Englich for Talking. Учебно-методическое пособие

world. Italian food has always been very popular, and a number of restaurants are now getting well away from the old-fashioned image of lashings of pasta and oversize pepper mills.

Indian and Chinese restaurants dominate the ethnic scene, and these can be an excellent lunch-time choice with bargain, prix-fixe buffets. Try dim sum (savory dumplings) in any of Soho's Chinese restaurants during the day. The interest in Asian food has grown so that Thai, Malaysian, and more recently Vietnamese restaurants are becoming well established in London. Middle Eastern restaurants are also popular, especially in the Arab neighborhoods around Baker Street. There aren't a huge number of vegetarian restaurants yet, but that's also changing. Try around Neal's Yard or go to any of the Crank's branches. Sushi conveyor belt restaurants, once a novelty, seem to be springing up all over.

Text 2.

What & Where to Eat – English Style

If you just want a native snack and you're on a limited budget, your best bet is probably a pub or wine bar. In some cases the latter are no more than restaurants with an extended wine list; the best kind, often to be found in the City, are dark and old-fashioned with sawdust on the floor, and are usually full of business types in pinstripes. The quality of pub food varies enormously, but as many establishments serve from a buffet at least you see what you are getting.

Breakfast

The full English breakfast – eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, beans, toast, and perhaps mushrooms all on one plate – is quite a lot to start the day. At the better, traditional establishments kippers and porridge may also be on the menu. If this sounds a little heavy, don't worry, lighter fare is nearly always available.

Lunch

If you do choose a pub then it's always worth checking out the ploughman's lunch. This consists of bread, cheese (or ham, pate, or sausage), salad, and pickle. If the bread is freshly-made and the cheese is a good wedge of farmhouse Cheddar or Stilton, then this can be delicious, but in many pubs, unfortunately, the standard is not high. If you cannot see what is on offer simply ask what on the menu is homemade. Scotch eggs are hard-boiled eggs wrapped in sausage meat and deep-fried, and Cornish pasties (pronounced PAS-teas) are pastries filled with a mixture

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of beef and vegetables. They may sound tempting but in London are invariably pre-packaged.

Hot food in pubs may include steak and kidney pie, chicken and mushroom pie, and shepherd's pie – a casserole of minced lamb (or beef, when it may be called cottage pie), carrots, and onions, topped with mashed potatoes. On Sundays you may find pub lunches of roast lamb or beef, vegetables, and the best British food of all, Yorkshire pudding with gravy.

Fish and chip shops serve cod, plaice, haddock, and other types, all battered and deep fried. Look for a place with a queue that is long.

If you want a real taste of the old East End look for a Pie & Mash Shop (most close on Sunday) where you'll get minced beef pie and mashed potatoes with a unique green sauce called “liquor” that is made from parsley. Eels may also be on the menu.

Afternoon Tea

Tea comes with thinly sliced sandwiches (egg and watercress, smoked salmon, cucumber, or tomato); scones (similar to American biscuits, but sweeter) or crumpets (somewhat like an “English muffin”); and a selection of pastries and mini-desserts. If you order a “cream tea”, your scones will be served with cream and jam (sometimes real clotted cream but more often simply whipped cream). And of course you will be offered a choice of tea, perhaps smoky Lapsang Souchong, scented Earl Grey, Assam, Darjeeling, or any one of a dozen different types.

Dinner

Starters: They may actually be hard to find, but the following are traditional starters: smoked Scottish salmon; Colchester oysters; potted shrimps cooked with butter and spices and preserved in earthenware jars; country pates made from chicken or pork livers.

Main courses: England's classic dish is roast beef and crusty Yorkshire pudding. Even the mad cow disease scare of the middle 1990s failed to slow down the national beef consumption for long. Roast leg of lamb with tangy mint sauce and roast pork with applesauce are also popular. Roasts are normally served only on a Sunday in traditional English restaurants, hotels, and some pubs. Game, such as wild duck, pheasant, partridge, and venison, is traditionally British. Salt beef is a delicious dish that you may find in the East End.

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Traditional fish dishes include turbot with lobster and shrimp sauce; baked trout with bacon; poached or grilled fresh salmon with Hollandaise sauce or made into fishcakes. Many seafood houses serve oysters.

