IN SEARCH OF ENGLISH FOOD

Why is it so difficult to find English food in England? In Greece you eat Greek food, in France French food, but in England, in any High Street in the land, it is easier to find Indian and Chinese restaurants than English ones. In London you can eat Thai, Portuguese, Turkish, Lebanese, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Swiss, Swedish, Spanish, Italian – but where are the English restaurants?

It is not only in restaurants that foreign dishes are replacing traditional British food. In every supermarket, sales of pasta, pizza and pompanos are booming. Why has this happened? What is wrong with the cooks of Britain that they cooking pasta to potatoes? Why-British choose to eat lasagne of shepherd’s pie? Why do they now like cooking in wine and olive oil? But perhaps it is a good thing. After all, this is the end of the 20^th century and we can get ingredients from all over the world in just a few hours. Anyway, wasn’t English food always disgusting and tasteless? Wasn’t it always boiled to death and swimming in fat? The answer to these questions a resounding “No”, but understand this, we have to go back before World War II.

The British have in fact always imported food from abroad. From the time of the Roman invasion foreign trade was a major influence on British cooking. English kitchens, like the English language absorbed ingredients from all over the world-chickens, rabbits, apples, and tea. All of these and more were successfully incorporated into British dishes. Another important influence on British cooking was of course the weather. The good old British rain gives us rich soil and green grass, and means that we are able to produce some of the finest varieties of meat, fruit and vegetables, which don’t need fancy sauces or complicated recipes to disguise their taste.

However, World War II changed everything. War-time women had to forget 600 years of British cooking, learn to do without foreign imports, and ration their use of home-grown food.

The Ministry of Food published cheap, boring recipes. The joke of the war was a dish called Woolton Pit (named after the Minister for Food!). This consisted of a mixture of boiled vegetables covered in white sauce with mashed potato on the top. Britain never managed to recover from the war-time attitude to food. We were left with a loss of confidence in our cooking skills and after years of Ministry recipes we began to believe that British food as boring, and we searched the world for sophisticated, new dishes which gave hope of a better future. The British people became tourists at their own dining tables and in the restaurants of their land! This is a tragedy! Surely food is as much a part of our culture as our landscape, our language, and our literature. Nowadays, cooking British food is like leaking a dead language. It is almost as bizarre as having a conversation in Anglo-Saxon English!

However, there is still one small ray of hope. British pubs are often the best places to eat well and cheaply Britain, and they also increasingly try to serve tasty British food. Can we recommend to you our two favourite places to eat in Britain? The Shepherd’s Inn in Melmerby, Cumbria, and the Dolphin Inn in Kingston, Devon. Their steak and mushroom pie, Lancashire hotpot, and bread and butter pudding are three of the gastronomic wonders of the world!

Notes

Ex. 1. Make up an out line of the text.

Ex. 2. Speak about changes in the traditional English food.

Ex. 3. Put up all types of questions to the text.

Text 6

LOW-CAL DISHES-DIETERS’ DELIGHT

Each year, more Americans – women, men, and now the teen-age crowd, accept calorie-watching as a way of life. It follows, of course, that as these numbers grow they represent a larger and larger segment of your clientele. As an apparent trend, it bids for attention, suggests a review of your menu with the possible need for change.

We are in a diet-conscious age. Many of your patrons realize that they weigh more than they should, and are serious about losing the unwanted pounds. And there are others, not over-weight, who are equally resolved. They haven’t the least intention of gaining a few pounds. For the greater part, it’s an earnest endeavor. Far more than a fad, it’s concern for appearance, a safeguard to health.

How does all this concern you? Obviously, there is an expanding market for varied, attractive meals that meet caloric demands. There are a number of leads you can follow to keep in tune with this growing need. It is not difficult to plan a menu that includes lean meat, poultry or fish, succulent vegetables and simple egg dishes.

You can star items that can be streamlined for would-be weight-watchers. Offer to prepare them without extra butter or sauce; substituting a compatible garnish with a caloric count that is practically nil.

You can also offer smaller portions – billed as such – to patrons in quest of a “lighter” meal. A three or four ounce beef pattie, a single lamb chop, a two egg omelet, a half-breast of chicken, or a broiled baby scrod are among the items that would apply.

Low-calorie luncheon combinations, presented with style, appeal to earnest dieters and the calorie-conscious alike. Base each meal on a protein food. Choose from lean, well-trimmed cuts of meat, chicken, turkey or one of the many varieties of fish that are low in fat. Or take eggs or cottage cheese as the starting point. And simply prepared vegetables and/or salad with a low-calorie dessert to round out the meal.

Notes

Ex. 1. Give your opinion of this text. Does this problem concern you?

Ex. 2. Put up the questions to the text.

Ex. 3. Retell the text.

Text 7

Date: 2015-01-29; view: 2097