Unit 6 Food
Useful Information
Food is a basic necessity, so every culture has important norms and customs related to it. Ever since they adopted settled lifestyles centuries or millennia ago, most cultures have emphasized daily meals in households or family units. Some members provide the food, some members prepare the food, and all members must eat. The providers and the preparers may not be the same, depending partly on gender roles and specialization. And the status of individuals in the eating process may not be the same, depending partly on their age and gender, and whether the household contains servants or guests. Servants rarely eat with others, while honored guests may be wined and dined like visiting royalty. Elders and males may also be treated ceremonially.
Formal meals may take hours in some cultures or households, while in others people may eat hastily while traveling to their next destination on foot or by car. Some people eat while working or use eating as a form of recreation. In most cultures the feeding of friends, relatives, and others is a way of meeting, socializing, entertaining, and showing respect. Some cultures permit or encourage the use of alcoholic or caffeinated beverages with food, while others discourage or even prohibit this. Most cultures have food preferences and food taboos, so they find different ways to achieve balanced diets.
Eating away from home in restaurants, taverns, inns, or hotels has long been an option in most cultures, but the variety of these choices is rapidly increasing today as the fast pace of modern life encourages more people to “eat on the run”. This also tends to blur the traditional distinction between providers and preparers of food, especially in families where both parents work full-time outside the home. In such cases both parents may eat out at noon, the children may eat at school, and anyone may pick up pizza or hamburgers on the way home or phone for pizza to be delivered. In the U.S., Chinese restaurants do a big take-out business and microwaved “TV dinners” are very popular. Some busy families rarely eat formal meals together, even when they all eat at home. Refrigeration has also changed eating habits, and “raiding the refrigerator” is often a substitute for preparing meals. As eating habits have changed, table manners have tended to decline, though proper etiquette is still needed on formal occasions.
Mealtimes differ considerably from culture to culture or from household to household. In agrarian cultures rural families tend to eat their first two meals earlier in the day, while in industrial cultures urban families often have them later. The time of the third meal depends on several factors such as whether there is a nap after lunch and whether food or beverages are typically consumed in the mid-to-late afternoon as snacks or social events.
In some cultures “tea” in the afternoon is almost a fourth meal. Some people have their supper in the late afternoon or early evening, while others may have it in the mid-to-late evening. For some people the second meal of the day is the largest, while for others the third meal is the largest. This causes considerable confusion as to whether lunch or supper is more appropriately referred to as “dinner.” Further confusion is caused by people who skip breakfast and others who prefer “brunch” instead. Brunch is especially popular on weekends, when it may last from mid-morning to early afternoon.
The biggest recent change in eating habits and food-related lifestyles is the advent of fast food. This permits many people to eat conveniently away from home, or to bring food home to eat without having to prepare it. But it also makes family-style meals less likely to be, and it is not always very nutritious. The clever marketing of fast food such as McDonald’s hamburgers and KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) may cause some youngsters to dislike their parents’ cooking and some college students to dislike the more nutritious food available on campus. Eating fast food while driving is also a cause of traffic accidents. Sociologist George Ritzer uses the metaphor of “McDonaldization” to criticize the entire cultural trend toward standardized pre-packaged products which can be quickly consumed. He claims the quality of life is diminished by what he calls the “McDonaldization of society,” and that we should voice our protest by eating in local “mom and pop” restaurants rather than patronizing national or international fast-food chains. Despite Ritzer’s advice, McDonald’s and other fast-food chains are probably here to stay. They are getting more similar to one another all the time, with hamburger chains offering chicken, chicken chains offering hamburgers, and all of them offering milk shakes and fries.
Nutritionists have been warning that the typical fast-food diet is unhealthy if eaten too often. Consequently, some of the fast-food chains, such as McDonald’s, are now including healthier options for their customers along with the traditional hamburgers. Various healthy salads are now appearing on the menu boards, along with low fat salad dressing options. For children, fresh apple slices with a low fat caramel dipping sauce can now be chosen in the place of French fries in the children’s meal, and apple juice or low fat white and chocolate milk can be chosen instead of a cola. Bottled water also can now be purchased instead of a soft drink if one so chooses. Most people believe that this trend of healthier eating will continue.
