Lunch and Dinner in Britain

LUNCH

What is a typical British lunch?

Many children at school and adults at work will have a 'packed lunch'. This typically consists of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a piece of fruit and a drink. The 'packed lunch' is kept in a plastic container.

Sandwiches are also known as a 'butty' or 'sarnie' in some parts of the UK.

My favourite sandwich is prawn and mayonnaise. I also love tuna and mayonnaise and ham and pickle sandwiches.

See a sample menu of food served in pubs

Sample menu of food served for School Dinners

DINNER

The evening meal is usually called 'tea', 'dinner' or 'supper'.

What is a traditional British Dinner?

A typical British meal for dinner is "meat and two veg". We put hot brown gravy, (traditionally made from the juices of the roast meat, but more often today from a packet!) on the meat and usually the vegetables. One of the vegetables is almost always potatoes.

What is a typical British Dinner like today?

The traditional meal is rarely eaten nowadays, apart from on Sundays. A recent survey found that most people in Britain eat curry! Rice or pasta dishes are now favoured as the 'British Dinner'.

Vegetables grown in England, like potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbages and onions, are still very popular.

The Sunday Roast Dinner

Sunday lunch time is a typical time to eat the traditional Sunday Roast.

Traditionally it consists of roast meat, (cooked in the oven for about two hours), two different kinds of vegetables and potatoes with a Yorkshire pudding. The most common joints are beef, lamb or pork; chicken is also popular.

Beef is eaten with hot white horseradish sauce, pork with sweet apple sauce and lamb with green mint sauce. Gravy is poured over the meat.

Source: woodlands-junior-school-kent

Film: Supersize me

Photo: kodoom.com

Why are Americans so fat?
Two words: fast food.

What would happen if you ate nothing but fast food for one month?
Filmmaker Morgan Spurlock does just that and goes on the most dangerous journey of his life.



For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on McDonald's menu; he must eat three times a day; he must consume everything on the menu at least once and supersize his meal if asked.
Spurlock travels across the country interviewing people who eat fast food and experts on fast food. Spurlock's fast food diet changes him mentally and physically and the film might probably make you think twice about picking up another Big Mac.

Experiment of the Movie

He must fully eat three McDonald's meals per day
He must try every item on the McDonald's menu at least once over the course of the 30 days
He must only eat items on the menu. This includes bottled water. Any and all outside consumption of food is not allowed.
He must eat a McDonald's salad every tenth meal
He must "Super Size" his meal whenever, and only when, the option is offered to him.
He must only walk 5,000 steps per day.
Here are a few facts from the movie's website:

Results

Morgan Spurlock spent about five months in losing 20 pounds and another nine months to return to his original weight.
He discusses at the end about the lack of healthy food among U.S. schools, and the fast food chains are luring the kids away from the healthy food. McDonald's kid-friendly advertising schemes are very successful, and mentions the dark side of the fast food industries. He says, "The bottom line, they're a business, no matter what they say, and by selling you unhealthy food, they make millions, and no company wants to stop doing that."


Facts from the film's website

Each day, 1 in 4 Americans visits a fast food restaurant
In 1972, Americans spent $3 billion a year on fast food - today they spend more than $110 billion
McDonald's feeds more than 46 million people a day - more than the entire population of Spain
French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America
You would have to walk for seven hours straight to burn off a Super Sized Coke, fry and Big Mac
In the U.S., we eat more than 1,000,000 animals an hour
60 % of all Americans are either overweight or obese
Only seven items on McDonald's entire menu contain no sugar

Food - Talking about Likes and Dislikes

Watch the video and learn the dialogue.

Food - Vocabulary

The words below are some of the most important used when talking about food.
Copy and paste ---> Word file ---> German meaning ---> Print ---> Words book

Condition
fresh
off
past its sell-by date
raw
ripe
rotten
tough
undercooked
unripe
overcooked

Verbs
bake
boil
cook
fry
grill
heat
microwave
poach
roast
steam
stew

Quantities
bar
liter
loaf
lump
piece
pint
portion
slice
spoonful

Taste
bitter
bland
creamy
crisp
crunchy
hot
mild
salty
savory
sickly
sour
spicy
stodgy
sweet
tasteless

Types
barbecue
buffet
four-course meal
picnic
snack

Eating and Drinking
bite
chew
swallow
sip

Preparing Drinks
add
fill
mix
pour
shake
stir

Other Words
crumbs
fast food
(non)-fattening
helping
pastry
slimming
sticky

Adverbs of Frequency

100%	always
	usually
	frequently
	often
50%	sometimes
	occasionally
	rarely
	seldom
	hardly ever
0%	nev

Adverbs of Frequency answer the question "How often?" or "How frequently?" They tell us how often somebody does something.