Desserts

Traditional English “sweets” or “puddings” range from a light fruit “fool” (pureed fruit mixed with cream), or a syllabub (includes wine), to a heavy, rib-sticking jam roly-poly or treacle (molasses) pudding. These desserts may be flavored with jam, treacle, or fruit, then steamed. Fruit pies and crumbles, with a top crust of crumbly pastry, are old favourites. Look out, too, for sherry trifle — fruit, gelatin, and ladyfingers soaked in sherry, and topped with custard and whipped cream. The British custard is poured over crumbles and is delicious, as is the double cream that often accompanies a rich chocolate dessert.

Cheese

Don't miss the opportunity to sample a selection of English cheeses: stilton, a blue-veined cheese; cheddar, which comes in a number of varieties ranging from mild to sharp; double Gloucester, a tangy orangered cheese; Caerphilly from Wales, a mild white crumbly cheese; and Derby, mild and creamy, particularly good with fruit. Cheese is usually eaten with cheese biscuits (crackers) rather than bread.

London's Pubs

The capital claims more than 5,000 public houses, the oldest dating back nearly 500 years, but even Victorian pubs seem laden with centuries of social history.

Beer is the traditional British drink, and when you ask for a beer in a pub you will be given the brown-coloured brew known as bitter. The “bitter” taste comes from the addition of hops to the brew, but despite its name, many bitters are quite sweet and fruity. You no longer have to ask for “real ale” (beer made and served in the traditional way) in London as almost every pub now serves it anyway. The chilled pale drink known to Americans and Europeans as beer is lager to the British. Pubs often serve many different types of beer, so look at the dispensing pumps and specify the name of the beer you want to try. Or ask the bar staff for a “half (a half-pint) of their lowest-strength bitter then work your way up to the stronger brews. If you don't like bitter, don't worry. American and Continental lagers are almost as popular as the traditional British brew in London pubs these days.

Try some London’s pubs for atmosphere, historical interest, good beer, and often good food.

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Ex. 1. Read Texts 1, 2 and answer the questions:

1.What’s the attitude of people towards food in London?

2.Do the English have limited hours for having their meals?

3.Which international cuisines are represented in London?

4.Where can you go if you’re on a limited budget?

5.What do archaic licensing hours mean?

6.What do the English usually have for afternoon tea?

7.Did the mad cow disease slow down beef consumption in Britain? Why?

8.Does it mean that ‘bitter’ tastes bitter?

Ex. 2. Give the name for:

–some free time to have meals

–hard boiled eggs

–lunch which consists of bread, sausage, salad and pickle

–pastries with beef and vegetables

–minced beef, carrots and onions topped with mashed potatoes

–green sauce made of parsley

–blue-veined cheese

–a tangy orange-red cheese

–a thick sweet black sticky liquid obtained from sugar plant

–sweet dish made with cream, wine or fruit juice and usually eggs

–a cooked dish of fruit covered with a dry mixture of flour, butter, and sugar

–light-coloured beer

–a yellow liquid that is eaten with sweet dishes, made with milk, sugar, eggs, and flour.

Ex. 3. Find the English equivalents for:

Шеф-повар, высококачественная еда и хорошее обслуживание, кухня, разнообразный, пикантный, новинка, распространяться, перекусить, быть стесненным в средствах, копченая селедка, быть в меню(2), ветчина, паштет, колбаса, головка сыра, вкусный, яйца вкрутую, звучит соблазнительно, печеночный пирог, соус (подливка), отбивать мясо, петрушка, копченый лосось, слойка, взбитые сливки, ароматизированный чай, закуски, креветки, запеченные в горшочке, свиная печень, коровье бешенство, потребление говядины, яблочный соус, дичь, фазан, куропатка, палтус, варить яйца без скорлупы, жарить на гриле, трюфель, макать, пиво (2).

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Ex. 4. a) Study these verbs in the kitchen and use them when doing ex. 4b:

Chop, slice, dice, carve, sift, sieve, whisk, mix, drain, peel, grate, knead, roll out, crush, mash, squeeze, skewer, sprinkle, dip, spread, snip

b) Read the following recipes and tell your group-mates the recipe of your favourite dish and make them guess.

1. Hot chocolate.

Heat 600 ml (1 pint) milk, add 100g (4 oz) chopped plain or bitter chocolate and stir, when melted, bring to a simmer and whisk for 3 minutes. Sweeten to taste. Pour hot into cups and top with whipped cream.

2. Oat cakes

Sift flour into a bowl and add salt. Rub in fat until texture resembles breadcrumbs. Add currant, lemon juice and rind, then mix to fairly firm dough with about 4 tablespoons water or milk and water. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and put on to a floured surface. Roll into circles and fry in the oil until brown all over. Drain well and eat hot, sprinkled with sugar.

