BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'Food and Drink 3' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocabulary!

Hello, I'm Catherine.

Welcome to Six Minute English

where we engage in some lively debate

and discuss six stimulating

items of vocabulary!

And let's start.

Here's your cup of coffee, Rob.

Thanks! But what took you so long, Catherine?

Sorry Rob. I bumped into somebody

I knew in the cafe and stopped

for a chat. OK, well, that fits well

with today's show where we're talking

about cafes or coffee houses.

Did you know, Catherine, that coffee

houses were originally a meeting place

for lively debate and

intellectual discussion?

Really. I didn't know that, Rob.

A debate, by the way, means a

discussion that a lot of people

take part in.

So how long ago was this debating society?

The first coffee house was set up in

Oxford in 1650. But they quickly became

popular and soon they were all

over London too.

You paid a penny to get in, and this

included access to newspapers - and

stimulating conversation!

If something is stimulating it

encourages ideas and enthusiasm.

I expect the coffee helped with

that a bit did it?

It certainly helps me first thing

in the morning. Which brings me

on to today's question, Rob!

How many cups of coffee do we

consume in coffee shops or stores

in the UK every year?

Consume, by the way, is another

word for eat or drink.

So, is the answer...

a) 2.3 million, b) 23 million, or, c) 23 billion?

Oh I don't know but it's got to be a lot

so I'm going to go for c) 23 billion?

That sounds like a lot of coffee, but I

buy several cups a week - and I expect

you do too, Catherine?

I do indeed. But I have to say, while

I was getting our coffees earlier, there

was nobody else in the cafe talking

except me and my friend.

Everybody else was sitting on their

own, tapping away on their laptops.

Let's listen now to Douglas Fraser, BBC

Scotland's Business and Economy Editor,

describing the vibe - or atmosphere - in

a typical 21st century cafe...

Ten or so in the morning, the cafe has

five people at tables with their backs

to the wall, each staring into a screen, plugged

in, ears plugged. The flow of bytes through

this coffee shop's free wifi is transporting

these customers to diverse destinations

far from the person beside them.

Collaborative working, a research grant

application, a potential blockbuster novel, and

inevitably, someone distracted by kitten pictures

on social media. So the spirit of those 17th

century coffee houses has disappeared then?

No more lively debate and intellectual discussion?

It seems so Rob. As Douglas Fraser says, many

people sit alone plugged into their laptops - and

they're all doing different things - working, writing,

messing about on social media.

I think the cafe

owners should turn off the free wifi and force

these cafe squatters to move on! I don't think

people should be allowed to sit all day using

the internet - hogging tables - and not talking

to anybody! Especially when some of them

don't even buy a coffee!

That's a bit extreme, Rob.

Cafe owners need customers - and they

encourage people to stay by having comfy

sofas and newspapers to read and the

free wifi! A squatter, by the way, is someone

who lives in an empty building without

paying rent.. And if you hog something you

use most or all of it in a selfish way.

I suppose you're right, Catherine.

Now, how about telling us the answer to

today's question then? I asked:

How many cups of coffee do we consume

in cafes or stores in the UK every year?

Is it... a) 2.3 million b) 23 million or c) 23 billion?

I could sit in a cafe and use their free wifi to

research the answer but I had a guess and

said 23 billion. Well you didn't need that free

wifi Rob because you were absolutely right!

23 billion coffees per year works out on

average as 45 cups per adult in the UK.

OK, I think it's time we looked back at the

words we learned today. Our first word is

'debate' - a discussion that a lot of people

take part in. For example, 'I took part in a

number of stimulating debates at school.'

Number two - if something is 'stimulating', it

encourages new ideas and enthusiasm.

For example, 'It's hard to have a stimulating

conversation with someone who's looking at

their phone all the time.' That's very true - let

me just slide my phone into my pocket... there!

Our next word is 'consume' - another word for

eating or drinking - but it can also mean 'to use'.

