Текст книги "Basic Course Reader (Сборник текстов для базового курса по английскому языку) "

Автор книги: Автор Неизвестен

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If you ask foreigners to name some typically English dishes, they will probably say "Fish and chips" and then stop. It is disappointing, but true, that there is no tradition in England of eating in restaurants. English cooking is found in the home, where it is possible to time the dishes to perfection. So it is difficult to find a good English restaurant with reasonable prices.

It is for these reasons that we haven't exported our dishes, but we have imported a surprising number from all over the world. In most cities in Britain you'll find Indian, Chinese, French and Italian restaurants. In London you'll also find Indonesian, Lebanese, Iranian, German, Spanish, Mexican, Greek...Cynics will say that this is because we have no "cuisine" ourselves. However, there is still one small ray of hope. British pubs are often the best places to eat well and cheaply in Britain, and they also increasingly try to serve tasty British food.

Nations & Food: Past & Present

(1) Human history has been shaped by a preoccupation with food. Ever since prehistoric times, the search for food has determined where people have lived, what they have invented, who they have befriended, and how they have lived. Throughout history, conditions related to the food supply have determined where ports and cities were built, where expeditions of exploration were sent, which wars were fought, and who would rule nations. Nothing has occupied more human time and energy than the tasks related to finding, collecting, transporting, and preparing food. Food both reflects the societies in which it is found and shapes the character of the people in them.

(2) From their earliest moments on earth, people have been preoccupied with food. Prehistoric humans were first hunters of animals and gatherers of plants. Some of the earliest human inventions were related to the human pursuit and preparation of food. Spears and clubs, for example, were created for the purpose of hunting. A particularly significant innovation, the ability to control and use fire, changed life considerably and prepared the way for an entirely new diet. Using fire in cooking made edible some formerly indigestible foods and probably greatly improved human health, since heat helps to break down the food fibers and release protein and carbohydrates. The controlling of fire therefore led humankind to a longer life-span and stronger existence.

(3) Prehistoric life was nomadic. Not until people began to cultivate their own food and raise animals did they see the need to settle in one place. They then formed permanent communities where they could await the cycles of the seasons and combine their efforts to farm the land. This led to more time for leisure and for the development of better agricultural tools and techniques. Such innovations as pottery, the calendar, and water management resulted from the needs of these early farmers. Thus, food influenced the most fundamental of choices, including where people lived, how they regulated their environment, and how they expressed their creativity.

(4) The food preferences of a civilization both reflect its environment and determine its habits. The civilizations that lived in rich pasturelands, such as those in the Middle East, developed the capability of domesticating sheep, goats, and cattle. As a result, meat was an important part of their diet. On the other hand, the people of other cultures, such as those in South America and Asia, raised almost no animals and consumed almost no meat because they lived on land that could not support large herds. Partly because of their vegetarian diet, the Asians often had trouble stopping the aggressions of their meat-eating enemies, who tended to be stronger. From these vegetarian civilizations we have inherited a tremendous variety of domesticated plants such as corn, potatoes, beans, gourds, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, green peppers, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, peas, cucumbers, wheat, barley, and rice.

(5) In some cases, the history of an individual food reveals insights into cultural preferences and cross-cultural relationships. The potato, for example, is usually attributed to the Irish but was actually used widely by the Inca Indians in Peru as early as A.D.100. After Pizarro's conquest of the Incas in 1537, the potato was taken back to Spain. Although the Spanish refused to eat it, they raised it to feed to their animals. Spanish settlers later took it to eat on the long voyage to Florida in 1560 because it didn't spoil easily. After the British raided the Spanish in Florida, the potato was among the "valuables" that they took back to England, but the British wouldn't eat it either. But when the potato was introduced in Ireland, it was immediately adopted as the national food. Today the potato is widely popular in Europe. In fact, nine times more potatoes are produced in Europe than in the United States. The potato has become a part of the everyday diet in many Western cultures.

(6) The transformation from eating for survival to dining for pleasure took place in ancient Greece and Rome where the upper class cultivated the art of dining and gave food new prestige. During the Roman Empire, feasts commonly lasted for days, and hosts tried to impress their guests with spectacular banquets that might include such extravagances as field mice, nightingale tongues, ostrich brains, parrot heads, camel heels, elephant trunks, and carp that had been fattened on a diet of human slave meat. Gluttony and wastefulness were so excessive that laws were passed at various times to enforce moderation by legislating the cost of a meal, the number of guests, or the variety of dishes, but these laws were consistently ignored by the aristocracy. Just as Rome lived by its appetite, it may have died by it as well. Some historians speculate that one of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was lead poisoning. The water supply may have been contaminated with lead because of the use of leaden irrigation pipes. In addition, the Roman aristocracy may have died off as a result of using leaden cooking vessels to cook wine-based syrups and sauces. These foods absorbed an especially heavy dose of lead, which is fatal in large quantities. The poor, who used ordinary earthenware cooking pots, avoided this chemical reaction.

