English Rewind - Entertainment: Good food 🍝

Hello! Andrew here from BBC Learning English. Just so you know, this programme is from the BBC  

Learning English archive and was first broadcast in December 2006 on our website. And now, on with the show!

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Hello, I'm Jackie Dalton. Welcome to the programme. Today we're going to take a look at food and the language

you might use to describe food. Whether it's at someone's house after you've just had a lovely meal and you want to

compliment them, or if you want to tell someone about a dish that you've just had and describe what it's like.  

And the best possible place to do all this is at London's Good Food Show, which is held every year,  

and we're going to wander round and talk to some people here and ask them to describe the kind  

of food that they're eating. Now I'm at a food stand belonging to one of Britain's most famous  

chefs Gordon Ramsay. Diane, a visitor here, has been eating some of his duck. She seems to like  

it. What are some of the words that come up which show that she likes it?

My name's Diane and I've been eating a confit of duck, with salad.

And what's it like? 

Very tasty. Sweet, but gamey. Um, it  was nice. It was really good.  

It's a fairly, fairly light meal. Very, very tasty, moreish!

Well, lots of expressions there which show Diane liked her food.

They included simple words like 'nice' and 'good' which are  

all fine to describe food that you like.  The first one she used was 'very tasty'.  

'tasty' - this means 'it's nice, it tastes good'. It's a fairly informal word, but a nice way to say that you enjoyed food.

Very, very tasty, moreish!

What was the other word at the end there?

'moreish' - 'it's the kind of food that makes you want to have more'.

'moreish' is basically the word 'more' with i-s-h', or 'ish', on the end to make it into an adjective.

...moreish!

And what about the texture? Is it sort of chewy, or...?  

Next, I asked about the duck's texture, not so much what it tastes like as what it feels like.

Here are some of the expressions you might use to describe the texture of food:

'tough'

'chewy'

'tender'

Let's break those down.

'tough'

It's usually not a compliment to describe food as 'tough'. If you say, "this meat is quite tough",  

it means 'you have to bite quite hard into it. It's not very easy to crush with your teeth'.

This is often seen as a bad thing, so if you want to be nice to someone who has cooked you dinner,  

don't say the meat is 'tough'.

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What about the next word?

'chewy'

This also means 'food is not very easy to eat'.

If something is 'chewy', you have to spend quite a long time biting it in your mouth before you can swallow.

Chewing gum is the perfect example of something 'chewy'. But, again, to describe meat as 'chewy' is not usually a compliment.

We tend to think of good meat as being 'tender'. 

'tender'

This means it's soft; it's easy to chew.  

It's a word that we usually use only when talking about meat, or maybe some kinds of meaty fish,  

like tuna. Diane uses an expression which describes something that is really 'tender'. What is that expression?

Was it sort of chewy, or...?

It was more of a melt in the mouth taste, which I didn't expect.

'melt in the mouth' – that means 'it's so tender, you hardly have to chew it'.  

It breaks up very easily and smoothly. To say it's the kind of food that 'melts in your mouth' is a big compliment.

I think this is the expression that really shows how much Diane likes the food.

Well, now it's time to check if you've understood the expressions you've heard. Here are some questions:

Number one - What expression did we hear which you might use to describe something that you just can't stop eating?

'moreish', 'moreish'

I usually find chocolate cake quite 'moreish'. I might have one slice, but then I just want more and more.

Question two - Your friend bites into a steak and says it's 'tasty'. Does this mean it's difficult to eat or that she likes it? 

It means she likes it.

Mmm - that pizza is really tasty.

Question three - What word, also beginning with 't', describes something that's difficult to bite into?

'tough'

I'm not eating any more of that meat; it's too tough.

Question four - And what expression did Diane use to mean that something is so tender you hardly have to chew it?

'It melts in the mouth.'

The lamb is incredibly tender; it just melts in your mouth.

To finish off, let's listen once again to the conversation I had with Diane about her duck,

cooked by top chef Gordon Ramsay.

My name's Diane and I've been eating a confit of duck, with salad.

And what's it like?

Very tasty. Sweet, but gamey.

Um, it was nice. It was really good. It's  a fairly, fairly light meal. Very, very tasty, moreish! 

And what about the texture? Was it sort of chewy or...?

It was more of a melt in the mouth taste, which I didn't expect.

Well, I have to say, here at the food show, there's plenty of food I would call 'moreish', so I'm off to have some more.

But hopefully next time you want to tell someone about food you've eaten, some of these phrases will come in useful.

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