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Interview Practice

on Eating in Taiwan or the U.S.

Preparation
 
PREREADING VOCABULARY EXERCISE
 
Study the sentences below. The words in italics are defined in parentheses.
 
barbecue¡Xcroissant¡Xdish¡Xfresh¡Xhealth food¡Xjunk food----nut¡Xpot luck¡Xprocessed¡Xsour cream¡XTY dinner
  1. "I 'll barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers." (cook on an open fire)
  2. The French might not recognize the croissants served at McDonald's. (a French crescent-shaped roll)
  3. Jeanette was preparing her dish. (food made in a certain way)
  4. The time saved by opening a can of peas was more important to buy housewives than was the better taste of fresh peas. (foods recently picked)
  5. health foods may be popular today because many Americans are tired of processed foods like Rick's California dip. (foods made from fresh ingredients, often containing no meat, sugar, or preservatives)
  6. Rick just can't live without junk food. (food such as candy bars that makes one gain weight without giving the body what it needs)
  7. " Jeanette's a health food nut!" (someone who feels so strongly about something that he or she seems a little crazy)
  8. The rest of the party is pot luck. (each guest beings some food)
  9. It is made only from natural, not processed, food. (foods that are treated in some way at the factory)
  10. Rick walked into the kitchen and started mixing a package of dried mushroom soup with some sour cream. ( a milk product made from heavy cream)
  11. Many prefer frozen pizzas., potato chips, and TV dinners. (frozen dinners sold at American supermarkets)
Directions
 
In each numbered sentence below, fill in the blank with the best word from the vocabulary list about. Change tense and number (singular or plural) where necessary.
  1. Many Americans today are __________about Chinese food.
  2. For one thing, every Chinese ___________is made from natural foods.
  3. Very few Chinese foods are ___________in factories.
  4. Almost all the vegetables used are ______.
  5. But while more Americans enjoy Chinese food all the time, many Chinese-American children are learning to like American _____-like potato chips.
CASE STUDY
 
At the end of her first semester in an American college, Elsa, a student from Greece, was surprised to hear her chemistry professor invite the whole class to a party at his house.
 
"I hope you all will be able to come, " he announced. " I'll barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers, but the rest is pot luck. I hope we have some good cooks here!"
 
Elsa was happy to have the chance to try some real American home cooking after eating in the college cafeteria all semester. She wanted to see what real American food was like.
 
The morning of the party, Elsa prepared a traditional Greek spinach pie, spanalopitta. an American classmate, Jeanette, had invited her to cook it in her kitchen. While Elsa cooked, Jeanette was preparing her dish for the party, a salad called tabbouleh.
 
"But I used to eat a salad just like that in Greece!" laughed Elsa, when she say Jeanette washing the tomatoes. " Is that a typical American dish?"
 
"No, it's Middle Eastern. But my grandmother is from Lebanon, and it's always been my favorite salads. and now it's quite popular. I ever saw it on the menu at school," said Jeanette.
 
Jeanette's boyfriend, Rick, walked into the kitchen and started mixing a package of dried mushroom soup with some sour cream. " This is called California dip," he explained to Elsa.
 
" I'm going to buy potato chips to eat it with. i probably should go buy some carrots and celery, too, to serve with the dip. But it's so much work to wash them and cut them up." " I hope you can't get the wrong idea of American food, Elsa. Rick just can't live without junk food!" said Jeanette.
 
' Yeah, and Jeanette's a health food nut!" answered Rick.
 
Questions
  1. Why was Elsa surprised that her professor invited the class to a party?
  2. Do you think it is a formal or an informal party? Do you think that it would be O.K. to wear blue jeans to such a party?
  3. When Jeanette said, " I hope you don't get the wrong idea of American food," what did she mean?
  4. Do Jeanette and Rick enjoy the same foods?
  5. Do you think that Jeanette and Rick helped Elsa get a better idea of what Americans eat?
Background
 
Jeanette's tabbouleh salad and Rick's California dip are examples of two kinds of food popular in the United States today. International, or "ethnic," dishes, like Jeanette's Lebanese salad, have become quite popular with Americans in recent years. Of course, Americans cook them their own way. The French might not recognize the croissants served at McDonald's, for example. and indeed, throughout United States history, certain foreign foods have become all-American favorites: pizza comes form Italy, and the first fried chicken in America was probably cooked by Africans.
 
Jeanette's grandmother's dish, tabbouleh, is not as popular or well known as pizza. but some Americans like it because they consider it a health food: it is made form only natural, not processed, foods. More and more Americans are interested in food that have spent more time at the farm than at the factory.
 
