You Are What You Eat – Speaking Warm-Up

1. Do you pay attention to what you eat?

2. Do you read the etiquettes on the products while doing shopping?
3. Are there any food products that disgust you because of their colour, taste, texture, etc?

How would you comment on the following quotes?

1. High-tech tomatoes. Mysterious milk. Supersquash. Are we supposed to eat this stuff? Or is it going
to eat us? ~Annita Manning
2. It would be nice if the Food and Drug Administration stopped issuing warnings about toxic
substances and just gave me the names of one or two things still safe to eat. ~Robert Fuoss
3. You can do a lot for your diet by eliminating foods that have mascots. ~Ted Spiker
4. No, I don't take soup. You can't build a meal on a lake. ~Elsie de Wolfe (Lady Mendl)
5. As for butter versus margarine, I trust cows more than chemists. ~Joan Gussow

Which of these humorous comments could you imagine saying by yourself?

You Are What You Eat –

Vocabulary Practice
Match the words with their definitions:

1. Dye a. to improve the quality, amount, or strength of something

2. (to) ingest b. an organ of the body that produces liquid chemicals that have various purposes
3. Beetle c. an organ like a bag inside the body, where urine is stored before it leaves the body
4. Beaver d. an insect with a hard shell-like back
5. Gland e. flour mixed with water and often yeast, fat, or sugar, so that it is ready for baking
 6. Flavour f. impossible to persuade, or unwilling to change an opinion or decision
7. (to)enhance g. to remove the colour from something or make it lighter using chemicals
8. Urine h. a substance used to change the colour of something
9. Adamant i. to say that something is not true
10. (to) deny j. the strong material that connects the organs in the body and is also found in the joints
11. Claim k. to eat or drink something
12. Bladder l. the yellowish liquid waste that is released from the body when you urinate
13. Connective tissue m. an active substance in a cleaning product
14. Dough n. how food or drink tastes, or a particular taste itself
15. Agent o. a statement that something is true, although people might not believe it
16. (to) bleach p. an animal with smooth fur, sharp teeth, and a large, flat tail, that lives in a
dam that it builds across a river

Now fill the gaps with some of the words given above. Change the verb form where necessary.

These scandals will not ..........................the organization's reputation.

Neil ......................... that he broke the window, but I'm sure he did.

She dipped the material into the ..............................

She kneaded the ............................ and left it to rise.

I've told her she should stay at home and rest but she's ........................ that she's coming.

My fish was delicious but Charles' beef had almost no .............................

The chemicals can be poisonous if ..............................

Gary's had his hair ...........................

The government's ........................... that it would reduce taxes proved false.

You are what you eat – 7 most disgusting things that you have probably eaten this week!

Red Dye: Ground Up Beetles

Between yogurt, maraschino cherries, jams, cakes, and tomato products, you've probably consumed at least one
pound of red dye in your life. That means that you've also ingested at least 70,000 beetles, according to a petition on
Change.org.
The bug is crushed up to make red dye.

Ice Cream: Beaver Anal Glands

Vanilla and raspberry flavors might be enhanced by "castoreum," a mixture of the anal secretions and urine of
beavers. It's also found in perfume.
The FDA-approved product is categorized under "natural flavoring," so you won't know if you're eating it.
After celebrity chef Jamie Oliver went on David Letterman's show and mentioned castoreum's presence in vanilla ice
cream—"If you like that stuff, next time you put it in your mouth think of anal gland"—manufacturers adamantly denied
the claims.

Beer: Fish Bladders

Isinglass, or dried fish bladder, gives beer its golden glow. The BBC did a whole segment on the substance, which is
primarily used in British beers.

Jello: Animal Connective Tissue

Gelatin is made from collagen, which is boiled down animal connective tissue. Today, gelatin most likely is made from
pigskin.
Bread: Duck Feathers and Human Hair

L-Cysteine is an amino acid often used in dough conditioners, which softens mass-produced breads. It is made from
human hair or duck feathers. Although 80 percent of L-cysteine is made of human hair, McDonald's uses the duck
feather variety in its Baked Hot Apple Pie and Warm Cinnamon Roll.

Potato Chips: Cleaning Agents

Sodium bisulfite is used in most toilet boil cleaning agents. It's also used to extend the shelf-life and bleach out the
discoloration of potato chips.

Chocolate: Rat Hairs

We aren't saying that rat hairs are the secret ingredient of your favorite chocolate bars ... but they might make
accidental guest appearances. The FDA allows one rat hair per 100 grams in six 100-gram subsamples of chocolate
and 60 insect fragments per 100 grams in six 100-gram subsamples.

Key – Vocabulary Practice

1. H
2. K
3. D
4. P
5. B
6. N
7. A
8. L
 9. F
10. I
11. O
12. C
13. J
14. E
15. M
16. G

These scandals will not enhance the organization's reputation.

Neil denies that he broke the window, but I'm sure he did.

She dipped the material into the dye.

She kneaded the dough and left it to rise.

I've told her she should stay at home and rest but she's adamant that she's coming.

My fish was delicious but Charles' beef had almost no flavour.

The chemicals can be poisonous if ingested.

Gary's had his hair bleached.

The government's claim that it would reduce taxes proved false.