For example, 'My car consumes a lot of petrol.'

Or, 'How do I calculate my car's fuel consumption?'

So 'consumption' there is the noun. Number four

is - 'vibe' - which means the mood or atmosphere

in a place. For example, 'Oxford is a city but it has

a small-town vibe.'

I'm getting bad vibes from our

next word - which is 'squatter' - that's someone

who lives in an empty building without paying rent.

The building is called a 'squat' so for example, 'I

lived in a squat for two years.'

Really? You squatted in a squat, Rob?

No, it was just an example. I'm

not a squatter.

You've never squatted?

No I haven't.

Look we're wasting time here! We need to move on

to our final word - hog. If you 'hog' something, you

use all or most of it in a selfish way.

For example, 'Rob! You've hogged the only

comfy chair! That is so selfish!' I admit it,

Catherine. I'm a chair hog. That's the noun.

OK, before we head off for another cup of

coffee please remember to check out our

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages.

Bye!

Bye, bye.

Hello, this is 6 Minute English and

I'm Catherine.

And I'm Sam.

Sam, how do you feel about tipping?

Tipping? You mean giving

extra money to people in certain jobs for

doing their jobs?

Well, I wouldn’t put it quite

like that. But yes, it’s giving money to waiters

and waitresses, hairdressers, taxi drivers - money

that is more than the actual bill.

It’s a nightmare!

I never know who to tip, how to tip, by cash or by

card, how much to tip – is it 10, 12.5, 20 per

cent or even if I should tip at all because in

some places a service charge is automatically

added to the bill.

Yes, tipping is a really

complicated issue which we will be looking

at in this programme. But to start with, a question.

What is the biggest tip that we know

somebody gave? Is it… A: $10,000, is it…

B: $250,000, or is it… C: $3,000,000? What do

you think, Sam?

I’m going to go for $250,000.

OK, we’ll find out if you’re right at the end of

the programme. Now, back to the topic of tipping

and in particular, tipping people who work

in restaurants. William Beckett runs a number

of restaurants and he recently appeared on

the BBC Food Programme. He was asked

about his view of tipping. Now as we hear

him, listen out for this information. In how

many cities does he say he currently has

restaurants?

It is cultural,

i.e. it differs from place to place. We have

restaurants in London, we have a restaurant

in Manchester, we’re also opening a restaurant

in New York and those three cities have quite

different attitudes to tipping. In London, the

norm is, it’s there, it’s on your bill. That’s not

the norm, for example, in Manchester and it’s

not the norm in New York where we’re going

to open a restaurant later this year.

So, first, how

many cities does he currently have

restaurants in?

That would be two. London and

Manchester. He’s going to open one in New York

later in the year, but it’s not open yet.

And what does he say about tipping?

Well, he says that it is very cultural.

What is the norm in one city is not

necessarily the norm in another. 'The norm' is an

expression that means, as you might guess,

'what is normal, what is usual'.

So in London, for example, a service charge is usually added to

the bill, but in Manchester it isn’t. So the policy

in London and Manchester differs which means,

again as you might guess, it’s different.

There’s another short expression that he used that I’d like

to highlight.

Before he talks about how the policies

differ, he says 'i.e'. These two letters stand for the

Latin phrase 'id est'. Now we never say ‘id est’ but

we do write and say 'i.e'. We use it to show that

what comes next is using different words to say

what we have just said or written. So he says, about

tipping, 'it’s cultural' i.e. it differs from place to place.

‘It’s cultural’ is a more general statement and ‘it differs

from place to place’ is a more specific definition of

what he means.

So, one difference is that in some

places people prefer an automatic service charge so

that they don’t have to think about or try to calculate

a tip. But in other places, people hate that - they want

to decide who and how much to tip themselves. But

do people actually make use of that freedom not

to tip? Here’s William Becket again and this he's time

talking about New York.

New York exactly the same. There’s a tacit pressure to tip.

But theoretically you just stand up and walk out.

