17   I can talk about diets and cooking

A    Diets 

Who needs to diet?

I never go on a diet: it’s a waste of time.

Diets list all the food that is good for you, but few people can keep them up. I haven’t put on weight in twenty years. Here’s why:

• I eat almost anything I like, but I don’t eat a lot. And I don’t eat junk food.

• I drink plenty of water. It’s better for you than fizzy drinks, and cheaper too.

• I avoid snacks between meals because most of them are fattening.

• I’ve cut down on the amount of food I eat in the evening.

• I get plenty of exercise.

 

Glossary

a waste of time  a bad use of your time (also a waste of money).

good for you  SYN healthy. OPP bad for you / unhealthy.

keep sth up  continue doing sth.

put on weight  become heavier and fatter. OPP lose weight.

junk food  food which is not good for you (e.g. crisps).

plenty of sth  as much of sth as you need.

fizzy drink  a drink containing small bubbles of gas.

snack  a small amount of food usually eaten between meals.

fattening  making you fatter.

cut down on sth  have less of sth.

exercise  physical activity that keeps you healthy.

 

spotlight  diet

Aperson’s diet is the food they eat.It can be a balanced diet (all the right food the body needs), or a bad diet (too much of the wrong food). Some people diet / go on a diet,which means eating less to lose weight. 

4     ABOUT YOU  Do you agree with the sentences in Exercise 3? Write Yes or No.

 

B    Cooking

Recipe for Cottage Pie

 

Ingredients

300 g minced¹ beef

300 g potatoes

1 large onion

1 carrot

2-3 chopped tomatoes

300 ml beef stock

1 tablespoon of flour², butter, salt, and pepper

 

Peel³ the potatoes and boil until just cooked. Then mash⁴ them with butter. Chop⁵ the onion and carrot. Fry⁶ the meat and vegetables quickly, then stir⁷ in the flour and cook for one minute. Add the stock, tomatoes, salt and pepper, and let it all cook slowly for 20 minutes. Then put it in a large dish, cover with the mashed potato and some butter, and bake in a hot oven⁸ for 30 minutes.

 

Glossary

recipe  a set of instructions for cooking sth.

ingredients  the food items you need to have to make sth to eat.

stock  water with added flavour of meat, fish, or vegetables.

boil sth  cook sth in water, usually in a saucepan.

fry sth  cook sth in oil, usually in a frying pan.

add sth  put sth together with sth else.

dish  a container for serving food at the table (it is larger than a plate).

bake sth  cook sth in the oven without oil or fat (with oil or fat = roast). 

7     Test yourself. Cover the text and say what you can see in the pictures. Then look at the food but cover the cooking instructions. How do you make Cottage Pie?