than they otherwise would.” E. W. Howe

6. “On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good dinner manners.” G. Mikes

7. “Food comes first, then morals.” B. Brecht

8. “It takes some skill to spoil a breakfast – even the English can’t do it.” J. K. Galbraith

9. “If the English can survive their food, they can survive anything.” G. B. Shaw

Step 4. Make up stories using the following proverbs and sayings. The contents of the story should reveal the gist of the proverb/saying.

1. The appetite comes with eating.

2. Too many cooks spoil the broth.

3. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

4. Hunger finds no fault with the cookery.

5. Enough is as good as a feast.

6. You can not make an omelette without breaking eggs.

7. Square meals often make round people.

Step 5. Read the beginning of the text and develop the idea touched upon in it.

The most important thing about healthy eating is that it gives you the best chance of having a fit and healthy life. Experts agree that good food reduces the risk of heart attacks, cancer and many other common diseases. So it’s worth knowing the difference between good and bad food. The simplest guide to healthy eating is …

Step 6. Make up and act out conversations that would be appropriate in the situations below. Work in groups of 2 or 3.

1. You are looking forward to entertaining your guests tonight. Your friend and her new boyfriend are coming. Accidentally you find out that the boyfriend is a vegetarian. Discuss a suitable meal with your friend. The meal should at least consist of three courses.

2. You are sick and tired of your extra kilogrammes. You consider yourself obese and it makes you unhappy. You’ve tried numerous diets but in vain. In search of professional help you make up your mind to go to a dietician. You are given some pieces of advice how to lose weight and stay healthy. You are eager to start your new life.

3. The three of you are sitting in a restaurant looking at a menu. You are very hungry and are going to order lots of delicious things. The problem is that you don’t know some dishes. Ask the waiter to explain to you what ingredients these dishes include and how they are prepared. Order the starter, main course and desert.

4. Discuss a two-minute radio or TV commercial for your new product: a soft drink, a yoghurt, an ice-cream or chocolate. Think of the new flavours. Perform your commercial for the class.

Step 7. Arrange a group discussion on the problems suggested below.

1. There is a well-known old saying “Eat to live. Do not live to eat.” Could you comment on it?

2. Food is as much a part of a country’s culture as its landscape, language and literature. Actually, the national cuisine is a visiting card of a country. How would you advertise Belarusian cuisine to foreign guests?

3. There are people who compare cooking with painting a picture or writing a book. Every meal is an act of creation for them. Try to find arguments to prove that cooking is an art.

4. Today most people tend to rely on fast food and convenience food. Is it a fashion of the day or a life necessity?

5. Fast food restaurants are extremely popular, especially with the young. Are there any reasons for that? What’s the difference between fast food and home-made meal? Which do you personally prefer and why?

6. What’s your attitude to vegetarianism? Have you ever tried a vegetarian diet? Would you ever?

Step 8. Debate on the controversial statements. Work in two groups. One group should agree with the statements below and the other should disagree. Put forward the appropriate arguments and convince the members of the other group.

1. People eat and drink only for nourishment.

2. We have become a fast food world.

3. Advertisements make people buy unhealthy produce.

4. Snacks ruin our health.

5. Dinner manners are mere formality these days.

6. Dieting can be hazardous for people.

Step 9. Fulfill the following written assignments.

1. Write a list of foods that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

2. Write a description of a visit to your favourite place for eating out.

3. Write a dream menu for a day.

4. Write the recipes of some Belarusian/Russian dishes to be included into the World Cookery Book.

5. Write a letter to your English/American friend sharing the recipe of your speciality for Christmas. Describe the way how it is to be made step by step.

6. Work out and write down a dieting program, mentioning foods that should be taken.

7. Design a menu for your favourite restaurant.

SUPPLEMENTARY

READING

FAMILY

Text 1

Twins

I am an identical twin and as children we looked exactly identical. So identical that we had to wear initials on our shirts so that teachers could tell us apart in school. And I think that’s quite often the case with identical twins – that when they are young children they tend to be more identical physically than when they grow up and I think that twins tend to diverge more as they get into adolescence and then into adulthood.

And I think it reaches its climax when you‘re an adolescent because as an adolescent you are striving to be an individual but of course everybody looks upon you as one of a pair, so you have this real problem of identity.

My theory is that twins actually look alike physically but often they complement each other when it comes to their personalities and natures, if you like. And I think in our experience we complemented each other, we were the mirror image of each other. So my brother was more introvert, more academic and I was, perhaps, or still am extrovert.

As children going through primary school we got on very well. We played together, we had common interests. Our parents actually encouraged that, so that when we were young children we had piano lessons and we did this and we did that together, and we were just like very, very close friends. And it was natural for us to play together rather than to play with other children.