You don’t, everybody tips 20% or, there is a theory

of an option. But people like that.

So he says there is 'a tacit pressure to tip'.

What does he mean by that?

Something that is 'tacit' is not spoken, not

said, yet it is still understood. So in New York no one

tells you that you have to tip, but everyone knows

that you have to.

And because there is no service

charge on the bill and no one tells you what to tip, you

could just walk out after paying. He says that’s

'theoretically possible'. That means although it may

be possible, it’s actually very unlikely because of

the tacit pressure and the way we behave.

But he does say people like that freedom not to tip, even if

they don’t actually use that freedom.

Right, nearly vocabulary time, but first,

let’s have the answer to

our question. Now Sam, what is the biggest tip we

know someone gave?

I thought $250,000.

Well it was actually, believe it or 

not, a whopping $3,000,000.

Yes! Now, on with today’s vocabulary review.

So we’ve been talking about tipping, the practice of giving extra

money to, for example, waitresses and waiters.

'To differ from' is a verb which means

'to be different from'.

'The norm' is what is usual or normal.

'i.e.' is a short form of a Latin expression and

it means ‘in other words’.

Something that is 'tacit' is not said but is

nevertheless understood.

And if something is 'theoretically possible' it

can be done, but for different reasons, it

probably won’t be. And that is where we must

leave it today.

Goodbye!

Bye everyone!

Hello, this is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.

And I’m Rob.

Fancy a game of ‘food connections’, Rob?

So I’ll name a place and you say the first

food that comes to mind. Ready?

Yeah, sure, let’s go! Italy.

Erm…’pizza’ – or ‘lasagne’. New York?

‘Hot dogs’, of course.

Or maybe ‘bagels’. Now how about…

Cornwall from the UK?

If it’s Cornwall, it must be the famous ‘Cornish pasty’, right?

That’s right! Cornwall, the region which

forms the south-western tip of Britain, is as

famous for its pasties as New York is for

hot dogs. In this programme we’ll be finding

out all about Cornish pasties. We’ll hear how

it’s gone from humble beginnings to become

a symbol of Cornish identity and spread around

the world to Jamaica, Argentina and Brazil.

But what exactly is a pasty, Neil?

Somewhere between a pie and a

sandwich, right? A piece of pastry which is

turned over and crimped along the side to make

two corners…

and filled with different ingredients -

which brings me to my quiz

question for today, Rob.

What is the traditional filling in an

authentic Cornish pasty?

Is it: a) Chicken, avocado and brie?

b) Beef, potato and turnip? Or

c) Pork, onion and chorizo?

Well, chorizo is Spanish isn’t it?

And avocado with brie doesn’t sound

traditionally Cornish, so I’ll say

b) beef, potato and turnip.

OK, Rob. We’ll find out later if you were right.

What’s for sure is that the Cornish pasty

has had a long history as BBC Radio 4’s

The Food Programme discovered.

They spoke to Dr Polly Russell, a public

life curator at the British Library.

Here she is reading from one of the

earliest mentions of pasties from the

late 17th century: There’s a lovely bit

here where he’s describing what a

housewife in Hertfordshire does and

he’s talking about her way to make pork

pies and pork pasties: pies may be made

and baked either raised in paste earthen

pans or in pewter dishes or in the shape

of a turnover, two-cornered pasties.

So that’s a very early reference to a pasty

in the shape, I think, that we know it but

also being made specifically for labourers - to

be feeding labourers on a farm at harvest time.

So the earliest pasties were made in pewter

dishes – a traditional cooking plate made of

a silver-coloured metal called ‘pewter’.

And they were eaten by agricultural labourers –

workers doing physical farm work during

harvest time – the weeks in autumn when

crops like wheat are cut and collected from the fields.

