Eating and drinking

Hello and welcome to another episode of Elephant English Podcasts. Today we're going to be talking about eating and drinking. I'm going to be asking myself some questions, and then I'm going to be answering these questions like you would in a speaking exam.

So the first question is: which type of food from your country is most popular abroad? I would say that fish and chips and English breakfasts are the most popular types of food abroad. But in reality, English people don't really have an English breakfast every day. It's more like something that you would have at the weekend if you wake up a bit later, and you would have it about 11:00 o'clock. You wouldn't have it before going to work at seven o'clock in the morning every day. It is true that people do have fish and chips in England when they go to the seaside. It isn't really something that they would have every day when they come back from work. It's quite similar to the English breakfast; it's not something that you would have every day but on a special occasion you might do.

		   
第一个问题是：你国家的哪种食物在国外最受欢迎？我会说炸鱼薯条和英式早餐在国外是最受欢迎的食物类型。但实际上，英国人并不是每天都吃英式早餐。更像是周末起床晚一点时会吃，大约11点左右。你不会每天早上七点去上班前吃早餐。确实，英国人在去海滨度假时会吃炸鱼薯条。但这不是他们下班后每天吃的东西。它和英式早餐相似，不是每天吃的东西，但在特殊场合可能会吃。
		
	

Question number two is: do you prefer your own country's food or other kinds of food? I think that I prefer other kinds of food because it's true that gastronomy isn't England's strongest point. I think that there are some nice foods in England like pies, but if we compare it to some pasta dishes or like pizzas or some types of Asian food, then I would say that I prefer other types of food. I think that the best food that there is in England if we compare it to other countries are maybe the cakes and biscuits. I think they're quite special and when I'm away I always fancy a biscuit or a cake that you can find in England, but I never really fancy British food when I'm abroad.

		   
第二个问题是：你更喜欢你自己国家的食物还是其他种类的食物？我认为我更喜欢其他种类的食物，因为真的，烹饪不是英国的强项。我认为英国也有一些不错的食物，比如馅饼，但如果和一些意大利面或比萨之类的东西比较，我会说我更喜欢其他类型的食物。我认为英国最好的食物，如果和其他国家比较的话，可能是蛋糕和饼干。我认为它们非常特别，当我离开时我总是想念英国的饼干或蛋糕，但我在国外从不怎么想念英国的食物。
		
	

Question number three is: if you could open your own foreign restaurant in your city, what would it be like? I would say that I would make a nice Italian restaurant because I love pizza and pasta dishes and all types of Italian food really. And I was thinking the other day that if you wanted to go somewhere nice or take someone out to dinner, then there aren't really a lot of fine dining restaurants or restaurants that are just a bit nice. I think in my city there's quite a lot of takeaway restaurants because that's what people normally do. They don't really go out to eat, only if it's for, I don't know, maybe a wedding. But they wouldn't really go out to eat every Friday, for example, like they do in other countries. So I think it would be nice to make a restaurant that has nice food and that is just nice to be in because I think a lot of the restaurants around here, the decoration and just everything is a bit basic.

		   
第三个问题是：如果你能在你的城市开一家外国餐厅，会是什么样子？我会说我会开一家漂亮的意大利餐厅，因为我喜欢比萨和意大利面等所有类型的意大利食物。我前几天想到，如果你想去一个好地方或带某人出去吃饭，那么这里没有太多精致的餐厅或只是一些不错的餐厅。我觉得在我所在的城市，有相当多的外卖餐厅，因为人们通常这样做。他们不太会出去吃饭，只有在特殊场合，比如婚礼。但他们通常不会像其他国家那样每周五都出去吃饭。所以我觉得开一家有好食物、环境舒适的餐厅会很好，因为我觉得这里很多餐厅的装饰和一切都有点简陋。
		
	

Question number four: when you've lived abroad, what is the food that you missed the most from home? Like I said before, I think that the foods that I miss the most are cakes. In England, there's a lot of different types of cakes and biscuits that you can't really find in other countries, so when I'm abroad I always fancy something sweet. I don't really miss fish and chips or English breakfast because it's not really something that is special. So I would say that I miss biscuits like custard creams or bourbon creams, which are just normal biscuits that you can't buy anywhere else.