Adverbs of frequency come before the main verb (except the main verb "to be"):

• We usually go shopping on Saturday.
• I have often done that.
• She is always late.

Occasionally, sometimes, often, frequently and usually can also go at the beginning or end of a sentence:

• Sometimes they come and stay with us.
• I play tennis occasionally.

Rarely and seldom can also go at the end of a sentence (often with "very"):

• We see them rarely.
• John eats meat very seldom.

Check your understanding here.

Source: englishclub.com

Grammar: Adverbs

Adverbs of Time, Frequency, Quantity, Intensity



Adverbs of time: Wann?

heute	=>	today		gerade	=>	right now
gestern	=>	yesterday		ehemalig	=>	former
morgen	=>	tomorrow		eben	=>	just now
gleich	=>	in a minute		kürzlich	=>	recently
sofort	=>	immediately		schließlich	=>	finally
schon	=>	already		endlich	=>	at last
erst	=>	only (since)		zuletzt	=>	in the end
seit	=>	since		bisher	=>	up until now
neulich	=>	the other day		damals	=>	back then
früher	=>	back in the day		zukünftig	=>	future

In sentences with more than one time expression, the more general time expression comes before the more specific one.

Adverbs of frequency: Wie oft?

manchmal	=>	sometimes		regelmäßig	=>	regularly
oft	=>	often		fast nie	=>	almost never
häufig	=>	frequently		mehrmals	=>	repeatedly
ab und zu	=>	every once in a while		kontinuierlich	=>	continuously
immer	=>	always		stets	=>	always
ständig	=>	permanently		niemals	=>	never, ever
selten	=>	seldom		einmal	=>	one time
nie	=>	never		unregelmäßig	=>	irregularly
wieder	=>	again		schon wieder	=>	yet again

Adverbs of quantity: Wie viel?

viel	=>	much		übermäßig	=>	excessively
wenig	=>	little		unmäßig	=>	excessively
extrem	=>	extremely		gar nicht	=>	not at all

Adverbs of intensity: Wie sehr?

sehr	=>	very		wahnsinnig	=>	insanely, very
total	=>	totally		unglaublich	=>	incredibly
fast	=>	almost		enorm	=>	enormously
beinahe	=>	nearly		fabelhaft	=>	fabulously
wirklich	=>	really		ungeheuer	=>	unbelievably
überhaupt nicht	=>	not at all		ein bisschen	=>	a bit
ziemlich	=>	quite

Gradable and Non-gradable Adjectives

Adjectives describe qualities (characteristics) of nouns.

• Some qualities can vary in intensity or grade (for example: rather hot, hot, very hot; hot, hotter, the hottest).
  
  The adjective hot is gradable.
  
  
• Other qualities cannot vary in intensity or grade because they are:
  1. extremes (for example: freezing)
  2. absolutes (for example: dead)
  3. classifying (for example: nuclear)

The adjectives freezing, dead and nuclear are non-gradable.

Gradable Adjectives

A gradable adjective can be used with "grading adverbs" that vary the adjective's grade or intensity. Look at these examples:

grading adverbs a little, dreadfully, extremely, fairly, hugely, immensely, intensely, rather, reasonably, slightly, unusually, very

+

gradable adjectives angry, big, busy, clever, cold, deep, fast, friendly, good, happy, high, hot, important, long, popular, rich, strong, tall, warm, weak, young

A gradable adjective can also have comparative and superlative forms:

EC Tip: "Gradable adjectives" are also called "qualitative adjectives". "Grading adverbs" are also called "submodifiers".

• big, bigger, the biggest
• hot, hotter, the hottest
• important, more important, the most important

Look at these example sentences:

• My teacher was very happy with my homework.
• That website is reasonably popular. But this one is more popular.
• He said that Holland was a little cold and Denmark was rather cold. But Sweden was the coldest.

