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Chow, Baby

Chow, Baby

Date: Oct 24 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

The Japanese don’t live on sushi, and the French don’t live on baguettes. Every country in the world has a wide variety of dishes that make their cuisine unique. But when another country tries to imitate regional food, it often falls short.

As a result, people who have never been to China may think that egg rolls are the most common dish. And folks who have never been to Poland think everyone there eats pieroges. And what do Americans eat? Hamburgers, of course.

Listen to Kevin and Mason chew the fat about spaghetti and burritos.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Kevin

Kevin

Mason

Mason

Kevin:  During your travels, have you eaten quote unquote international cuisine in other countries?

Mason:  Oh yeah. I mean, like, eating is my favorite thing to do when I travel, pretty much. I wanna, I want to try the…

Kevin:  Of course.

Mason:  ... dish that’s, you know, known in a particular region, but, uh… you know… I’ve never been disappointed. The food’s almost always been fantastic but what I’ve found is often times our perceptions in this country of what Italian food is, what Japanese food is, whatever, are really just limited in stereotypes.

Kevin:  Yes. Just, you know, everything is mildly Americanized to some extent, right?

Mason:  Uh huh. You know, I mean, like, I honestly don’t know if I had spaghetti once while when I went to Italy. I was eating phenomenal meals the whole time, and I suppose all of it you would call Italian food. But, I mean, I had this, like, fantastic roast boar in Tuscany with…

Kevin:  Yes… Ooh, fabulous…

Mason:  ... like, some sort of risotto, and, I mean, it was just incredibly good, but, they don’t know just diet on spaghetti and meatballs. I don’t know if anyone eats spaghetti and meatballs in Italy.

Kevin:  One… I, I think the most disappointing I’ve felt is Mexican food here in the US. Like, some of the food I’ve had is just amazing and flavorful and gorgeous and, you know, this amazing variety that here, you know… a burrito and a chimichanga. For God’s sake, a chimichanga is just gross. It’s not Mexican food.

Mason:  We’re, we’re doing them a disservice a bit. I had a, a fantastic…

Kevin:  It’s disrespectful.

Mason:  Um, oh, I’m gonna forget the name… not a polenta, but the, uh, paella.

Kevin:  Oh, paella. Mmmmm.

Mason:  Oooh. So good.

 

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Discussion

When Mason was in Italy, he enjoyed a lot of authentic Italian cuisine. Most Americans seem to think that Italians often eat spaghetti. But Mason experienced a variety of dishes in Italy. He points out that in the United States, international cuisine is limited to a few dishes that are just the stereotypical diet of a country.

Kevin has spent a lot of time in Mexico and loves Mexican food. But when he eats Mexican food in the US, he is often disappointed. Burritos are very common in the US, but this is not a Mexican dish. It is just an Americanized version of Mexican food.

Kevin and Mason agree that most of the time, the diversity of international cuisine is poorly represented.

The paella that Mason mentions is a rice dish popular in Spain.

What are the most common dishes in your country?

What kind of international cuisine is your favorite?

 

Comments

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2girls

Poland

i like to try dishes from different countries altough not everything look and taste good

10:50 PM May 09 2008 |

celinski

United States

risotto!
pierogi!
I know this is an ESL site, but be careful with other languages—you certainly have enough proofreaders!

08:14 AM Oct 24 2006 |

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