TeachingEnglish

Cooking and TV chefs

Submitted by admin on 3 March, 2010 - 09:43
Theme: Cooking and food trends in the UK
Lexical area: Food and kitchen utensils
Cross curricular links: Media studies, home economics
Instructions for language assistants in Italics
Classroom materials

Introduction
This lesson is about cooking and ties in with the growing popularity of cookery programmes on British
television. Students have the opportunity to increase their vocabulary of food and cookery and to read
about the UK trend of TV celebrity chefs.
Task 1 introduces the vocabulary of kitchen utensils.
Task 2 is a class survey about cookery to find out if the students are keen on cooking.
Task 3 introduces the topic of celebrity chefs with some questions for students to discuss in groups and it
could be used as a lead in to the reading activity in task four. The text is adapted from the British Councils
UK in focus website.
Task 5 looks at the language of recipes and task six asks students to write their own recipe.

1. Useful utensils
If you can, bring some of these items to class to introduce the vocabulary. Alternatively, cut pictures out of
a kitchen catalogue to show them to the students. If neither of these options is viable, draw the items on
the board instead. You could initially have a team competition to see which team knows the most vocab.
Divide the class in two and give each team a piece of paper and a pen. Hold up the items one by one and
students write what they think it is called in English. If your students have no knowledge of this lexical
group, hold up the items as you say the word and students can repeat the word to practise the
pronunciation, then do a team memory test.
When they have been introduced to the words, cut up the table of words and have a team game of
pictionary. Students are given a word card and they must draw a picture of the item on the board or on
paper.
Task 1 Useful utensils
Use a dictionary and find out what these kitchen utensils are. Draw a picture of them next to the word to
help you remember them.

Potato peeler

Frying pan

Saucepan

Knife

Corkscrew

Teaspoon

Fork

Tablespoon

Sieve

Mixer / blender

Bottle opener

Scissors

2. Cooking survey
Put students into groups of six, or let them do a free mingle where they can ask the questions to whoever
they choose.
Task 2 Cooking survey
Find out who are the keen cooks in your class by doing this cooking survey on five people in your class.
Write their names next to the numbers. Add a question of your own in the empty space.

1 2 3 4 5
Are you a good cook?
What was the last meal you cooked?
Have you ever had any cooking disasters?
Whos the best cook in your family?
Whats your favourite meal?
(Add your question)

Look at the results and share the information with the class.

3. TV chefs
If you can get hold of a video of a cooking programme that would be a great way to introduce the topic.
You could show one recipe being made and ask students to write down as many of the ingredients and
utensils as they can.
If thats not possible dont worry students can work together to answer the questions. If you are familiar
with the TV cooking programmes and your students are interested you could explain the idea of some of
them and ask students if they think they would be popular in their country. (The Hairy Bikers, Delia
Through The Decades, Ready Steady Cook, Saturday Kitchen and Celebrity Come Dine With Me could be
good examples).
Task 3 TV chefs
In Britain there are lots of TV programmes about cooking and many of the TV chefs are now famous
celebrities. Is it the same where you live? Answer the questions with a partner.

In Britain there are lots of TV programmes about cooking and many of the TV chefs are now
famous celebrities. Is it the same where you live? Answer the questions with a partner.

Are there any cooking programmes on TV in your country?

Are cooking programmes popular?

Have you ever made a recipe that you saw on the TV?

Do chefs on TV cooking programmes become famous in your country?

Are there competitive cooking programmes on TV?

Do you think being a chef is a good job? What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a
chef?

4. Trends and television reading

Before reading the text students should look at the statements in the table and have a guess whether they
think they are true or false. If you think they may cheat, ask them to fold the paper so the text is hidden.
Then they read the text and see if their guesses were correct or not.
Answers: 1) T 2) F 3) T 4) T 5) F
Feel free to give your own opinion on these statements.
Task 4 Trends and television reading
Before you read the text, guess if the following statements are true or false. Put your answers in the guess
column; put a T for true and a F for false.

Statement

Guesse
Answers
s

Cooking TV programmes are really popular in Britain at the moment

Its difficult to buy food from around the world in Britain

The number of cookery students in Britain is rising

More and more people buy ready prepared food in the UK

It is very unusual for British people to eat their meal in front of the
TV

Trends and Television

Fusion cooking
Lifestyle programmes make up a large proportion of UK television programming with
food and cookery shows becoming increasingly popular as celebrity chefs work to fuel
the population's love of food. As a country recognised more for its Sunday roasts and
cucumber sandwiches you may be surprised to know that cuisines and ingredients from
around the world are widely available in our restaurants and markets and have

influenced what we eat and how we cook.