3. Ham baked with chestnuts.

Mash the chestnuts well, add the sugar and either butter or cream and some pepper. Lay the ham on a board and stuff it with as much of this as will hold, then press together and secure. Put into an ovenproof dish. Make a criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife on the top of the ham. Mix the breadcrumbs into the rest of the chestnut mixture and press this over the top. Put the ham into a pre-heated oven at 200° С (400° F) for about 1/2 hour or until the top is crisp.

Ex. 5. Study the list of English verbs and group the ones close in meaning matching them with the Russian verbs. Comment upon the differences in their meaning.

English: swallow, crunch, champ, hog, munch, gobble up, nibble at, gnaw, gulp, chew, devour, bolt, bite.

Russian: пожирать (3), глотать (3), жевать (3), грызть (2), откусывать (2).

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Ex. 6. a) Match the following metaphors with their meaning:

b) Fill in the gaps with suitable food metaphors.

1.Inviting Joe and his ex-wives to the same party was … disaster.

2.The film has … a box office hit.

3.Let's invite lots of friends to our wedding to … the relatives a bit.

4.I'm not going to call him. I'm going to let him … for another few days at least.

5.The police … the suspect for hours, but eventually let him go.

6.I'm sure this is going to be another of his … schemes that never comes to anything.

7.Let's hire a karaoke machine - that'll … the office party.

8.Rick has started hanging around with some … characters.

9.They started their business with high hopes but things soon turned … .

10.Let's go for a coffee and you can tell me all the … gossip.

c) Rewrite these sentences using the metaphors:

1.My mother asked me a lot of very searching questions about where I had been last night.

2.Let's make the evening more interesting by organising some party games.

3.What's been happening while I was on holiday? You must fill me in on all the interesting gossip.

4.Don't tell her that her briefcase has been found. Let her suffer for a bit longer – perhaps she'll be more careful with it in future.

5.It might be a good idea to make these investments a bit less dominant in your portfolio by exchanging some of them for others in a different line of business.

6.They lived together happily for many years, but things changed for the worse when his mother came to live with them.

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7.Patience combined with interest in your pupils is bound to lead to success for a teacher.

8.Lance's ideas are never thought through properly.

Ex. 7. a) Here are some common ideas about food. Have you heard similar expressions? Do you agree or disagree with them?

Eating carrots is good for the eyes.

Fish is good for the brain.

Eating cheese at night makes you dream.

Garlic stops you getting colds.

Drinking coffee stops you sleeping.

Yoghurt makes you healthy.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away.

A hot milky drink helps you go to sleep.

A cup of tea revives you.

Guinness is good for you.

Crusty bread makes your hair curl.

Brown eggs taste better than white ones.

Ex. 8. a) Read this article about the language used to label food products:

As a food label is often nothing more than an advert to tempt you to buy the product, you should pay particular attention to the choice of words used. Always watch out for the word 'flavour', as this may mean that the product contains synthetic1 ingredients. Chocolate-flavour topping, for example, will not contain chocolate, even though chocolate-flavoured topping will contain a small percentage - so read carefully. Many manufacturers also use a range of meaningless descriptions. Feel-good words, such as 'wholesome'2, 'farmhouse', 'original' and 'traditional' do not mean anything. Other words such as 'farm fresh' and 'country fresh' also intentionally blur the true nature of a product's source. 'Fresh egg pasta', for example, means that the pasta was indeed made with real and not powdered eggs, but maybe months ago. Words that you can trust are 'organic', 'wholemeal'3, 'natural

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1made from artificial substances animals that are not kept

2good for you, physically or morally

3containing all the natural substances in the grain with nothing remove

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mineral water', 'Fair Trade'4, 'free-range'5 and the 'V' vegetarian symbol. Consumer pressure over GM6 foods has led to better labelling but loopholes7 still exist. GM product derivatives8, such as starches, sugars, fats and oils where no genetically modified protein or DNA material still remains, still go unlabelled in many products such as cereal bars, fish fingers, jellies and vegetable burgers. Take particular care over low-fat and low-sugar products. Guidelines state that 'low-fat' foods must not have more than 5 per cent fat, while 'reduced fat' means that the total fat content is 25 per cent less than the standard versions of the same product. The terms 'light' or 'lite' are meaningless since they could refer to texture, fat content, sugar content or even colour.

b) Answer these questions about the article. You may need a dictionary to help you with some of your answers.

