II. Make up sentences not related to the topic «Meals» with the given word-combinations.

For starters; to start out; to put smb. on edge; to be nowhere to be found;

to drive smb. out of smth; you can’t beat..; worth doing smth..; to fall short somewhere (to fall short of smth.); to complement smth.; to clean up one’s manners (act); to invest in smth.

Text 3.

The joys of tasting

Gioacchino Rossini, the composer of “The Barber of Seville” and many other operas, had a good grasp of the relationship between music and food: “What love is to the heart, appetite is to the stomach. The stomach is the conductor that leads and livens up the great orchestra of our emotions.” If music modulates feelings, so does food; and all the fine cuisines of the world are based on that knowledge.

For the first few hundred years of American history, food preparation was generally approached in a no-nonsense manner. Even as late as twenty-five years ago, the general attitude was that “feeding your face” was all right, but to make too much of a fuss about it was somehow decadent. In the past two decades, of course, the trend has reversed itself so sharply that earlier misgivings about gastronomic excesses seem almost to have been justified.

Now we have food fanatics and wine freaks who take the pleasures of the palate as seriously as if they were rites of a brand-new religion. Gourmet journals proliferate, the frozen food sections of supermarkets bulge with esoteric culinary concoctions, and all sorts of chefs have run popular shows on TV.

Not long ago, Italian or Greek cuisine was considered the height of exotic fare. Now one finds excellent Vietnamese, Moroccan or Peruvian restaurants in parts of the country where almost generation earlier on you couldn’t find anything but meat and potatoes.

Eating is one of the basic pleasures built into our nervous system. Studies done with large population have shown that even in our highly technological urban society, people still feel most happy and relaxed at mealtimes. In every culture, the simple process of ingesting calories has been transformed, with time, into an art form that provides enjoyment as well as pleasure.

The preparation of food has developed a history. First, people took advantage of various edible substances in their environment, and as a result of attending carefully they were able to make distinctions between the properties of foodstuffs. They discovered that salt preserves meat, that eggs are good for coating and binding, and that garlic, although harsh-tasting by itself, has medicinal properties and if used judiciously, imparts subtle flavours to a variety of dishes.

Once aware of these distinctions, people could experiment with them and then develop rules for putting together various substances in the most pleasing combinations. These rules became various cuisines; their variety provides a good illustration of the almost infinite range that can be evoked from a relatively limited number of ingredients.

In our culture, today, many people still barely notice what they put in their mouths, thereby missing a potentially rich source of enjoyment. To transform the biological necessity of feeding into a pleasurable experience, one must began by paying attention to what one eats. It is astonishing – as well as discouraging - when guests swallow lovingly prepared food without any sign of having noticed its virtues. Developing a discriminating palate, like any other skill, requires an investment. But the energy invested is returned many times over.

The individuals who really enjoy eating develop, with time, an interest in particular cuisine, and get to know its history and its peculiarities. They learn to cook in that idiom, not just single dishes but entire meals that reproduce the culinary ambience of the region.

The cultivated palate provides many opportunities for joys as one approaches eating – and cooking – in a spirit of adventure and curiosity, exploring the potentials of food for the sake of the experience rather than as a show-case for one’s expertise.