		   
第四个问题：当你在国外生活时，你最想念家乡的食物是什么？就像我之前说的，我觉得我最想念的食物是蛋糕。在英国，有很多种不同的蛋糕和饼干，你在其他国家几乎找不到，所以当我在国外时，我总是想吃甜食。我并不是很想念炸鱼薯条或英式早餐，因为这不是什么特别的东西。所以我会说我想念饼干，比如奶油饼干或波本饼干，这些是其他地方都买不到的普通饼干。
		
	

Question number five: what special foods do you eat on holidays (at Christmas, on New Year's Day, etc)? I would say that the most typical food that I eat on holidays are roast dinners. Roast dinners are the main type of dinners that you would eat in England and if you went out on a Sunday, for example, you would go and have a carvery, which is basically like a type of roast dinner. A roast dinner is normally like some sausages, some meat, and then you would have vegetables like broccoli, peas, carrots, and the main part of it is normally potatoes, so boiled potatoes or roast potatoes. And then you add a special sauce on the top, which is called gravy.

		   
第五个问题：你在假期（圣诞节、新年等）吃什么特别的食物？我会说我在假期吃的最典型的食物是烤肉。烤肉是英国人主要吃的晚餐，如果你在周日出去，你会去吃烤肉，这基本上就是一种烤肉晚餐。烤肉通常是一些香肠、一些肉，然后你会有像西兰花、豌豆、胡萝卜之类的蔬菜，而主要部分通常是土豆，所以是水煮土豆或烤土豆。然后你在上面加一种特殊的酱，叫做肉汁。
		
	

Question number six: are there any foods that you wouldn't eat as a child that you eat now? There are quite a lot of foods that I wouldn't eat as a child but I do eat now, especially vegetables. I think it's because when people cooked vegetables, the vegetables didn't have any special sauce or anything like that, but now that I'm older I like to make vegetable dishes and I follow recipes, and I think you add a lot more spices, a lot more sauces and it's a lot nicer. At the moment I would eat any vegetable.

		   
第六个问题：你小时候不吃的食物现在吃了吗？有很多我小时候不吃但现在吃的食物，特别是蔬菜。我想这是因为人们煮蔬菜时，蔬菜没有任何特殊的酱汁之类的东西，但现在我长大了，我喜欢做蔬菜菜肴，我遵循食谱，我觉得你可以加更多的香料、更多的酱汁，味道更好。现在我会吃任何蔬菜。
		
	

Question number seven: do you cook if so what food do you cook the most often? Yes, I love cooking and I cook every day. The food that I cook the most is probably rice or pasta dishes with vegetables. That's the typical food that I prepare every day to have when I come back from work. At the weekends I sometimes make a curry dish, lasagna or something a bit more special, but because I don't have a lot of time during the week, I normally make something that is quite quick.

		   
第七个问题：你会做饭吗？如果是，你最经常做什么食物？是的，我喜欢做饭，我每天都做饭。我最经常做的食物可能是米饭或意大利面配蔬菜。这是我每天下班后准备的典型食物。周末我有时会做咖喱菜、千层面或者一些更特别的东西，但因为我在工作日没有太多时间，我通常会做一些比较快的东西。
		
	

Question number eight: which do you think is the best way to learn how to cook? To be honest, I have learned how to cook through Youtube videos and I think it's quite a good way, especially if you haven't got a lot of motivation at the start. I think it's harder nowadays for some people to take a recipe book and know what they're doing. In Youtube videos you can see what the other people are doing. You can see how small they cut the vegetables, for example, and I think it's a lot easier. So I would say the best way to learn how to cook is watching videos and then when you know how to cook, you can follow recipe books.

		   
第八个问题：你认为学习烹饪的最佳方式是什么？说实话，我是通过YouTube视频学会做饭的，我认为这是一个很好的方式，特别是如果你一开始没有太多动力。我认为现在对于一些人来说，拿着食谱书知道自己在做什么可能有点困难。在YouTube视频中，你可以看到其他人在做什么。你可以看到他们切蔬菜有多细，例如，我认为这更容易。所以我会说学习烹饪的最佳方式是看视频，然后当你知道如何烹饪时，你可以遵循食谱书。
		
	

Question number nine: do you ever skip breakfast? If so, how often and why? Well, I do even though it isn't very good. I do skip breakfast sometimes if I'm not feeling too good in the morning or if I'm just late for work, but I always do take something to have later on in the day. So maybe at ten o'clock or nine o'clock, when I have a break, I will have a bit of a snack. How often? I would say that it is maybe once a week and I don't think that I should do it because they do say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

		   
第九个问题：你是否会跳过早餐？如果是的话，多久跳过一次，为什么？嗯，我确实会，尽管这并不好。如果早上感觉不太好，或者我上班迟到了，我有时会跳过早餐，但我总是会带一些东西在一天后面的时间吃。所以可能在十点或九点，当我休息时，我会吃点零食。多久跳过一次？我会说可能是每周一次，我觉得我不应该这样做，因为人们常说早餐是一天中最重要的一餐。
		
	

Question number ten: how often should a healthy person eat fast food? Well, I'm not an expert but I would say that it is alright to have fast food maybe once or twice a month, so maybe every two weeks or every month. I don't really have a lot of fast food when I'm at home, but if I'm on holiday for example and I'm very hungry and I have to go and get something and Mcdonald's is the closest restaurant, then I would go and get that.