(7) It has been said that food was partially responsible for both the rise and the fall of the Roman Empire. Soon after Rome fell, social order virtually vanished and civilization halted. Bridges collapsed, roads fell into disrepair, communication stopped, and communities eventually became isolated. As a result of this isolation, the importing and exporting of food stopped and a fight for survival began. The sophisticated agricultural techniques and the art of selective breeding of animals were soon forgotten. Fields were allowed to become overgrown, and animals were undernourished. When there was a shortage of meat, people slaughtered their plow animals. This left them with no animals to plow their fields and led to subsequent food shortages. During this period, known as the Dark Ages, food again became a necessity instead of a pleasure. The only visible attention to food at this time was given by Catholic holy men, known as monks. Although they led a simple life, they kept alive the tradition of dining" through their pleasure of good food. The religious ideal of hard work motivated them to produce food for the surrounding areas, and their communities eventually developed into resourceful industries that helped Europe to acquire productive skills again.

(8) By early in the 15th century, Europe was sending explorers around the world for exotic foods and spices. This led to the discovery of the Americas and to the first European settlements in North America. The first American settlers at Jamestown were mostly refined "gentlemen" who had never done any physical work and had no interest in doing so. The winter of 1609-1610 became known as the "Starving Time." because four out of five people starved. If the Native American Indians hadn't helped the settlers, they all would have died. Food thus became the basis for the first relationships between the settlers and the Native Americans. Indian influence on the developing dietary habits of the American settlers cannot be overstated: 80 percent of the present American food plants were unknown to Europeans before Columbus's arrival in North America in 1492.

(9) Just as in many other wars throughout history, food was very influential in the starting of the American Revolution. The British taxes on imported tea and molasses made the early American patriots angry enough to fight. John Adams called molasses "an essential ingredient to American Independence." In addition, the knowledge that the patriots could survive without imported food surely helped give them the confidence to fight for independence.

(10) The influence of food on the United States did not stop with the American Revolution. Many of the immigrants who have flocked to the United States throughout history have come because of the rich food supply. For example, thousands of Irish immigrated to the United States in 1846 because of Ireland's potato famine. In addition to influencing immigrants to move to the United States, food influenced how they survived and prospered once they arrived. Many of the inventions that made people affluent and have determined the direction of American industry were related to agriculture and food production. These included the McCormick reaper in 1834, the ice-making machine in 1830, and the machine-made can in 1368.

(11) People today are no less influenced by food than were their predecessors. Americans annually spend an estimated $250 billion on food. About 10 percent of that is spent on fast food, and another large portion in other restaurants. In fact, since 1980, Americans have eaten less than half of their meals at home. An abundance of other trends have affected both American eating habits and food-related industries, including processed foods, microwavable foods, "natural" foods, gourmet foods, and diet foods, which alone capture 30 percent of the American food budget. Although the quality of American food may have decreased as a result of mass production and high technology, its prominence in daily life was never more visible.

Recipes

Apple soup

(6 servings)

3 Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced

1 large onion, sliced

1 tablespoon butter

2 teaspoons curry powder 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper salt and pepper to taste

3 cups chicken broth 1 cup dry white wine

1 cup light table cream Garnishes (mint, apple slices, paprika or chopped nuts)

Slice apples and onion. Melt butter in a medium-size skillet, add the apples and onion. Add curry powder and cook 5 minutes; add cayenne and salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and wine; cook 10 to 15 minutes. Place in blender; blend, then chill. Stir in cream and serve. Garnish as desired.

Per serving: 199 calories, 24 gm carbohydrates, 20 mg cholesterol, 218 mg sodium, 3 gm protein, 8 gm fat, 5 gm saturated fat

Butterball biscuits

(makes 12 biscuits)

1/2 cup melted butter or margarine for the muffin pan and topping,

plus 1/3 cup softened butter or margarine for the dough

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place 1 teaspoon of the melted butter into each of 12 21/2-inch muffin-pan cups. Reserve remaining melted butter. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into mixing bowl. Add the 1/3 cup softened butter or margarine and cut it in with pastry blender until mixture resembles cornmeal. Using a fork, stir in milk. Fill each prepared muffin cup almost to the top with dough. Bake to minutes. Remove from oven and spoon 1 teaspoon reserved melted butter over each biscuit. Return to oven and bake 10 minutes longer. Serve piping hot with butter, jam or honey. Per biscuit: 1199 calories, 17 gm carbohydrates, 37 mg cholesterol, 189 mg sodium, 3 gm protein, 13 gm fat, 8 gm saturated fat

Miss Irene’s meatloaf

(6 servings)

21/2 pounds regular ground beef

1small onion, chopped

1medium green bell pepper, diced

1celery stalk, chopped

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup ketchup, any brand

1/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine the ground beef, chopped onion, green pepper, celery, eggs, ketchup, milk, bread crumbs, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Pack into 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Per serving: 489 calories, 17 gm carbohydrates, 187 mg cholesterol, 555 mg sodium, 35 gm protein, 30 gm fat, 12 gm saturated fat.