But it wasn’t only farmers and labourers

who ate pasties. As well as its farms and

fishing, Cornwall was famous for tin mines, as

Ruth Huxley of the Cornish Pasty Association explains:

Pasties would have been eaten by lots

of people who went to work but it just worked

perfectly down mines, and Cornwall became the

world capital of mining. And so lots of pasties

were made, lots of pasties were eaten and then

that mining community went all over the world

and took the pasty with them.

Pasties were eaten by hungry workers

involved in the mining industry -

digging up materials such as coal or metals like

gold, or in Cornwall tin, from the ground.

So far we’ve been talking about Cornwall.

But you said the Cornish pasty has spread

around the world, Neil. How did that happen?

Well, that’s connected to the tin miners we just

talked about. Here’s Polly Russell again:

This is replicated, not just in Mexico but

with migrants moving to America, to Minnesota, to

Canada, to Australia. So anyone who travels to

many of those places now will see foods which

are incredibly reminiscent and familiar and just

like Cornish pasties.

In the 19th century, many

Cornish tin miners emigrated, moving abroad to

start a better life. Their pasty recipes were

replicated – or copied exactly, in the new places

where they landed, from America to Australia.

And that’s why in many places around the world

you can find food which is reminiscent of pasties –

meaning it reminds you of something similar, in this

case the original Cornish pasty with its traditional

filling of, er, what was your quiz question again, Neil?

Ah, yes. I asked you what the traditional Cornish

pasty filling was. You said…

I said b) beef, potato and turnip.

And you were right! ‘Keslowena’,

Rob – that’s Cornish for ‘congratulations’!

‘Heb grev’, Neil – that’s ‘no problem’!

In fact those other fillings – chorizo, avocado and brie -

really did feature in pasties entered for this year’s

Annual World Pasty Championships, held in

Cornwall every spring. Other pasty-inspired ideas

include Argentinian chimichurri empanadas and spicy

Jamaican patties.

So the pasty is still going strong, both

in Cornwall and around the world.

Today we’ve been discussing Cornish pasties – a kind

of filled pastry from the south-west of England, originally

made in pewter dishes – a silver-coloured metal dish.

Pasties were eaten by agricultural labourers – farm

workers bringing in the autumn harvest – the time

when crops are cut and collected from the fields, and

also by workers in the tin mining industry – digging up

metals like tin from underground.

Later, when these miners emigrated to new lands, pasties were

replicated – cooked again in the same way.

In fact Cornish miners moved to so many new

countries that today, almost every corner of the

world has food reminiscent of – or reminding you

of, the original Cornish pasty.

That’s all for today. Join us again soon for more

topical discussion and vocabulary on 6 Minute English.

Bye for now!

Bye.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Rob.

Rob, would you describe yourself as a wine connoisseur?

If you mean am I someone who enjoys wine and

knows a lot about it, then no - although the enjoy

part is true - particularly a nice glass of red.

Of course, wine might not be everybody's cup of

tea - not something they like - but wine has been

an important part of history and language.

And even if you don't drink alcohol, wine can be

used as a commodity you can invest in and sell at an auction.

And that brings me on to my quiz

question, Rob. In 2018, a bottle of wine dating

back to 1774 sold at auction in eastern France

for a record-breaking price.

Do you know how much it was sold for?

Was it... a) $20,800 b) $120,800 or c) $220,800?

I know wine can fetch a high price - but not as high

as some of those options, so I'll say a) $20,800.

I'll reveal the answer later on. But let's talk more

about wine now. A glass of the stuff can be sipped

and savoured or just glugged.

Glug is a good word, meaning drink in large gulps or

mouthfuls - not something a wine expert would do. For some

people, drinking and serving wine is almost an art form.

If you go to a restaurant, there might

be a sommelier - a person whose job is to serve

and give advice about wine. They may have had

years of training to learn about the different types

of wine and the individual flavours or aromas, known as notes.

This job has fascinated journalist and

author Bianca Bosker. She wrote a book called 'Cork Dorks'.

And here she is talking on the BBC

World Service programme The Why Factor

describing her fascination with sommeliers.

