Don’t Knock It Until You Try It

Every culture has its own food traditions. The foods people find appetizing in the U.S. are not always considered tasty in other parts of the world. Likewise, foods that people enjoy in other countries sometimes seem downright disgusting to those growing up in America.

The items below are foods enjoyed by people in different countries all over the world. Using the Internet, find out about each of the foods. Then, for each one, write a description from the

point of view of someone who thinks the food is incredibly delicious.

EXAMPLE

takosu (slices of boiled octopus soaked in rice vinegar)

Just looking at a dish of takosu makes my mouth water. The premium slices of tender octopus are perfectly marinated in tangy, fresh rice vinegar. The vinegar gives just the right sparkle to the tastebuds and enhances the naturally delicious flavor of the octopus.

1.hakarl

2.scrapple

3.escargot

4.chitterlings

5.poi

6.haggis

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hunger

Hunger is a problem all over the world. In some places there are only small pockets of hunger. In other parts of the world, hunger is widespread.

Below are 10 organizations that, at the time this was written, are all working to help with the problem of hunger in the world. Imagine that you are in charge of an organization that has decided to donate $10,000 each to two different groups. You are in charge of recommending which groups should get the money.

Using the Internet and/or other sources, find out about the groups below. Which two will you choose? Why? Make your selections and then write a 1-2 page report to your organization,

explaining why you have chosen these two groups. It is important that the board members agree that the money is to be used wisely, so be as clear as possible about your reasons for choosing these two groups and not others.

Some questions you might use to help evaluate the organizations: Who do they help? What kinds of help do they provide? How do they provide the help?

Note: You may also choose an organization that is not on the list below. Just be sure to give the web site for the organization.

—Mother Teresa

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Beware of “because”

Because is a perfectly good word, of course. So why should we “beware” of it? It’s because it’s easy to write a sentence fragment when you use the word because. Does that mean you shouldn’t use because? Absolutely not. It just means that you need to use it correctly.

Here’s a sentence fragment: Because Duke loved Spam.

He did what because he loved Spam? We don’t know. The item is not a complete sentence. It needs to have material added to the beginning or the end, like this: Duke ordered eight cases because he loved Spam. Or: Because he loved Spam, Duke ordered eight cases.

Below are four sentence fragments that start out with “because.” Using the example above as a model, turn each sentence fragment into a sentence in two different ways.

1.Because she hated seeing Gil chew with his mouth open.

Add something to the beginning:___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Add something to the end: _______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

2. Because he wanted to grow perfect watermelons.

Add something to the beginning:___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Add something to the end:________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

3.Because she wanted to go to medical school someday.

Add something to the beginning:__________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________

Add something to the end: ___________________________________________________

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sizzling synonyms

Synonyms are words that have the same or nearly the same meaning. They add variety and spice to our language. Imagine how boring it would be if we described absolutely everything we liked as “nice,” for example. Because of synonyms, we can also describe them as “friendly” or “appetizing” or “pleasant” or “kind,” or we can choose from dozens of other synonyms.

Write a synonym for each of the words below, using a thesaurus for help. Then use each synonym in a sentence about food. Try to make the sentences as interesting (or fascinating, enter-

taining, or engaging) as possible.

11.warm

12.chewy

13.lumpy

14.cold

15.bland

“A synonym is a word you use when you

can’t spell the other one.”

—Baltasar Gracián

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