Health foods may be popular today because many Americans became tired of processed foods like Rick's California dip. Canned, frozen, and processed foods became very popular in the United States in the 1950s. At that time, the American food industry tried to convince American cooks that these foods were more timesaving, modern, and safe. And those values were more important to most A0mericans than the taste of the foods. The time saved by opening a can of peas was more important to busy housewives than the better the United States changed so that it actually became cheaper to buy canned or frozen peas than fresh ones.
 
What do American eat today? Many, like Rick, who grew up eating food out of a can, prefer frozen pizzas, potato chips, and TV dinners. others prefer "plain old American food," which usually means something like simply cooked meat with potatoes and vegetables cooked separately. At the same time, some Americans, like Jeanette, have become interested in other kinds of foods, such as health foods and international foods.
 
 
PRE-INTERVIEW VOCABULARY EXERCISE
 
Study the sentences below. The words in italics are defined in parentheses.
 
1. What foods do you try to avoid? (stay away from) 2. What is a balanced meal? (a meal having all the right kinds of foods for good health)
3. What would you think if your guest belched after the meal? (made a noise when air came up from the stomach)
4. Do you think most Americans eat a healthy diet? (the foods that people eat every day; sometimes it means the foods that people eat to lose weight)
5. What do you think if your guest asks for a second helping? (a serving of more food)
6. What foods or home remedies are said to be good for a cold? (homemade medicines; traditional cures such as special teas)
7. Do you keep one hand in your lap while eating? (the upper part of your legs when you are seated)
8. She licked the gravy from her fingers. (touch with the tongue outside the mouth)
9. Would you ever ask for the recipe? (directions for making a dish)
10. Is it all right to make slurping sounds while eating? (to make noise when eating soup or other foods with liquids)
11. What is your favorite snack? (foods eaten between meals)
12. What foods or meats are taboo to most Americans? (never eaten, because people think they are disgusting)
13. When you were a child, what foods did your mother prepare as a special treat?(something special, not eaten every day)
Directions
 
in each numbered sentence below, fill in the blank with the best word from the vocabulary list above. Change tense an number (singular and plural) where necessary.
  1. " Boy, do I love ice cream!" cried Karen as she ____________her cone with her tongue.
  2. " Me too!" agreed Jenny as she ________her ice cream soda.
  3. " This is a real _________for me. I try not to eat it too often so I won't get fat," said Karen.
  4. " Well, I try to only have it for dessert, not as a _________at night, " added Jenny.
  5. " Just think, Jenny. if we didn't try to _________ ice cream, it probably wouldn't taste so good when we finally had it!"

Interviews and Analysis

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR INTERVIEWS On the pages that follow there are four questionnaires;
  • Questionnaire 1: American Meals and Mealtimes;
  • Questionnaire 2: What Do Americans/Taiwanese Eat?
  • Questionnaire 3: American/Taiwanese Table Manners;
  • Questionnaire 4: American/Taiwanese Views on Food and health.
Choose the topic that interests you most, and interview an American, using one of the questionnaires. Make up one question of your own and write down any new vocabulary. In class, get together with other students who interviewed with the same questionnaire. Together, analyze the answers given by the Americans and plan a report. QUESTIONNAIRE 1 AMERICAN MEALS AND MEALTIMES
  1. In your household, at what time is breakfast? Lunch? Dinner?
  1. Which is the main meal? Is it always?
  2. At which meals do all the people in your household sit down to eat together? How long do you usually spend at the table?
  3. When your whole household eats together, who generally does the cooking? Who serves/ Who washes the dishes?
  4. Does everyone sit in certain chairs? Explain. Where would a guest sit?
  5. How often do you eat between meals? What is your favorite snack?
  6. How often do you eat out? where do you usually go?
  7. When you were growing up, what meals did your family eat together? Who talked? What did they talk about?
  8. How were family meals served? Who did the cooking? Who washed the dishes?
  9. Does your family observe any special customs at mealtimes, such as saying grace?
  10. (Your own question)
Person interviewed: __________________________Sex:___________ Age: _____________Ethnic background: ______________ New vocabulary
 
Questionnaire 2 WHAT DO AMERICANS EAT?
  1. What is your favorite breakfast? Your favorite lunch? Your favorite dinner? Your favorite dessert? Your favorite snack? How often do you get to eat your favorite foods?
  2. When you were a child, what foods did your mother prepare as a special treat?
  3. What were your grandmother's special dishes? What is your family's ethnic background?
  4. What are some of the traditional foods in your family that are prepared for the different holidays?
  5. Do you know if this part of the country is famous for any dish in particular/
  6. What are some examples (such as Southern fried chicken) of other regional cooking in the United States?
  7. What local restaurant serves good American food/
  8. Do you think that Americans today eat differently than they did in the past? If so, how?
  9. What foods or meats are taboo to most Americans?
  10. Are you a vegetarian/ Do you know any? Do you know why they are vegetarians?
  11. (Your own question)
Person interviewed :__________________________Sex:___________ Age: _____________Ethnic background: ______________ New vocabulary
 
