Lifestyle in Britain. Дворжец О.С. - 99 стр.

                   UNIT VI. FOOD AND DRINK

                          What do you know about British cuisine? What do visitors to Britain
                          think about British food? Is food given considerable attention in
                          Britain?

                                                            WARM UP
 1.1     The following sen-            Factfile                          Food
tences have been removed
from the factfile. Read the            1
profiles and put each sen-             Britain and good food are two things which are not commonly associated.
tence in the correct num-              Visitors to Britain have widely varying opinions about all sorts of aspects
bered gap. There is one ex-            of the country, but most of them seem to agree that the food is terrible.
tra sentence which you do              Why? … However, the most common complaint is not so much that Brit-
                                       ish food has a strange, unpleasant taste, but rather that it has very little taste
not need to use.
                                       at all. The vegetables, for example, are overcooked. It is all too bland.
                                       2
 a Another explanation may be          … They either eat the food cooked in an institution, such as a university
   that most visitors to Britain do    canteen, or they ‘eat out’ a lot, usually in rather cheap restaurants and
   not get the opportunity to sam-     cafés. … Typical British cooking, which involves a lot of roasting, does
   ple home cooking.                   not suit the larger scale production or the quick preparation which is re-
 b One reason could simply be          quired in such places. For one thing, food should, according to British
   that British tastes are different   people, be eaten hot, which is difficult to arrange when feeding large
   from everybody else’s.              numbers of people. In addition, the British have not got into the habit of
 c Even in fast food restaurants       preparing sauces with grilled food in order to make it tastier.
   and everyday cafés, the quality     3
   seems to be lower than it is in     The explanations above can only serve as a partial excuse for the unfor-
   equivalent places in other          tunate reputation of British cuisine. … It seems that British people sim-
   countries.                          ply don’t care enough to bother.
 d These places are definitely not     4
   where to find good British food.    Even at home, food and drink is given relatively little attention. … Brit-
 e By now, however, the British        ish supermarkets sell far more instant coffee than what the few people
   are extremely open to the cui-      who drink it often call ‘real’ coffee. Instant coffee is less trouble. Meals
   sine of other countries.            tend to be eaten quickly and the table cleared. … For example, if a Brit-
 f When the British do pay atten-      ish person expresses a liking for barbecues, this does not necessarily
   tion to food, it is most fre-       mean that he or she likes barbecued food – it is understood to mean that
   quently not to appreciate but to    he or she enjoys the typical barbecue atmosphere.
   notice what they don’t like         5
   about it.                           … Food hits the headlines only in the context of its dangers: for example
 g Perhaps this is why the range       in 1993, when it was discovered that 100 tonnes of six-year-old beef had
   of plants and animals which         been allowed to go on sale.
   they will eat is rather narrow.     6
 h While the British are conserva-     British people have been mostly urban, having little contact with ‘the
   tive about ingredients, they are    land’, for longer than the people of other countries. ….
   no longer conservative about        7
   the way they are served.            However, the picture is not entirely negative. … In the 1960s, it was re-
 i Parties and celebrations are not    ported that the first British package tourists in Spain not only insisted on
   normally centred around food.       eating (traditionally British) fish and chips all the time but also on having
 j The coffee is often just as bad     them, as was traditional, wrapped up in specially imported British newspa-
   as it is in cafés.                  per! …The country’s supermarket shelves are full of the spices and sauces
 k Wartime women had to forget         needed for cooking dishes from all over the world. In addition, there is
   600 years of British cooking.       increasing interest in the pure enjoyment of eating and drinking.


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