1.Are food labels meant to provide information or to advertise the products?

2.Why do manufacturers try to hide the fact that foods contain synthetic ingredients?

3.In the phrase fresh egg pasta, does fresh refer to egg or pasta?

4.What do organic, wholemeal and vegetarian mean when describing food?

5.What does GM stand for? Explain what it means.

6.What is DNA?

7.Cereal bars, fish fingers and vegetable burgers are all types of fast food. Describe them.

8.This text is from a British magazine, so what does the word jelly mean? What would it mean in a US text?

9.How much fat would there be in low-fat cheese? And how much would there be in reduced fat cheese?

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4refers to products such as coffee, tea or chocolate marketed in such a way that the small farmers in developing countries who produce them get the profits rather than large multinational companies

5relating to farm in cages

6genetically modified, i.e. the genes (DNA) of a natural product have been altered in some way

7ways of getting round regulations (usually because they have not been written in a precise enough way)

8things produced from

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c) Which do you think would be tastier and why?

1.strawberry flavoured yoghurt or strawberry flavour yoghurt

2.orange drink or orange juice

3.raspberry jam or raspberry flavoured jam

4.farmhouse chicken or free-range chicken

Ex. 9. a) Read the text and fill in the gaps with corresponding words:

The Old Mill, The Quay,

Wardleton, Sussex

Open: Tuesday-Sunday 7-11.30 p.m.

This week we decided to look at a small … in the village of Wardleton. 'The Old Mill' is newly opened and overlooks the River Wardle, and we had heard several favourable comments about it. Because we had been advised to book early, we managed to get a nice table with a view of the quay. We were made very … and … was excellent because it is a small family business. The proprietor, Jeff Dean, runs the kitchen himself and his wife, Nelly,… .

Although the … on the menu was very extensive, it was rather traditional. A long menu always worries me, because a large menu often means a large freezer! We started with Wardle Trout and although it was fresh, it was spoilt by the number of …. For my … I chose the pepper steak, which was the … . I thought it was almost perfect because … had chosen excellent meat and it was cooked just long enough.

My wife ordered the roast lamb, and although the quality of the meat was good, she thought it was a little underdone. Though the vegetables were fresh, they came … and were rather … for our taste. However, the bread was fresh because it had been baked …, I have often complained in this column about the difficulty of finding any restaurant which serves a fresh fruit salad. Luckily, this one did. Even though it must have been very … to prepare, it was a delight to see, and I had a second helping.

As usual I chose house wine, as this is often the best way to judge a restaurant's … . It was a French-bottled table wine which was quite satisfactory and reasonably priced. …, including coffee and brandy, came to £37, which was … for the class of restaurant, although that did not include service.

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Herbs, wine list, the chef, the service, family-run restaurant, acceptable, the bill, in small portions, choice of items, time-consuming, main courses, on the premises, made very welcome, speciality of the day, over-cooked, to show somebody to one’s table.

b)Retell the text.

c)Recollect your visit to a restaurant.

Ex. 10. Read the text and answer the questions after it.

Nashville Superburger Bar,

Leicester Square,

London

Open: 7 days a week, 24 hours a day

A new American fast-food chain has just opened its first restaurant in Britain. ‘The Nashville Superburger Bar' is just off Leicester Square. Because of the success of McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, I was interested to see if Nashville had anything new to offer. The restaurant was so brightly-lit that I wished I'd brought my sunglasses. Once I'd got used to the light, I rather liked the green and orange plastic decor, which was very futuristic. The place was spotlessly clean - almost antiseptic! Although there was a long queue, service was incredibly fast. The menu was limited to a variety of hamburgers and prices were very reasonable. I had the 'Giant Superburger' which was served with a generous helping of french fries. Although the burger itself was rather tasteless, there was a large selection of relishes on every table and the french fries were the best I've ever tasted. This kind of establishment obviously caters for young people in a hurry, I was amazed to see that many of the customers preferred to eat standing up even though there were seats available. Most of the customers were under 25 and alone. Everybody seemed to be drinking milk-shakes and although I'm not very fond of them I felt I should have one. Not much can go wrong with a milk-shake and it tasted as good or as bad as any other. Although it's a quick and efficient way of taking nourishment, you wouldn't choose ‘The Nashville' for a quiet and romantic evening with a friend. Although I wasn't in a hurry I was in, fed, and out in ten minutes. It reminded me very much of a motorway filling station.

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