		   
第十个问题：健康的人多久吃一次快餐合适？嗯，我不是专家，但我会说大概每个月一两次吃快餐是可以的，也许每两周一次或每个月一次。我在家里时并不经常吃快餐，但如果我度假，例如我非常饿了，我必须去买些东西，麦当劳是最近的餐厅，那我会去买。
		
	

Question number eleven: what foods do you like eating least and why? I would say that the food that I like eating the least is fish because I have never liked it. I think it's just the look of it and also the smell of it. I have never liked it and I think I never will.

		   
第十一个问题：你最不喜欢吃什么食物，为什么？我会说我最不喜欢吃的食物是鱼，因为我从来就不喜欢。我觉得它的外表和气味都不好。我从来不喜欢，我想我永远也不会喜欢。
		
	

Question number twelve: are there any foods that you try to avoid eating because they are unhealthy? So I would say that I avoid eating a lot of sugary foods like sweets or fizzy drinks because I think that it isn't good to have them every day. Obviously, if you go out with friends and you order a drink, it's okay to order a Coke or a Fanta, but I wouldn't have it at home every day. So I think I do try to avoid eating and drinking these types of food, but if it's like fast food, you can have it once in a while.

		   
第十二个问题：有没有什么食物你试图避免吃，因为它们不健康？我会说我避免吃很多含糖食物，比如糖果或碳酸饮料，因为我觉得每天吃这些东西不好。显然，如果和朋友出去，你点一杯饮料没问题，点一杯可乐或芬达没问题，但我不会每天在家喝。所以我想我确实试图避免吃和喝这些类型的食物，但如果是快餐，你偶尔可以吃一下。
		
	

Question number thirteen: do you prefer cooking at home or eating out? Well, obviously I prefer eating out, but if I eat out every day then it will be very very very expensive. So realistically I prefer cooking at home, but if it were free, I would eat out every single day. I normally cook at home and I would say that I eat out maybe twice a month or on special occasions.

		   
第十三个问题：你更喜欢在家做饭还是外出吃饭？当然，我更喜欢外出吃饭，但如果我每天都外出吃饭，那就会非常非常非常贵。所以实际上我更喜欢在家做饭，但如果是免费的，我每天都会外出吃。我通常在家做饭，我会说我可能每个月吃出去两次或者在特殊场合吃出去。
		
	

Question number fourteen: do you consider yourself a fussy or a picky eater? Yes, I consider myself a fussy or picky eater and I realize that when I go to somebody else's house or go out to a restaurant, when I don't like a lot of food. But at home I know what I like so I'm used to cooking the same type of foods and if I don't like that food I just avoid it. But it is true that some people say that I am a picky eater.

		   
第十四个问题：你认为自己是个挑剔的人还是不挑食的人？是的，我觉得自己是个挑剔的人，我意识到当我去别人家或去餐馆时，我不喜欢很多食物。但在家里我知道我喜欢什么，所以我习惯做同样类型的食物，如果我不喜欢那种食物我就避免吃。但确实有人说我是个挑剔的人。
		
	

Question number fifteen: do you enjoy trying unusual food or do you always eat the same food? I do like trying unusual food, as long as it is something that I like. So, for example, if I don't like fish, then I wouldn't try some unusual food that is fish. But if it's like a new sauce or a new type of dip then I would try it.

		   
第十五个问题：你喜欢尝试不寻常的食物吗，还是总是吃同样的食物？我确实喜欢尝试不寻常的食物，只要是我喜欢的东西。所以，例如，如果我不喜欢鱼，那我不会尝试一些有鱼的不寻常食物。但如果是一种新的酱汁或一种新的调料，那我会尝试。
		
	

Question number sixteen: would you have liked to become a chef? No, I wouldn't like to have become a chef because I have family members who are chefs and I think that the kitchens are very hot and it's very stressful when you have a lot of customers and you need to prepare like 40 meals in 30 minutes. I just think that it's a very stressful kind of job, even though people might say “well, being a high school teacher is a stressful job”, but I think that some people prefer some things and others prefer others.

		   
第十六个问题：你想成为一名厨师吗？不，我不想成为一名厨师，因为我的家人中有厨师，我觉得厨房非常热，当你有很多客人，你需要在30分钟内准备40份餐时，压力很大。我觉得那是一份非常有压力的工作，尽管有人可能会说“嗯，成为一名高中老师也是一份有压力的工作”，但我觉得有些人喜欢一些东西，而另一些人喜欢另一些东西。
		
	

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