Questionnaire 3 AMERICAN TABLE MANNERS Special note Be sure to ask the American you are interviewing to explain any custom that you don't understand.
  1. Suppose that you have invited guests for dinner. Would you consider it good manners, bad manners, or unimportant if one of your guests did the following;
  1. waited for you to tell him or her where to sit.
  2. served him or herself instead of waiting to be served
  3. started eating before everyone was served
  4. talked with food in his or her mouth
  5. picked up a chicken wing with his or her fingers
  6. dipped his or her bread into the gravy
  7. made slurping sounds while eating
  8. kept one hand in his or her lap while eating
  9. cut meat with the fork in the left hand and then changed the fork to the tright before bringing the food to his or her mouth
  10. picked up bread with his or her left hand
  11. commented on how good the food was
  12. asked for the recipe
  13. finished everything on the plate
  14. said no thanks to more food
  15. put his or her elbows on the table
  16. described a bloody accident scene during dinner
  17. asked for a second helping
  18. licked some gravy off his or her fingers
  19. left the table to go to the bathroom in the middle of the meal
  20. ate very quickly
  21. ate very slowly
  22. belched after the meal
  1. What are some examples of bad manners besides some of the ones just mentioned?
  2. What are some other examples of good manners?
  3. As a child, what table manners did your parents make sure you learned?
  4. (Your own question)
Person interviewed :__________________________Sex:___________ Age: _____________Ethnic background: ______________ 
 
Questionnaire 4
AMERICAN VIEWS ON FOOD AND HEALTH
  1. What foods, drinks, vitamins, or home remedies are said to be good for;
  • a cold
  • a fever
  • a headache
  • a sore throat
  • an upset stomach
  • tiredness
  • losing weight
  • gaining weight
  • for athletes in training
  • for pregnant women
  1. What are health foods? Give some examples. Do you yourself eat any health foods?
  2. DO your try to avoid certain foods for health reasons? Which ones? Why?
  3. Do you think most Americans eat a healthy diet? Why or why not?
  4. Do most Americans worry more about being too fat or about being too thin? Why?
  5. Do you watch your weight? How?
  6. What is a balanced meal? Give an example.
  7. What foods and drinks do Americans believe.
  8. (your own question)
Person interviewed :__________________________Sex:___________ Age: _____________Ethnic background: ______________ New vocabulary GROUP ANALYSIS Compare the answers given to the questionnaire by Americans interviewed by members of your group. Prepare a report from your group's discussion of the following questions:
  1. What were the most common, or typical answers to each question/
  2. a. In what ways are these answers different from the customs of students in the group?
  1. in what ways are these answers similar to some students' customs/
  1. If some Americans answered questions differently from the way others did, can you tell if these difference could be explained by the ethnic backgrounds of the people interviewed?
  2. Does the United States history as a nation of immigrants from all over the world show in what Americans eat? If so, how?

Additional activities

ADDITIONAL INTERVIEWS
 
Make up your own questionnaire on another topic related to eating. One possible topic is American cooking (ask about the most importantly condiments, cooking methods, utensils; food shopping; gourmet cooking). Another topic is restaurants: recommendations of the best local restaurants; different varieties of restaurants; etiquette in restaurants such as tipping and dress codes. Then interview one or more Americans using your questionnaire.
 
RESTAURANT VISIT
 
While the members of your group, visit a restaurant recommended by Americans for serving good American food. Ask the waiter to serve you the most typically American choices on the menu, and share examples of each among the group.
 
CLASS COOKBOOK
 
Put together a class cookbook of popular or traditional American dishes. Obtain the recipes from cookbooks or from good American cooks. Or make up an international cookbook, choosing just one type of food, such as rice dishes. Ask your classmates and some Americans for recipes.
 
ROLE PLAY
 
Role-play the following situations:
  1. American table manners
  2. Good table manners in other cultures
  3. An American eating a meal as the guest of someone from another culture whose table manners are quite different
In Conclusion
 
Look back to the three impressions of what, when, and how Americans eat that you wrote down on page 114. Do you still agree with these comments after studying more about American eating, or would you change them in any why? If so, how would you change them? Did you learn anything that surprised you about how and what Americans eat? If so, what?
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