These were people who had taken wine, which

I always thought of as a thing of pleasure, something

you turn to after a long stressful day, and turned it into

something approaching sheer God-awful pain. They

licked rocks, trained their palates, they divorced their

spouses to spend more time reviewing flash cards - they

had hired voice coaches and memory coaches, they took

dance classes to learn how to move more gracefully across

the dining room floor.

Like me, Bianca thought drinking

wine was a pleasurable activity - something that helped

her relax after a long stressful day. So she was surprised

at how sommeliers turned this activity into 'something

approaching 'sheer God-awful pain'.

The word 'sheer' is used to emphasise the amount

of something - or to mean 'nothing but'.

She thought the work of a sommelier

was nothing but pain - they seemed

to dedicate their life to wine!

One thing a sommelier does is train their

palate - this is their ability to distinguish and appreciate

different tastes and identify types of good wine from

their taste. I guess this is quite important.

But divorcing their spouses does sound a bit extreme!

I'm afraid I wouldn't take it so seriously - 

I'll stick to drinking poorer

quality, cheap red wine - sometimes called plonk!

WeIl, Rob, cheap wine doesn't always have to be

poor quality. Interestingly, there is some evidence

that shows we only think wine tastes better because

it's more expensive.

Ah yes, this is research Hilke

Plassmann from INSEAD Business School in France

spoke about on the BBC World Service's Why Factor

programme. She's been looking into what influences consumer behaviour.

The price tag affects that region

in your brain that encodes your liking of the taste, so in

other words, you not only think that you like the more

expensive wine more, you feel you like the more expensive

wine more, because your brain region that encodes this

feeling is influenced by the price  tag.

So, our brain is possibly playing tricks on us.

When we see the price tag on a bottle of

wine, our brain encodes the information and tells us how it

should taste. Encodes means changes the information into

something that we can use or understand. Drinking more

expensive wine makes you think it tastes better. So perhaps,

when buying supermarket wine or wine in a restaurant,

it may be better telling yourself that the cheaper

option is OK!

I'll drink to that! But I wonder how

that most expensive bottle of wine ever sold at

auction tastes? The one dating back to 1774

that you asked me about.

So you thought it sold

for $20,800, but sorry, Rob, that's too cheap.

It was in fact sold for $120,800. I assume it wasn't drunk.

I hope not. Well, I think I'll stick to my

plonk for now, Sam. Plonk was one of our vocabulary

words today and describes cheap, poor quality wine.

We also mentioned a connoisseur - someone who

enjoys a particular thing and knows a lot about it.

A sommelier is someone who serves and gives advice

about wine in a restaurant.

Sheer is a word used to emphasise the amount of

something - or to mean 'nothing but'.

A palate describes someone's ability

to distinguish and appreciate different tastes.

Finally, encodes means changes information into

something we can use or understand. But now we're

out of time so 'cheers' everyone.

Thanks for listening and goodbye,

Goodbye.

Hello. This is  6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Rob.

So we're well into 2020 now - how are

your New Year's resolutions going, Rob?

Ah resolutions - you mean promises people

make to themselves to stop or start doing

something - I promised to start running, and

to stop eating biscuits and to give up alcohol

for a month. But I failed on all of them!

Oh dear...

Yes, I lasted a few days and then

I started to crumble.

Yeah. Well, you're not alone.

Many people try to kick bad habits and get healthy

when a new year begins. Their intentions - their

plans to do something - are good.

Yes, giving up drinking is particularly good to do,

if only for the health benefits.

Well, we'll be talking more about

that as soon as I've set up today's question.

According to historians, which people were thought

to be the first group to make New Year's resolutions?

Was it the... a) Romans, b) Native Americans, or,

c) Babylonians.

I haven't got a clue, so I'm going to guess a) the Romans.

OK, Rob, I'll let you know if that

was a good guess at the end of the programme.

Now let's talk more about giving things up for

New Year and, specifically, giving up alcohol.

