- •I 1.Now let's talk about food. What can you tell me about eating habits in your family?
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- •I 2.Do you like cooking? Why (not)?
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- •I 3.What questions will you ask a friend who has invited you to a pot-luck party?
- •I 4.Which national dishes can you recommend a tourist to taste in Belarus?
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- •I 5.Scientists say that fast food is unhealthy but teenagers can't stop eating it. What do you think about it?
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- •II 1.Now let's talk about food. What can you tell me about eating habits in Belarus?
- •II 2.Do you personally follow the rules of a healthy way of life? Why (not)?
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- •II 3.What questions can you ask a British friend about their national cuisine?
- •II 4.Can you tell me how to cook one of your favourite dishes?
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- •II 5.Most of the families want to have a big kitchen in the flat, but at the same time they have a meal together less and less often. What do you think about it?
- •III 1.Now let's talk about food. What can you tell me about eating habits in your family?
- •III 2.Do you often invite guests to have a meal together?
- •IV 2.Do you know many recipes?
- •IV 3.What questions can you ask a waiter when you are ordering a meal in a cafe?
- •IV 4.My friend wants to know more about national cuisines. Which national dishes would you recommend him to taste?
- •IV 5.A lot of pupils refuse to have meals at school. What do you think about it?
I 2.Do you like cooking? Why (not)?
Variant I
Maybe yes. But it doesn’t happen very often because I’m very busy now. If I have a chance to spend time cooking I prefer to cook some special and tasty things: pizza, pancakes, stuffed cabbage, chops, roast chicken, hot pot (тушёное мясо с картофелем, овощами), biscuits and what not.
Variant II
I love to cook, so my kitchen is filled with every cooking gadget: measuring cups, spoons, baking whisks.I myself can prepare and cook many dishes. My mum helps me with some useful advice. Most of all I like to prepare pancakes. It is not difficult to make this dish. You can eat pancakes with sour cream, jam, caviar.
Variant III
For me it's a passion, my skill set is nowhere near as good as it will be in a few years but I love it. I love it when I succeed at a dish, and even though I'll curse at myself for hours when I fail I still love it.
I 3.What questions will you ask a friend who has invited you to a pot-luck party?
I have never been to a pot-luck party. It’s probably amazing. Of course I will have to find out some things beforehand:
What is the theme of your pot-luck party?
How many people have you invited to the party?
Are you going to make a list of dishes?
I 4.Which national dishes can you recommend a tourist to taste in Belarus?
Variant I
Perhaps, one of the most pleasant ways to understand the soul of a nation is to start exploring its national cuisine. Tasting of some original dish may tell a foreign visitor a lot about Belarusian traditions. Modern Belarusian cookery is based on old national traditions.
Belarusian cuisine mostly consists of vegetables, meat and bread. The foods that are considered to be staples of Belarus include pork, cabbage, potatoes and bread. Traditional cooking methods are usually either slowly cooked or stewed food.
But the most popular Belarusian dish is draniki with machanka. Machanka is used as a traditional Belarusian sauce for draniki or blini. Most often it is made with pork, sausage, sliced onion, sour cream and flour.
Kvass is a type of soft drink that is made from either brown bread or rye flour that has been malted. Kvass can also be combined with sliced vegetables to create a cold soup called okroshka.
I think all these dishes will be rather tasty and unusual for a tourist.
Variant II
Modern Belarusian cuisine is marked for its variety of potato, mushroom and pork dishes. The select Belarusian food is draniki, pork stewed with potatoes in earthenware pots, dumplings and thick pancakes (oladyi) stuffed with meat, potato babka, mushroom soup and cold soup (kholodnik). I’ll recommend a tourist to taste draniki and koldyny. Koldyny are stuffed draniki. They can be stuffed with meat or mushrooms. Machanka is used as a Belarusian traditional sauce for draniki or blini. It may be different in different regions. Most often it is made with pork, sausage, sliced onion, sour cream and flour. To make draniki you need about a kilo of potato, one onion, 2 eggs, flour, salt. Peel and grate the potato and the onion into a large bowl. Add the other ingredients and mix well. Add a little bit more flour and mix well again. Then heat the oil in a frying pan, take a tablespoon of the mixture and put it into the oil, pressing a little bit. The draniki need to fry for 3-4 minutes on each side till the potato is cooked through.