Food superstitions - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute

English from BBC

Learning English. I'm Rob.

And I'm Sam, and I'm having

a boiled egg for lunch today.

I'll just sprinkle some salt

on top - there!

Oh, you've spilled

some salt on the

floor, Sam! Quick,

throw some over

your left shoulder.

Throw salt over

my shoulder?!

What are you

talking about, Rob?

It's bad luck to spill salt!

Oh dear! It looks like

Rob believes in

superstitions - old

beliefs which are

based on magic and

mystery rather

than science. Many

superstitions are

connected to food, as

we'll discover in

this programme.

Right - like throwing

salt over your shoulder

to stop bad luck.

Oh come on, Rob!

You don't really

believe that, do you?

Well, lots of people do

believe food superstitions,

including otherwise

rational, scientific people.

For example, have you

ever blown out the

candles on a birthday

cake and made a wish?

Or thrown rice over the

bride and groom

at a wedding?

Yes to both of those.

Maybe I'm more

superstitious than

I thought!

Well, before we find

out, it's time for

a quiz question about

another famous

food festival - Halloween.

That's when people carve

scary faces into

pumpkins to frighten

away evil spirits.

Yes. Right. The tradition

of carving pumpkins,

or Jack o'Lanterns as

they're called in the

United States, started

out as a Celtic festival

in Ireland - but it was

the Americans who

started using pumpkins.

So what vegetable

did the Irish originally

use to scare

away ghosts? Was it:

a) turnips?,

b) potatoes?, or

c) squash?

I ll say b) potatoes.

OK, Sam, we'll

find out the right

answer later on.

What's for sure is

that cultures from

around the world have

been connecting food

and magic for

thousands of years,

and over time it's

created some

strange beliefs. Here's food historian

Tasha Marks describing

one unusual superstition

to BBC World Service

programme, The

Food Chain:

When you have

superstitions and they

sort of mix with science

and health and medicine...

and one of the examples

of that would be something

like garlic which... we all

know garlic wards off

vampires but it's also

been thought to ward

off the 'evil eye', and if

you come across the term,

the 'evil eye', it's a sort of

blanket term that sort

of applies to any bad luck.

Tasha says that garlic

is believed to ward off

vampires, meaning to

repel or stop someone

from harming you.

According to this

superstition, garlic

also keeps away the

evil eye - bad luck or

magical spells with

the power to cause

bad things to happen.

Tasha describes the

'evil eye' as a blanket

term for any bad luck.

Just as a real blanket

covers the different

parts of your body, a

blanket term is a

phrase that's used

to describe many

examples of

related things.

But food superstitions

aren't only about bad

luck - they also give

our lives meaning.

Jonty Rajagopalan

owns a tourist agency

in Hyderabad, India,

where she introduces

visitors to some of

the city's food traditions.

Here she is talking

with BBC World Service's,

The Food Chain, about a

tradition connected

with the Hindu New

Year. Can you spot

the different tastes

she mentions?

Some of the

traditions give you

a little bit of a lesson,

like every new year,

and not 1st January,

not the Gregorian

calendar New Year, but

the Hindu calendar

New Year, we would

always be given - it's a

kind of a chutney

which is made of all

the five tastes:

so you have sour,

you have sweet,

you have something

bitter in it and your mum

would always give it to

you saying that this is

what the rest of the

year is going to be -

you'll have happiness,

you'll have challenges,

you'll have a little

sadness, you'll have

bitterness in your life,

which I think is a

very nice tradition - it

prepares you for

everything in life.

At Hindu New Year,

mothers give their

children a special

chutney - a mixture of

fruit, spices, sugar

and vinegar. Did you

spot the chutney's

flavours, Sam?

There was sour,

sweet and bitter.

Mothers tell their

children that the

coming year, like the

chutney, will have its

own flavours, both

good and bad.

That's why Jonty

says that traditions

can teach (you) a

lesson - they show you

what you should or

shouldn't do in

the future, as a

result of experience.

What a lovely way to

end our look at

food superstitions!

Yes, maybe we

should make chutney

at Halloween, instead

of carving pumpkins -

or whatever vegetable

the Irish originally used.

Ah, yes - in my quiz

question I asked you

what vegetable was

originally used instead

of pumpkins to

scare away ghosts.

I guessed it was

b) potatoes.

Which was... the

wrong answer! In fact,

turnips were originally

used, so maybe Irish

ghosts are smaller

than American ones!

OK, let's recap the

vocabulary we've

learned about

superstitions - old

beliefs which are

connected with magic.

Garlic is supposed

to ward off, or keep

away, dangers like

the evil eye - bad

luck or harmful magic.

The evil eye is an

example of a blanket

term - a phrase used to

describe many

examples of related things.

One Indian superstition

involves chutney - a

food mixing

many flavours.

These traditions

can teach you a

lesson - show you

how to act in the

future based on

your past experience.

Right. Well, that's

all for this programme.

Good luck with your

language learning!

And if you've

enjoyed this topical

discussion and want

to learn how to use

the vocabulary found

in headlines, why not

try out our News

Review podcast?

Bye for now!

Bye bye!