Part One Preparation 1. Check Your Vocabulary Food Drinks Vegetable Fruit Meat lamb, mutton, bacon, duck, turkey, etc. Cereal wheat, barley, dumpling, spaghetti, Others egg, bean cake, tea, coffee, Coke, rum, Pepsi, wine, Seven-up, cabbage, beet, apple, pear, fig, carrot, lettuce, peach, grape, eggplant, bean, persimmon, pea, garlic, pepper, spinach, onion, pineapple, apricot, banana, plum, mango, orange, pork, beef, rice, oat, maize/corn, millet, curd, chicken, noodles, rice cake, cookie, Sprite, beer, biscuit, whisky, cracker, brandy, milk, juice, soda water, cucumber, pea, watermelon, tomato, potato, lemon, cherry, turnip, celery, grapefruit, mushroom, broccoli, cauliflower, beansprout, pumpkin, wax gourd, asparagus, snow pea, etc. strawberry, lychee/litchi, papaya, coconut, star fruit, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, kiwi fruit, etc. steamed bread/roll, nut, pan cake, pizza, etc. fish, shrimp, lemonade, lobster, mineral crab, clam, etc. water, etc. 2. How Much Do You Know about Food? 1. A 2. B 3. C 4. C 5. B 6. A 7. C 8. B 9. C 10. A 3. Comparing Diets STEP ONE Samples 1) --This is not a healthy diet. First, he eats too much. Second, he has too much sugar, which may change into fat and accumulate in the body. --This is generally speaking a healthy diet. Apart from the fact that the food is too much for a 10-year-old boy, his diet includes most of the nutrients necessary for a healthy body. 2) Diet of a 10-year-old Chinese boy on a typical day: Breakfast: one or two pieces of bread, one egg, a cup of milk, etc.; Lunch: rice, fish or meat, vegetables, etc. (or noodles); Supper: rice, fish or meat, vegetables, soup, etc.; Snacks during the day: some fruit, candies, chocolates, drinks, etc.
3) Differences between the British boy and a Chinese boy: A. The British boy eats a wider variety of things. B. The British boy eats much more than a Chinese boy.
STEP TWO Samples 1) Different Diets At school: Student A
Breakfast: two steamed rolls (or baozi), some porridge Lunch: rice, fish or meat, some vegetables
Supper: rice, fish or meat, some vegetables; noodles; or jiaozi (dumplings) Snacks during the day: an apple or a pear, some biscuits Student B
Breakfast: a cup of milk, one boiled egg, some rice cakes Lunch: rice, fish or meat, some vegetables
Supper: rice, fish or meat, some vegetables; noodles; or jiaozi (dumplings) Snacks during the day: some biscuits, cookies, or cakes, some preserved fruit. At home (for both):
A much wider variety of foods like seafood, more snacks, more fruit, etc. 2) Advice on the improvement of the diet:
A. Student B should have some fruit every day; otherwise the lack of vitamin C may cause sickness.
B. Student A should drink some milk every day, since milk provides certain minerals, vitamins, etc., which are necessary for a healthy body.
C. Both students should add some variety in their diets, because different foods contain different nutrients the body needs. Besides, their diets at school and at home shouldn’t be too different.
Part Two Reading-Centered Activities In-Class Reading
I. Pre-Reading Samples:
1. ― I like fresh fruit, vegetables, pork, seafood, all kinds of nuts, etc.. I don’t like beef, lamb, chicken and pickles.
― Although I’m not a vegetarian, I like vegetables and fruit most. I eat a lot of them. I also like seafood because I was born in a city on the coast. I’ve been exposed to seafood ever since my childhood. I don’t eat meat, any kind of meat.
2. ― The reason why I eat certain foods or don’t eat certain foods is simple: taste. In other words, I eat what tastes good, and don’t eat what doesn’t. But there is one exception. I’ve never tried snake because I’m scared by the creature. The mere mention of the word “snake” makes my skin crawl.
― I think our eating habits were formed at home when we were very young. For example, my mother is an excellent cook, especially good at cooking seafood and vegetables. I ate a lot of them at home. Gradually I’ve become used to this diet.
3. Yes. People in Guangzhou eat rats, snakes and many other birds or animals. It is said that they eat anything with 2 legs except human beings and anything with 4 legs except tables. Although it is an exaggeration, it shows they really eat a wide range of things. Many people think that’s strange because rats and snakes are nauseating. I also find eating raw fish strange, because I think raw fish contains a lot of bacteria.
II. Passage Reading
Words, Phrases and Grammatical Points 1. be sick (l.5), vomit, nauseate (l.3)
“Be sick” can mean “feel ill as if one is going to vomit”. e.g. She was sick after she ate too much chocolate.
Lucy felt sick (= felt likely to vomit) the morning after the party. Other uses include: airsick, carsick, seasick.
“Nauseate” comes from the word “nausea” which means “a feeling of illness in the stomach, often making one feel as if one is going to vomit.” It’s a formal word and often used in passive form.
e.g. He is nauseated by the smell of meat cooking.
“Vomit” means “bring food or drink up from one’s stomach through one’s mouth, because one is sick.”
In spoken English, “be sick” is more often used to mean “throw up all the contents in the stomach through the mouth” than “be generally ill”.
e.g. If one eats too many sweets one will be sick.
The more formal word in British and American English is “vomit”, and the less formal expression is “throw up”.
Compare: be sick of … (=be very annoyed about…) 对……感到厌烦的 e.g. I’m sick of the way you’re behaving.
2. The term “sacred cow” (l. 23) is also used derogatorily to refer to an idea, practice, etc. that is so much accepted that not even the slightest doubts about it are allowed.
e.g. I) The need for secrecy has become a kind of sacred cow.
II) They did not dare to challenge the sacred cow of parliamentary democracy.