Miss Irene’s pecan pie

(makes 1 pie, 8 to 10 servings) 3/4 cup chopped pecans 8-inch unbaked pie shell 3 eggs, beaten 2/3 cup maple syrup

2/3 cup sugar

dash of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scatter chopped pecans over bottom of the pie shell. Beat eggs until frothy; add syrup, sugar, salt, vanilla and melted butter. Mix well and pour over pecans. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm.

Per serving: 375 calories, 45 gm carbohydrates, 84 mg cholesterol, 231 mg sodium, 5 gm protein, 20 gm fat, 4 gm saturated fat.

To Be or Not To Be a Vegetarian

A strict vegetarian is a person who never in his life eats anything derived from animals. The main objection to vegetarianism on a long-term basis is the difficulty of getting enough protein – the body-building element in food. If you have ever been without meat or other animal foods for some days or weeks (say, for religious reasons) you will have noticed that you tend to get physically rather weak. You are glad when the fast is over and you get your reward of meat meal.

Proteins are built up from approximately twenty food elements called ‘amino-acids’, which are found more abundantly in animal protein than in vegetable protein. This means you have to eat a great deal more vegetable than animal food in order to get enough these amino-acids. So from the physiological point of view there is not much to be said in favour of life-long vegetarianism.

Vegetarianism is definitely unsatisfactory for growing children, who need more protein than they can get from vegetable sources. A lacto-vegetarian diet, which includes milk and milk products such as cheese, can, however, be satisfactory as long as enough milk and milk products are consumed. Meat and cheese are the best sources of usable animal protein and next come milk, fish and eggs.

Most nutrition expert today would recommend a balanced diet containing elements of all foods. A well-balanced diet usually provides adequate minimum daily requirements of protein and all the vitamins.

Traditional Meals in Britain

The usual meals in Britain are: breakfast, lunch, tea and supper. Breakfast is generally a bigger meal than they have on the Continent, though some English people like a continental breakfast of rolls, butter 198

and coffee. But the usual English breakfast is porridge or cornflakes with milk or cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, marmalade made from oranges with buttered toasts and tea or coffee. For a change, you can have a boiled egg, cold ham or, perhaps, fish.

People in Britain generally have lunch about one o'clock. The businessman in London usually finds it impossible to come home for lunch, and so he goes to a cafe or restaurant; but if he is making lunch at home, he has cold meat (left over probably from yesterday's dinner), potatoes, salad and pickles with a pudding of fruit follow. Sometimes people have a mutton chop or steak and chips followed by biscuits and cheese, and some people like a glass of light beer with lunch.

Afternoon tea you could hardly call a meal but it is a sociable sort of thing as friends often come in then for a chat while they have their cup of tea with cake or biscuit.

In some houses dinner is the biggest meal of the day. In a great many English homes people make the midday meal the chief one of the day, and in the evening they have the much simpler supper – an omelette or sausages, sometimes bacon and eggs, and sometimes just bread and cheese, a cup of coffee or cocoa and fruit.

Some people also have «high tea». They say there is no use for these afternoon teas where you try to hold a cup of tea in one hand and a piece of bread and butter about as thin as a sheet of paper in the other. They have it between five and six o'clock, and have ham or tongue and tomatoes and salad or sausages with good strong tea; plenty of bread and butter, then stewed fruit, with cream or custard and pastries or a good cake. And that's what an Englishman calls a good tea.

In common with other West European countries the British diet has changed over the last twenty years. In general, people are responding to recent medical advice and are cutting down on fatty food, heavy puddings and stodgy cakes. Food such as pizza, pasta and baked potatoes are now commonly served in English homes in preference to heavy evening meals during the week. People are more prepared to experiment with different styles of cooking.

At breakfast time it is usual to expect cereal and toast or rolls with butter and jam instead of the «traditional English breakfast». This is because of health considerations, the time needed for preparation and the cost.

The main family meal of the week tends to be on Sunday lunch at which, typically, a roast joint of meat will be served with several vegetables. You may also be served a pudding such as apple pie with cream. This is an occasion for the family to get together to talk and relax in a comfortable, friendly atmosphere.