UNIT Proficiency

9
Describing food and eating habits

Food Around the World Reviewing restaurants

VOCABULARY: Food and cooking

A. Check the words you already know.

Nouns Verbs Adjectives

chili pepper lemon peanut bake alcoholic

cilantro lime potato cook fresh
coconut meat rice wine long for raw
dough olive oil seafood make by hand sour
flour onion soy sauce marinate spicy
garlic orange tomato serve sweet
juice noodle wheat swallow thick

B. For the words you don’t know, ask your partner. Use the following sentences:
Student A: What does ________ mean?
Student B: It means ___________ in Spanish. (or) I don’t know. Let’s ask the instructor.

READING: Famous Dishes from Around the World

A. Read about the following dishes and answer the questions below.

Massaman Curry (Thailand)

Main ingredients: Chili peppers, cilantro, white pepper, garlic, meat (usually
chicken), potatoes, onions, coconut cream, and peanuts
Massaman curry is a little less spicy than other curries, so it can be enjoyed
by almost anyone.
Interesting note: Massaman curry is considered the ‘king of all curries.’ An
18th century poem dedicated to Massaman curry reads, “Any man who has
swallowed the curry will always long for her.”

Neapolitan Pizza (Italy)

Main ingredients: San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, and
olive oil
Preparation: The wheat-flour dough should be made by hand and baked in a
wood-fired oven.
Interesting note: The famous New York-style pizza was developed by
immigrants from Naples, Italy, who based it on Neapolitan pizza.

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Udon (Japan)
Main ingredients: Thick white noodles made from wheat flour, soy
sauce, rice wine, and green onions
Preparation: Udon is served cold in the summer and hot in the winter.
Interesting note: Like most noodle dishes in Japan, it is OK to loudly
slurp the noodles while eating.

Ceviche (Peru)
Main ingredients: Fresh raw seafood, citrus juice (lemon, lime, or
orange), chili peppers, onion, and cilantro
Preparation: Raw seafood is marinated in citrus juice for a slightly
sweet and sour taste.
Interesting note: Ceviche is considered a part of Peruvian national heritage.
It is often served with pisco sour, the national alcoholic beverage of Peru.

SPEAKING: What food do you like?

A. Discuss the following questions with a partner.
1. Have you ever tried these dishes? Which ones do you want to try?
2. What are some kinds of food you like to eat at restaurants?
3. What do you like to eat at home? Do you know how to cook or prepare those meals?
4. What food have you never tried but want to someday?
5. What food will you never eat?

GRAMMAR: Singular and plural count nouns

For most nouns, just add -s For words ending in -sh, For words ending with a
to make a noun plural. -ch, -ss, and -x , add -es. consonant + y, add -ies.

onion → onions dish → dishes activity → activities

ingredient → ingredients church → churches baby → babies
recipe → recipes class → classes country → countries
box → boxes

For words ending with a consonant + o, Some nouns are irregular and have
sometimes add -es special plural forms.
tomato → tomatoes tooth → teeth
potato → potatoes child → children
and sometimes only add -s. fish → fish
piano → pianos sheep → sheep
kilo → kilos

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A. Exercise: Use the plural form of the nouns for each sentence.
1. His family has two ________ (boy) and three _________ (girl).
2. Some (family) __________ have more than seven __________ (child).
3. We need three (egg) _________ and two (tomato) _____________ for this dish.
4. We will need three (cup) __________ and three (bowl) ___________ on the table.
5. This is a story about three (sheep) _________ who are running from two (fox)________.

Note: When speaking in general, English speakers often use the plural form of count nouns.
• I like dogs more than cats.
• Apartments are quite expensive in big cities.

GRAMMAR: Non-count nouns

Non-count nouns do not have a plural form. Many kinds of food are noncount nouns

Condiments, herbs,
Beverages Grains Categories of food
and spices
water rice sugar meat
milk wheat salt fruit
coffee flour pepper dairy
tea cilantro cereal

Nouns that describe a group of items are often non-count. The types of items within that group
are often count nouns.