It's a time often called 'Dry January' - dry refers

to not drinking alcohol, it's not about the weather!

And the beginning of the year seems like a good

time to start doing something to improve your health.

But it's easy to give in to  temptation - isn't it, Rob?

Oh yes. And it's tough to give up drinking in the first

place, as Millie Gooch, founder of The Sober Girl

Society knows. She spoke to BBC Radio 4's You and

Yours programme and explained why it was hard to

quit in the first place...

I think it's the peer pressure and, you know, it's just so expected of

us, it's so ingrained in us. Alcohol is everywhere

and it's not just alcohol itself, it's alcohol

merchandise, so, you know, you've got Christmas

jumpers that have been say 'Prosecco-ho-ho-ho' and

you can't buy a birthday card without saying

'let the fun be-gin'. It's just absolutely everywhere, it's

so hard to avoid.

So that's Millie, who's right when

she says that, in the UK at least, we sometimes drink

because we give in to peer pressure. That's the

influence a group of similar people have on you to

behave like them. We want to be part of the group

so we copy what they do - and we are expected to

do so because, as Millie said, drinking alcohol is

ingrained in us - well in some cultures anyway.

And when an attitude is ingrained it means it's been

that way for a long time - it's difficult to change.

And although it may be harmful, we see jokes

about drinking through things like merchandise - a

word for goods we buy and sell.

And Millie goes on to say we can buy jumpers

that joke about the

Italian sparkling wine called Prosecco - which

say 'Prosecco-ho-ho-ho!' And birthday cards have

the message 'let the fun be-gin' -

a play on the word 'begin'.

With all this social pressure, it's hard

not to give in - and that's even worse when you're

trying to fulfil your resolution not to drink.

For Millie, enough was enough when drinking

started to have a negative effect and she had to

do something about it. Let's hear from her again.

I started realising that alcohol was

really affecting my mental health, so I was getting

that really bad hangover anxiety - that like, hangover

fear and dread - and I kind of noticed that was

permeating everyday life. I was a binge drinker

rather than like an everyday drinker. So I just

decided that it wasn't suiting my life any more

and I wanted to give it up. 

So Millie there described

the negative effects of a hangover - that's the sick

and tired feeling you get after drinking too

much alcohol. She also said she felt anxiety.

And this feeling was permeating her everyday life.

When something permeates it spreads through

something and influences every part of it.

So, drinking was affecting her everyday life, and it

didn't help that she was a binge drinker.

When you binge you do something occasionally

but to extreme.

Well, Millie managed to quit

drinking and hasn't touched a drop since.

There are many benefits to remaining sober - that

means not being drunk. And one of them is

hearing the answer to today's question!

Earlier I asked you: According to historians, which

people were thought to be the first group to make

New Year's resolutions? Was it the... a) Romans,

b) Native Americans or c) Babylonians?

And Rob, what did you say?

I had a wild guess and said it was the Romans.

Sorry, Rob, you are wrong. Many historians

think it was the Babylonians who made the first

ever New Year's resolutions, about 4,000 years ago.

According to the history dot com website, at New

Year - which they celebrated in mid-March - Babylonians

made promises to the gods to pay their debts and

return any objects they had borrowed.

I wonder if they managed to keep their resolutions

for longer than I did? Anyway, let's keep one of our

regular promises - to recap the vocabulary we've

discussed today. Starting with resolution,

which, in the context of a New Year's resolution,

is a promise to

yourself to stop or start doing something.

Peer pressure is the influence a group of similar

people have on you to behave like them.

Ingrained describes an attitude or idea that has

been done in a certain way for a long time and is

difficult to change. And merchandise is a word for

goods we buy and sell. We also mentioned a

hangover - that's the sick, tired and sometimes

anxious feeling you get after drinking too much

alcohol. And permeating describes spreading

through something and influencing every part of it.

Like the vocabulary in this programme, Sam!

Thanks, Rob - and that's all for now.

Bye bye!