Food, Nutrition and eating at Restaurants
Food, Nutrition and eating at Restaurants
Speech
Everybody likes different foods. We can go to a
store and buy fresh pastries - crispy rolls, buns, bread, or milk products. We can drink cold or warm milk, and prepare hot chocolate. We often eat
bread with butter or margarine, with jam or marmalade, or with cheese, ham, or different kinds of processed meat (salami). In some families’
pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, puddings, hot sausages, or sandwiches are the common fare.
Breakfast is one of the most important meals
we eat ach day. It should be kept healthy, light and easily digestible. A good breakfast consists of cereals and other fibred-rich foods - especially
fresh fruits and vegetables. Yogurt is very healthy too. As is the case with every meal, we should make sure that our breakfasts include plenty of
fluids - water, coffee, tea, juice or milk.
People eating a snack at 10:00 AM (“morning coffee break“) should remember to eat
something light and nutritious. Fresh fruit or vegetables might be the best choice to consider.
For some people the largest meal of the
day is at noon - lunch time. Many people are eating less pork and beef and replacing these with fish and poultry (chicken). Soup is also a favourite
for many at lunch time. In many homes lunch is also considered incomplete if it does not include a healthy green lettuce and fresh vegetable salad.
Instead of eating foods saturated with fat (French fries or fried potatoes) it is wise to eat cooked rice or baked or cooked potatoes. A healthy
desert would be fresh fruit, a pudding, ice milk (ice-cream made with milk), a low-fat cake or muffin, or yogurt. It is important to remember that
we should not overeat. It is better to eat more frequently, but in small portions. This way our body has time to digest the food and transform it
into the essential sugars, fats and proteins necessary to keep our bodies healthy.
It is healthy to drink at least one glass of water,
juice, or coffee or tea after each meal. In the course of a day the human body should get approximately two liters of water. Not all at once, but in
small amounts throughout the day.
The greater one‘s physical and mental exertion at work, the more one needs to eat. It is not wise to
eat simply out of boredom, to kill time, or just because one likes a particular food. Many people in western societies today are seriously and
dangerously overweight.
For many families the evening meal is a special time when the members of the family sit around the dining room
table together. It is a time of healthy interaction as the events of the day are shared and discussed. Sometimes families “go out” a
restaurant.
When shopping for groceries we should carefully consider the nutritional value, the fat content, as well as the vitamins and
minerals contained in the food we purchase. Inappropriate foods, often with a high level of fat content, can cause disorders of the digestive
system, stomach, thyroid gland and the small and large intestines.
UK - Tea has been called the national beverage of the English and
it is still their favourite drink. They usually put milk in their tea, but seldom put any sugar in it. Sundays are reserved for their big cooked
breakfast (which is sometimes called "brunch" - breakfast and lunch together) consisting of e.g. hard or soft boiled, scrambled, poached or
fried eggs, fried bacon, sausages, tomatoes, fried bread. Their breakfast is taken at eight or at nine o clock.
The typical British break is 5
o’clock tea, which is called high tea. The tea is usually fairly strong and eaten together with some cakes or biscuits.
About 6
o‘clock most families have their evening meal or "dinner". Dinner is the principal meal of the day. It may be cooked or cold depending on
the time of year. There is sometimes soup as the first course then some meat, vegetables and almost always potatoes, which is rather boring. The
English are fond of cakes and pies. And there is often a sweet - some kind of pudding or a fruit pie.
Supper is a meal which the English
sometimes have when they come home from the cinema or the theatre late at night. It is always a lighter meat. The traditional perception of British
cuisine is of overcooked vegetables, tasteless meat and a lot of potatoes. Many families now prefer to eat out at restaurants or cafés or to buy
take-away Chinese or Indian meals to eat at home. The selection of foreign food is larger now and there are lots of hamburger chains. They are a
nation with a very "sweet tooth".
Fast food is a typical feature of both British and American life styles. In a restaurant you
can eat national dishes, but there are food stalls and places where you can either buy various types of food to eat as you walk along the streets or
take it away and eat at home. The Americans call fast food restaurants "cheapies". These places - McDonald s, Burger King, Wendy's,
Kentucky Fried Chicken (in America also Mrs. Winner's) usually offer beverages (Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, tea, coffee, milkshakes...), some solid food
like roast chicken and chips, hamburgers, sandwiches, pizza, salads or deserts (apple, cherry pie). The oldest types of fast food are sea food
stalls or shops - usually fish and chips. Many types of fish are sold (cod, hake, plaice ). Another typical feature of British and American
lifestyle is popcorn. You can buy it when walking the streets. Various types of popcorn are sold - either sweet with sugar and other flavors, or
cooked with salt.
CZ - In our country daily meals usually start with breakfast, which consists of something to drink - tea ( with milk
or with lemon ) or cocoa, warm or hot milk, black coffee - and something to eat, e.g. one or two slices of bread and butter and cheese or eggs, ham,
salami, jam etc. Instead of bread we can eat rolls or buns or we can have something sweet - cakes, doughnuts or gingerbread. Quite a lot of people
eat cereal for their breakfast - either cornflakes or porridge or muesli - they also sometimes add various ingredients like yoghurt, raisins,
chocolate, stewed fruit, walnuts, hazelnuts etc. Breakfast usually takes place between 6 and 7 o‘clock.
Around noon (but in our school
sometimes at half past two p.m. ) we have our lunch which is warm and consists of some soup, a main dish, something to drink and salad or dessert.
Most people go to a school, office or factory canteen but some prefer going to a restaurant or having a fast lunch in a buffet or a snack bar or
buying something at street stalls.
Soups are either vegetable soups (potato, tomato, pea, bean, carrot, parsley, celery, mushrooms) or meat
teas (beef tea, tripe, chicken, hen or goulash soup etc.). Some people cook fruit soups (e.g. strawberry soup).
Typical Czech meals
include: Tripe soup, potato soup, "kulajda" soup (mushrooms and potatoes boiled in a little bit of sour cream soup), roasted goose and
sauerkraut and Czech dumplings, Moravian sparrows (roasted fat pork off cuts) and dumplings, Spanish birds (rolled beef steaks filled with salami,
pickle, egg and mustard ), potato pancakes, fruit dumplings with cream, baked yeast dumplings, potato or "hairy" dumplings, fried cheese
etc. Traditional Czech cuisine is however a bit unhealthy and people can get fat. Many families prefer to cook more vegetable meals, they become
vegetarians or try some kind of foreign ( Chinese ) food.
Zones.sk – Zóny pre každého študenta