Chefs with a newfound celebrity status promote a fusion of classic British cooking
with an international flair. Using traditional British ingredients to create something as
imaginative as Black pudding won tons, a recipe made famous by Lancashire born
Andrew Nutter, and mussel, cockle and clam masala a recipe that gives a new twist to
traditional British seafood featured in Rick Steins Taste of the Sea.
TV dinners
With the increased popularity of cookery and more chefs on TV there has been a rise in
the number of students applying for courses at UK universities and colleges, such as
those offered by the School of Culinary Art at South Trafford College.
The combination of cookery and education for entertainment was encapsulated by the
programme Jamies Kitchen. Here celebrity chef Jamie Oliver conducted a social
experiment to train 15 unemployed 16-24 year olds to be chefs whilst setting up a new
restaurant at the same time. Both the programme and the experiment were a great
success so much so that a catering company in Newcastle chose six unemployed
youngsters who were given 12 months training and work experience in a busy caf.
A renaissance
The reinvention of British food means recipes go beyond the traditional meat and two
veg. However our busy lifestyle and the availability of convenience foods mean we
may not necessarily recreate the recipe from scratch in our own homes. Recent trends
suggest that more and more people buy take away meals from the local Chinese or
Indian restaurant to eat at home in front of the television. There has been a recent
explosion in the ready meal market, especially chilled, with manufacturers offering
everything from Lasagne to Pheasant Breast in Blackcurrant Sauce. Ready meals arent
necessarily unhealthy - all the major supermarkets and manufacturers recognise the
demand for healthy meals and produce reduced fat alternatives. These meals satisfy
the customer demand for the convenience of not cooking but without the high calorie
and fat content usually associated with ready meals.
The UKs obsession with food is reflected through television scheduling. Competitive
cooking shows such as Celebrity Come Dine With Me where famous people host
dinner parties for the other contestants are broadcast during prime time evening slots.
Vintage celebrity chefs make popular viewing too. The BBC has recently shown a
series called Delia Through The Decades, which celebrates the five-decade career of
Delia smith, Britains queen of home cooking. In each episode Delia looks back on her
favourite recipes from each decade and recreates some with a contemporary feel.
This text is adapted from the British Council UKinfocus website.

5. Recipe
This task is to introduce students to the language of cooking. If you look at recipes there are some specific
verbs that are used mainly in the context of cooking. The recipe is for vegetarian shepherds pie. (Note:
shepherds pie is normally made with minced lamb instead of the vegetables, with a mashed potato and
cheese topping.)
Answers: (numbers refer to the line in the method where words are missing)
2. cook
3. heat / fry
4. add
5. drain / pour / mix
6. sprinkle
7. cook
You may have to mime some of the actions to help get the meaning across. If you have access to some
kitchen equipment you could bring it along to the class and extend the vocabulary to cooking implements.
The items can help you to teach the vocab. (e.g. a potato peeler to explain peel etc. Alternatively, cut
pictures out of a catalogue of kitchen equipment.)
Task 5 Recipe

Recipe: Vegetarian Shepherds Pie

Serves 4 people. Preparation time: 30 minutes. Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
For the vegetables:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 stick of celery, chopped
1 leek, halved and sliced
1 carrot, diced
420g can mixed beans, drained and rinsed

400g can chopped tomatoes

1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp tomato pure
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the mashed potato topping:
700g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
150ml milk
85g cheddar cheese, crumbled
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. _______ the potatoes in a pan of lightly salted boiling water until tender.
3. Meanwhile ______ the oil add the onion, garlic, celery, leek and carrot and _____
gently for 10 minutes.
4. ______ the beans, tomatoes, herbs or chilli powder and tomato pure with 3 tbsp
water. Season to taste and simmer for 5 minutes.
5. When the potatoes are cooked ______them and heat the milk to boiling point. _____
the milk over the potatoes and mash until smooth. Season to taste. ____ in half the
cheese.
6. Spoon the beans and tomato mixture into an ovenproof dish and top with the cheesy
mash. ______ over the remaining cheese.
7. ______ for 20 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

Look at the ingredients. Use a dictionary or ask your teacher to explain the meaning of these
words: chopped / crushed / halved / sliced / diced / drained / rinsed / ground / peeled / cut / crumbled

Work in pairs. Test each other on the new words by miming them to each other.

Now look at the method and put these words into the spaces.

fry heat cook drain pour sprinkle cook add mix

What do you think vegetarian shepherds pie would look and like? Would you like to try it?

6. Write your own recipe

For lower levels and younger students give them some examples first of simple recipes they could write. It
could just be a sandwich or a frozen pizza that they add toppings to! If you havent done task 5 then try to
get some recipes for the students to look at before they write their own.
Task 6 Write your own recipe
Write your own recipe below. If youre not sure about the exact ingredients or method you can be creative
and invent them!

Recipe :
Serves people. Preparation time: Cooking time:
Ingredients:
Method:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Draw a picture of the finished dish below.

Internet links
Read more about celebrity chefs and the British diet here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8009970.stm
This BBC website has links to loads of recipes:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/
This website has an a-z list of chef biographies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chef_biogs/a.shtml

By Jo Budden and Sally Trowbridge