EC Tip: The adjective dead is non-gradable because it is an absolute. Dead is dead. We cannot be more or less dead. One person cannot be "deader" than another. Other absolutes include: correct, unique, perfect

Non-gradable Adjectives

A non-gradable adjective cannot be used with grading adverbs:

• It was rather freezing outside.
• The dog was very dead.
• He is investing in slightly nuclear energy.

Non-gradable adjectives do not normally have comparative and superlative forms:

• freezing, more freezing, the most freezing
• dead, deader, the deadest
• nuclear, more nuclear, the most nuclear

Often, non-gradable adjectives are used alone:

EC Tip: Don't try to learn lists of gradable and non-gradable adjectives! It's better to understand what makes an adjective gradable or non-gradable. This is a matter of logic and common sense. Most native-speakers have never heard of gradable and non-gradable adjectives. They just "feel" that it doesn't make sense to say "fairly excellent" or "very unique". You probably have the same idea in your language.

• It was freezing outside.
• The dog was dead.
• He is investing in nuclear energy.

However, a non-gradable adjective can be used with "non-grading adverbs" (which usually just give the adjective extra impact), for example:

non-grading adverbs	non-gradable adjectives
absolutely	awful	extreme
utterly	excellent
completely	terrified
totally	dead	absolute
nearly	impossible
virtually	unique
essentially	chemical	classifying
mainly	digital
almost	domestic

Here are some example sentences with non-gradable adjectives:

• Her exam results were absolutely awful. She will have to take the exam again.
• Is there anything like it in the world? It must be virtually unique.
• It starts an essentially chemical reaction.

Adjectives that can be gradable and non-gradable

Some adjectives may have more than one meaning or sense. It's possible for the same adjective to be gradable with one sense and non-gradable with another sense. For example:

	adjective	common =
He's got a very old car.	gradable	not young
I saw my old boyfriend yesterday.	non-gradable	former, ex-
He has some dreadfully common habits.	gradable	vulgar
"The" is a very common word in English.	gradable	prevalent
The two countries' common border poses problems.	non-gradable	shared

Adverbs used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The adverbs really (very much) and fairly and pretty (both meaning "to a significant degree, but less than very") can often be used with gradable and non-gradable adjectives:

gradable	non-gradable
Please don't forget! It's really important.	He was really terrified.
He's a fairly rich man.	It's a fairly impossible job.
He's pretty tall.	It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it.

"Quite" with gradable and non-gradable adjectives

The meaning of the adverb "quite" changes according to the type of adjective we use it with:

	adjective	quite =
It's quite warm today.	gradable	fairly, rather
Are you quite certain?	non-gradable	completely, absolutely

Reference

Non-gradable adjectives

Although we don't recommend that you learn lists of non-gradable adjectives, here are some for reference. You can decide for yourself whether they are extreme, absolute or classifying.

alive, awful, black, boiling, certain, correct, dead, domestic, enormous, environmental, excellent, freezing, furious, gigantic, huge, immediately, impossible, miniscule, mortal, overjoyed, perfect, pregnant, principal, ridiculous, superb, terrible, terrified, unique, unknown, white, whole

Non-grading adverbs

Again, no need to learn lists. Here are a few examples. There are many more. Remember that you cannot use all non-grading adverbs with all non-gradable adjectives. Some collocate (go together). Some don't.

absolutely, almost, completely, entirely, exclusively, fully, largely, mainly, nearly, perfectly, practically, primarily, utterly, virtually

Source:
englishclub.com

Now do the quiz
Exercise: Adverbs of degree
Exercise: Adverbs of manner

English Breakfast

What is a typical English Breakfast?

Most people around the world seem to think a typical English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms and baked beans all washed down with a cup of coffee. Nowadays, however, a typical English breakfast is more likely to be a bowl of cereals, a slice of toast, orange juice and a cup of coffee.

Many people, especially children, in England will eat a bowl of cereal. They are made with different grains such as corn, wheat, oats etc.

In the winter many people will eat "porridge" or boiled oats.

What is the traditional English Breakfast?

The traditional English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, baked beans and mushrooms. Even though not many people will eat this for breakfast today, it is always served in hotels and guest houses around Britain.

The traditional English breakfast is called the 'Full English' and sometimes referred to as 'The Full English Fry-up'.

woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk

Wordle - Healthy Eating

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