When we got to adolescence, then that’s where the truly competitive element came in and we found ourselves more likely to want not to be together. Not that we argued tremendously but that we just were searching for our own identities and therefore we would clash more.

Up until the age of eighteen we were always together, but when we left school I went to teach in France for a year, my brother went straight to university to read sciences. I was doing languages. So that when I came to go to university he was a year ahead of me and by sheer chance we ended up in the same college in the same university. The interesting fact was that we had deliberately aimed not to go to the same university, but because I had this year off and he went straight in and through a quirk of the selection process, we ended up in the same college. This college, one of the Cambridge University colleges, seemed to specialise in twins because there were about half a dozen sets of twins in the college in that year, but what we discovered was that we were very unlike them because in virtually all cases those sets of twins in our college were reading the same subjects, lived in the same rooms, wore the same clothes, went to the same lectures. We actually felt quite different, because my brother was doing sciences, I was doing languages, we had different rooms, we had different friends in different years.

So we realized that we were actually not anything like as close as other twins that we came into contact with.

Text 2

Bond of Brotherly Hate

Mary, fifteen months old, would brush her newborn brother’s head with her hairbrush so hard that she almost drew blood. Three-year-old Bobby sang nursery rhymes and gave four-month-old Eliza’s cradle such a hard push that she fell out on several occasions.

Sibling rivalry can often be caused by one child feeling, rightly or wrongly, that the parents prefer the other child or children in the family to them. An eight-year-old girl started having asthma attacks because she felt her mother was devoting more time and attention to her two younger sisters, aged five and seven.

A teenage boy of religious parents dropped out and adopted a ‘hippie’ lifestyle because he believed his parents preferred his younger sister.

According to research, the arrival of a new baby causes most trouble in families where the mother is particularly close to an elder daughter. But where the child has a close relationship with the father, there is usually far less conflict after the new birth. Temperament, too, is important. Children who are irritable or difficult react most strongly to the birth of a sibling.

Not surprisingly it is often when mothers are attending to the new baby that siblings play up. Rosie Summers recalls: ‘Literally, no sooner had I started to feed the baby than Lisa, then two, would announce that she wanted a drink or would go into another room and start dropping things. It was extremely irritating.’

What families forget is that not only is sibling rivalry normal, it can also have a positive side. It is important to remember Freud’s view that if you cannot hate you cannot love. In most families, sibling rivalry and sibling affection are two sides of the same coin. A mother of two boys aged sixteen and ten has this experience: ‘My kids will be at each other’s throats, complaining to me about the other has done or has got. Yet if someone is unpleasant to one, or if either hurts himself, nobody could be more caring or concerned than the other.’

LEISURE TIME. HOBBIES

Text 1

Recreation

The word “recreation” brings to mind activities that are relaxing and enjoyable. Such activities as an evening walk around the neighborhood, a Sunday picnic with the family, and playing catch in the yard with the children seem relatively spontaneous and relaxing.

Much American recreational activity, however, seems to foreign visitors to be approached with a high degree of seriousness, planning, organization, and expense. Spontaneity and fun are absent, as far as the visitor can tell. “These crazy Americans!” a South American exclaimed on seeing yet another jogger go past her house in sub-freezing, winter weather. Many Americans jog every day, or play tennis, handball, racquetball, or bridge two or three times a week, or bowl every Thursday night, or have some other regularly scheduled recreation. They go on vacations, ski trips, and hunting or fishing expeditions that require weeks of planning and organizing. In the Americans’ view, all these activities are generally fun and relaxing, or are worth the discomfort they may cause because they contribute to health and physical fitness.

Much American recreation is highly organized. There are classes, clubs, leagues, newsletters, contests, exhibitions, and conventions centered on hundreds of different recreational activities. People interested in astronomy, bird watching, cooking, dancing, ecology, fencing, gardening, hiking – and on and on – can find a group of like-minded people with whom to meet, learn, and practice or perform.

In America recreation is big business. Many common recreational activities require supplies and equipment that can be quite costly. Recreational vehicles (used for traveling and usually including provisions for sleeping, cooking, and bathing) can cost as much as $35,000. in 1984 Americans owned approximately 3,982,000 recreational vehicles, valued at about $&,733 million. Jogging shoes, hiking boots, fishing and camping supplies, cameras, telescopes, gourmet cookware, and bowling balls are not low-cost items. Beyond equipment, there is clothing. The fashion industry has successfully persuaded many Americans that they must be properly dressed for jogging, playing tennis, skiing, swimming, and so on. Fashionable outfits for these and other recreational activities can be surprisingly expensive.