Non-count nouns describing a group Things in the group (count nouns)

money coins, dimes, dollars, bills, etc.

furniture chairs, tables, beds, sofas, etc.

traffic/transportation cars, taxis, buses, trains, airplanes, etc.

jewelry rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, etc.

fruit apples, peaches, blueberries, bananas, etc.

homework assignments, projects, exercises, essays, etc.

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A. Correct the following sentences:
1. I’m thirsty. Do we have any milks or juices in the fridge?
→ I’m thirsty. Do we have any milk or juice in the fridge?

2. We don’t have enough monies to buy expensive jewelries.

________________________________________________________________________________
3. Are there any coffees left in the coffee pot? Or do we need to make more?

________________________________________________________________________________
4. We’re moving to a new house. Can you help us move our furnitures?

________________________________________________________________________________
5. I sometimes eat fruits for breakfast, but I usually eat cereals.

________________________________________________________________________________

B. Use singular grammar when using non-count nouns.

Is there any milk in the refrigerator?
This juice has a lot of vitamin C.

Circle the correct form of the verb for each sentence.

1. The traffic is/are bad at this time of the day. There is/are too many cars on the road.
2. Fruit has/have a lot of vitamin C. Oranges, for example, has/have a lot of vitamin C.
3. Strawberries also has/have a lot of antioxidants.
4. There isn’t/aren’t any milk in the house. Can you buy some?
5. This fruit is/are going bad. The bananas is/are turning brown.

SPEAKING: Picture description

A. Describe what is in the picture. Use the correct grammar for count and noncount nouns.

There are ________________________________ .

There are________________________________ .
There is a/an _____________________________ .
There is a/an_____________________________ .
There is some ____________________________ .
There is some____________________________ .
There is some ____________________________ .
There is some____________________________ .
There is some____________________________ .

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LISTENING: Birthday plans

A. Listen to Ellen and her mother make birthday plans. Answer the questions.

Questions
1. Who has a birthday coming soon? ______________________________________
2. How old will she be? __________________________________________________
3. Who will make the cake?_______________________________________________
4. What will her mother buy? ______________________________________________________
5. What food items are talked about that her mother will not buy? ______________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

SPEAKING: What food do you like?

A. Complete each sentence with a food item. If you do not know the English word for the food you
select, look it up in a dictionary.
I love ___________________________________
I like ___________________________________
I don’t mind _____________________________
I don’t care for___________________________
I can’t stand* ____________________________

*can’t stand: You dislike the food so much that you can’t eat even a little.

B. Share your sentences with your partner and ask your partner if he/she likes each food item.
Write a sentence for each food using the conjunctions and or but. Writes sentences for the
food items that your partner talked about as well.

Examples
I love strawberries, and my partner likes them too.
I don’t care for onions, but my partner doesn’t mind them.

1._______________________________________________________________________________
2._______________________________________________________________________________
3._______________________________________________________________________________
4._______________________________________________________________________________
5._______________________________________________________________________________
6._______________________________________________________________________________
7._______________________________________________________________________________
8._______________________________________________________________________________

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GRAMMAR: Some and Any
Some and any can go with plural count nouns and noncount nouns.

Some is used for statements:

There are some bananas in the cupboard.
There is some milk in the fridge.

Any is used for questions and negative statements.

Are there any peaches left on the tree? No. There aren’t any peaches.
Is there any juice left in the fridge? No. There isn’t any.

A. Complete the sentences with some or any.

1. We have _________ salt, but do we have __________ pepper?
2. I’d like to buy ___________ fruit. Do you have _________ apples?
3. We don’t have _________ milk or butter.
4. There are __________ forks and spoons on the table, but there aren’t ___________ plates.
5. Do you have _________ extra chairs?

SPEAKING: Find the difference

A. Get with a partner. One of you will be Student A, and the other will be Student B.
Student A turn to page 132. Student B turn to page 134.