A final point that astute foreign observers notice is the relationship between social class and certain recreational activities. The relationship is by no means invariable, and the element of geography complicates it. (For example, a relatively poor person who happens to live in the Colorado mountains may be able to afford skiing there, while an equally poor resident of a plains state could not afford to get to the mountains and pay for lodging there.) In general, though, golf and yachting are associated with wealthier people, tennis with better-educated people, and outdoor sports (camping, fishing, hunting, boating) with middle-class people. Those who bowl or square dance regularly are likely to represent the lower-middle class. Foreign observers will be able to find other examples of these relationships in whatever part of the United States they come to know.

SHOPPING

Text 1

Harrods

Welcome to Harrods – a different world for a million reasons. Harrods is the largest store in Europe with goods displayed in 60 windows and five and a half hectares of selling space. In one year over 14 million purchases are in the 214 departments where you can buy anything from a pin to an elephant – if you can convince the manager of the Pet Department that you are a suitable elephant owner, that is! It is Harrods’ policy to stock a wide and exciting range of merchandise in every department to give the customer a choice of goods which is unique in its variety and which no other store can match; Harrods stocks 100 different whiskies, 57 single malts, 450 different cheeses, 500 types of shirts and 9,000 ties to go with them, 8,000 dresses and 150 different pianos.

Harrods also offers a number of special services to its customers including a bank, an insurance department, a travel agency, London last circulating library, a theatre ticket agency and a funeral service. £40 million worth of goods are exported annually from Harrods and the Export Department can deal with any customer purchase or order and will pack and send goods to any address in the world. Recently, for example, six bread rolls were sent to New York, a handkerchief to Los Angeles, a pound of sausages to a yacht anchored in the Mediterranean, a Persian carpet to Iran and £5,000 chess set to Australia. Harrods has a world-wide reputation for first-class service. It has a staff of 4,000, rising to 6,000 at Christmas time.

Harrods sells 5 million different products, not all of which are actually kept in stock in the store itself. To handle this enormous range, a new computerized warehouse is being built. It will be the largest warehouse in Britain and the second largest in Europe and will deal with a wider range of goods than any other distribution centre in the world. Thanks to its modern technology a customer will be able to order any product from any assistant in the store. The assistant will be able to check its availability immediately on a computer screen, decide with the customer on a suitable delivery date and time and then pass the order directly to the warehouse through the computer. The time of delivery will be guaranteed to within one hour.

For many of London’s visitors Harrods is an important on their sightseeing programme. Henry Charles Harrod’s first shop was opened in 1849, but the building as it stands today was started in1901 and it has become one of London’s landmarks. It has many items of architectural interest: the plaster ceilings are original, as is the famous Meat Hall with its Victorian wall tiles, and the light fittings on the ground floor date back to the 1930s. A morning spent strolling round Harrods is guaranteed to give any shopper an appetite, and feed its customers Harrods has six restaurants, ranging from the Circle self-service restaurants offering delicious food at reasonable prices to the famous Harrods Restaurant, where queues form every afternoon for the “Grand Buffet Tea”, which for a fixed price allows you to eat as many cream cakes and gateaux as your greed will allow while waitresses serve you with India or China tea. If you feel like a drink you can choose between the pub atmosphere of the Green Man Tavern and the sophistication of the Cocktail Lounge. Harrods truly is a different world.

(Advertising Leaflet)

Text 2

Know Your Rights

Complaining about faulty goods or bad service is never easy. Most people dislike making

a fuss. However, when you are shopping, it is important to know your rights. When you buy something from a shop, you are making a contract. This contract means that it’s up to the shop – not the manufacturer – to deal with your complaints if the goods are not satisfactory. What do we mean by satisfactory?

The goods must not be broken or damaged and must work properly. This is known as “merchantable quality” .A sheet, say, which had a tear in it, or a clock that didn’t go when you wound it would not pass this test.

The goods must be as described – whether on the pack or by the salesman. A hairdryer, which the box says is blue, should not turn out to be pink, a pair of shoes the salesman says is leather should not be plastic.

The goods should be fit for their purpose. This means the purpose for which most people buy those particular goods. If you wanted something for a special purpose, you must have said exactly what for. If, for instance, the shop assures you that a certain glue will mend broken china, and it doesn’t you have a right to return it.

If the shop sells you faulty goods, it has broken its side of the bargain. If goods are faulty when you first inspect or use them, go back to the shop, say that you cancel the purchase and ask for a complete refund. If you prefer, you can accept a repair or a replacement.

If the goods break down through no fault of yours, after you have used them for a time, you may still be entitled to some compensation. In some cases it would be reasonable to expect a complete refund – if, for instance, without misuse your shoes came apart after only one day’s wear, or your washing machine irreparably broke down after only three wash days.