There are five differences between the pictures. Without looking at your partner’s picture, ask
and answer questions to find out what has changed.

Example:
A: There are some bananas in my picture. Are there any bananas in your picture?
B: Yes, there are. How about chips? Are there any chips in your picture?
A: No, there aren’t. OK. That’s one difference. Let’s find the other four.

Difference 1: There are some chips in Picture B, but there aren’t any chips in Picture A.
Difference 2: ____________________________________________________________________
Difference 3: ____________________________________________________________________
Difference 4: ____________________________________________________________________
Difference 5:_____________________________________________________________________

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LISTENING: A rave review

A. The following are words used to describe food. Look up the words you do not know.

crisp sour sweet raw healthy

dry oily salty fresh heavy
spicy greasy bitter ripe light

B. Ellen reviewed a new restaurant she tried. Listen and answer the questions.

1. Mark the following statements true or false.

A. _______________ Ellen usually doesn’t try new restaurants.

B. _______________ Ellen likes the atmosphere of the Tasty Cafe.

C. _______________ The service in the restaurant is excellent.

D. _______________ Ellen liked her meal.

E. _______________ Ellen’s sisters both liked their meals.

F. _______________ Ellen recommends the cafe to others.

2. What were some of the good points of the cafe? (be specific)

________________________________________________________________________________

3. What were some things that Ellen or her sisters complained about?

________________________________________________________________________________

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WRITING: Restaurant review

A. Review a restaurant in your city. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the name and location of the restaurant?
_______________________________________________________
2. What kind of food does the restaurant serve?
_______________________________________________________
3. What was the atmosphere like?
_______________________________________________________

4. What did you order? ___________________________________________________________

5. How was the food?_____________________________________________________________

6. How was the service?___________________________________________________________

7. How expensive is the food?______________________________________________________

8. Do you recommend the restaurant? _______________________________________________

SPEAKING: Find someone who

A. Write questions for each topic. Be careful with the grammar.

B. Next, find people who answer ‘yes’ to your questions. Find a different person for each question.

Are you the third child in your family? _________________ is the third child in his/her family.
_________________________________

_________________________________? _________________ is artistic.

_________________________________? _________________ is taking four classes.

_________________________________? _________________ is working part-time

_________________________________? _________________ has a new cellphone.

_________________________________? _________________ exercises more than twice a week.

_________________________________? _________________ was in high school last year.

_________________________________? _________________ was hurt in an accident last year.

_________________________________? _________________ had a cellphone in middle school.

_________________________________? _________________ went camping last year.

_________________________________? _________________ will take a trip this year.

_________________________________? _________________ will move to a new city next year.

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WRITING & SPEAKING: 5-minute conversations

A. Write four or five sentences to answer each of the following questions.

Use the following cues to help you think of more things to say on each topic:
FRED
F → Facts
R → Reasons
E → Examples
D → Details

Example: Can you recommend a good restaurant?

A good restaurant is Wong’s Garden.

F → Facts It serves Chinese food. It’s near main street in the downtown area.
R → Reasons It has great food and is not very expensive.
E → Examples My favorite dish is the Kung Pao chicken, and I also love their spring rolls.
D → Details You can have a good lunch there for about $7.

Note that you do not have to have a sentence for each category. Just try to have additional
sentences for most of your answers.

Example: What is a dish or meal that you know how to cook or prepare?

I can make spaghetti.

F → Facts I make it with noodles, salt, and spaghetti sauce from the store.
R → Reasons I make it because I love spaghetti, and it’s very easy to make.
E → Examples
D → Details First, you boil some water and add the noodles and a little salt.
Then you drain the noodles and add the spaghetti sauce. That’s it!

1. What is a dish or meal that you know how to cook or prepare?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

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2. Can you recommend a good restaurant?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

3. What would be a perfect meal for you?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

4. What are some of your favorite kinds of food? What are some of your least favorite
foods?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

5. Do you eat healthy food? Do you want to change any of your eating habits?

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

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