But if your washing machine worked perfectly for a while and then broke you could only expect some of the purchase price back. You and the supplier must negotiate a reasonable settlement.

You need never accept a credit note for faulty goods. If you do so, then later find you do not want anything in the shop or store, you may not get your money back.

If you have to spend money as a direct result of goods being faulty, you can also claim this from the shop. You could, for example, claim the cost of using a laundry while the washing machine wasn’t working. But you must keep such expenses down to a minimum.

There are four golden rules:

1. Examine the goods you buy at once. If they are faulty, tell the seller quickly.

2. Keep any receipts you are given. If you have to return something the receipt will help to prove where and when you bought it.

3. Don’t be afraid to complain. You are not asking a favour to have faulty goods put right. The law is on your side.

4. Be persistent (but no aggressive). If your complain is justified it’s somebody’s responsibility to put things right.

Remember:

1. You can’t complain about defects that were pointed out to you, or that you could reasonably have been expected to notice.

2. Stop using the item as soon as you discover a fault.

3. You are not entitled to compensation if you simply change your mind about wanting the goods.

CHARACTER AND APPEARANCE. RELATIONSHIPS.

Text 1

Friends and Friendship

What is more welcome than the sound of a friend’s voice, the sight of her smiling face, the warmth of an embrace? It’s one of life’s finest blessings to have a friend with whom we can safely discuss our fears and enthusiastically share our dreams – someone who accepts us totally as we are in spite of our shortcomings.

A true friend encourages us, comforts us, supports us like a big easy chair, offering us a safe refuge from the world. A true friend stands at our side during the best and the worst of times. A true friend listens when we need to talk through a problem. A true friend answers the phone at midnight and doesn’t resent the call. A true friend will defend us to the world.

We speak of “friends and acquaintances” because we know the difference. Acquaintances we meet, enjoy and can easily leave behind; but friendship grows deep roots. Even when we are separated by time and distance, friendship continues to grow and mature.

We’ve all had the experience of meeting an old friend after many years and discovering that we are able to renew our relationship as if the separation had only bee a few minutes. A proverb advises “Hold a true friend with both hands”.

True and faithful friends are indeed a treasure, touching our hearts and strengthening our spirit with their words, their touch, and sometimes by their silent presence.

H. Jackson Brown

Text 2

Astrology

Aries (The Ram) – 21st March-20th April

You want to be important and successful. You are very positive. You say what you think. You are sometimes selfish and you are always the first to start arguing. Taurus (The Bull) – 21st April-21st May

You always tell the truth. When you promise to do something you do it. You need to have things more than you need people. You often refuse to accept new ideas.

Gemini (The Twins) – 22nd May-21st June

You are charming, intelligent, and creative. Most people like you, but you are two- faced – you can say one thing and mean another. You don’t concentrate and you get bored easily.

Cancer (The Crab) – 22nd June-23rd July

You like being at home. You always try to look after your family. You are kind and sympathetic. You enjoy eating and relaxing. You don’t like working too hard.

Leo (The Lion) – 24th July- 23rd August

You always expect to be the leader. You like giving things to people, and you enjoy having people in your home. You are not good at being polite.

Virgo (The Virgin) – 24th August-23rd September

You tell people everything about yourself. People can trust you. You like helping others. You hate quarrelling and you hate things being untidy. You dislike spending money.

Libra (The Scales) – 24th September-23rd October

You enjoy being with other people. You care about other people’s feelings. You don’t always say what you mean. You day-dream a lot. You have a high opinion of yourself.

Scorpio (The Scorpion) – 24th October-22nd November

You believe in yourself. You are brave. You don’t stop doing something until you have finished the job. Scorpios often talk about themselves. You need to control others. You are a very dangerous enemy.

Sagittarius (The Archer) – 23rd November-22nd December

You are good at doing practical things. You love playing sports. You are honest, optimistic and cheerful. You don’t mind taking risks. You don’t tell others what to do.

Capricorn (The Goat) – 23rd December-20th January

You like being the boss. You need to have money and status. You don’t mind working hard. When you decide to do something, you do it. You don’t like sitting around and doing nothing.

Aquarius (The Water Carrier) – 21st January-19th February

You want to help the whole world and everyone in it. The group is more important then the individual for you. Your temper goes up and down. You are good at concentrating. You are not good at doing practical things.

Pisces (The Fish) – 20th February-20th March

You believe people, and you do what they tell you to do. You have a strong imagination. You like music and art. You are very sympathetic, kind and friendly. You get depressed easily.

FOOD AND MEALS

Text 1

How Do You Make…?