Improve your FOOD Vocabulary with this Story

- Hello, and welcome.

It's Keith from the Keith Speaking Academy,

and the YouTube channel English Speaking Success.

Today, I have another story for you.

Stories are fantastic ways to learn vocabulary,

develop your listening skills,

all of which will actually help your speaking skills

develop as well.

Today's story is actually all about the topic of food.

Recently, not recently, a while back,

I did a live lesson all about food.

Today, we're gonna look at lots of the vocabulary there

that will help you get a context for that vocabulary

and language so you can learn it more deeply.

Great.

Are you ready?

If you are, let's begin.

By the way, in this video, in the story,

there are two words, two words, that are misspelt.

They're spelled incorrectly.

Deliberately, of course.

It's just a test for you.

Can you spot which two words are misspelt?

(chuckles) If you can, let me know in the comments.

Let's get on with it.

Oh by the way, it's a story about a girl called Anya

who wants to be a chef,

and it's called "The Chef That Froze".

(bright music)

Now, freeze can have two meanings here.

It can mean that you freeze the food to use later,

or it can mean that you freeze and don't move.

So when you're really nervous, maybe you might freeze.

So it's called "The Chef That Froze".

Chapter 1, The Amateur Chef.

"Anya loved to cook.

"She had been cooking since she was a little girl,

"and she had always dreamed of being a professional chef.

"Friends often said her food was delicious and original,

"and even the fussy eaters would pig out

"when they went round to her house for dinner."

Now, a fussy eater is somebody who doesn't eat everything.

They're quite picky.

You can say a picky eater, or a fussy eater.

So they're picky, they only like certain things.

Typically they don't like greens and vegetables.

To pig out is to eat too much of something, very informally.

"But she had never had the opportunity

"to pursue her dream.

"She had a good job as a software engineer,

"and she didn't want to risk it all."

Oh, I know the feeling, right?

You wanna live your dream, but you've got security

in the job you have.

"Then one day, her best friend Sarah

"asked her to cater her wedding.

"Anya was thrilled.

"This was the perfect opportunity to finally show the world

"what she was capable of."

So, to cater is to provide the food

for some social event, maybe a party,

or a wedding.

So that's to provide the food.

Very often, we have a professional caterer

who will organise that, but obviously here,

Sarah knows that Anya has potential.

"Anya immediately started planning the menu.

"She was determined to make Sarah's wedding meal

"the best meal of her life.

"She would deliver a spread of the most

"mouth-watering food on the planet."

Now, spread is an interesting word.

Often, well, many students know it as a verb,

when you spread, for example, you spread butter

on your toast,

or spread can be used in many, many different contexts.

As a noun, a spread also has different meaning.

For example, butter or jam is a spread

you put on your toast.

But here, a spread means a feast, or a banquet, right?

A very, very big meal, or a lovely meal.

So when you put on a spread,

it means you put on a meal, a really nice meal for friends.

So here she would deliver a spread.

Mouth-watering food, literally food that is so delicious

it makes you saliva, it makes your mouth water

because you're so keen to eat it.

Let's move on to Chapter 2, The Menu.

(bright music)

"She spent weeks planning the menu,

"and she tasted countless recipes.

"She wanted to create a meal

"that was both delicious and unique.

"In the end, she decided on the following menu."

And feast your eyes on this.

It looks great.

Appetisers, or starters, mini quiche

with spinach and feta cheese.

What?

A mini quiche, well, they look like this.

They're kind of little pastry flans made with egg.

Bruschetta with tomatoes, ham, and basil.

Oh, I think that's an Italian dish,

but they look a bit like this.

And then the main course, roasted chicken

with rosemary and garlic, salmon with lemon butter sauce,

and vegetable lasagna.

Gorgeous.

Dessert, chocolate mousse or tiramisu.

Tiramisu, another Italian dish.

Looks a bit like this.

What a nice menu.

Doesn't that look good?

"Anya was confident that this menu would please everyone.

"She had something for everyone,

"from the meat-eaters to the vegetarians.

"She was sure everyone would eat their fill

"and drink to their heart's content.

"And she knew that the desserts would be a hit."

So, to eat their fill, or eat your fill,

is to eat enough until you are full.

Drink to your heart's content is to drink enough,

as much as you want to, until your heart

is happy or content.

And to be a hit is to be popular, right?

We talk about a song being a hit,

but also, a person or a thing, here a dessert,

can also be a hit to be popular.

Everybody loves a bit of chocolate, right?

Let's move on, Chapter 3.

The Big Day.

(bright music)

"The day of the wedding finally arrived.

"Anya woke up early and started cooking.

"She had a lot of work to do, but she was excited.

"She was finally going to show the world

"what she was capable of.

"Anya worked tirelessly all day.

"She prepared the appetisers, the main course,

"and the desserts.

"She even made her own bread,

"and she did it all without any help."

Oh, interesting.

The appetisers, as we mentioned,

sometimes we call that the starters,

but it's the small snacks at the beginning of a meal.

"When the guests arrived, Anya was exhausted, but happy.

"But then, just as the guests were beginning

"to take their seats, Anya realised she had made

"a terrible mistake."

(gasps) Oh no.

What had Anya done?

Can you guess the mistake that she had made?

(tense music)

Hmm, let's find out.

"She had forgotten to buy chocolate for the desserts.

"How can you have chocolate mousse

"and tiramisu without chocolate?"

Well, you can imagine what happened next.

"Anya was panicking.

"She didn't have enough time to make

"a new dessert from scratch.

"She was a bundle of nerves, and about to give up

"when she suddenly remembered a recipe

"for a quick and easy dessert that she used to make

"with her mum at her own birthday parties

"when she was a child."

So, she didn't have time to make a dessert from scratch.

From scratch means from the beginning.

From nothing.

To scratch is literally to scratch an itch.

From scratch, from the very, very beginning.

She was a bundle of nerves.

Of course she was.

I mean, a bundle of nerves is to be very nervous.

Maybe before your English test,

you might be a bundle of nerves.

So, she was about to give up,

but she remembered this childhood recipe.

I wonder what it was.

Let's find out.

"She asked her friend who was helping as sous chef

"to pop down to the supermarket quickly

"and on her way back to pick up

"three packets of cereal."

Hmm.

Cereal, like corn flakes, or Rice Krispies.

The sous chef, a word that we borrowed from the French.

Borrowed?

Stolen.

Sous meaning under.

Sous chef, so underneath the main chef.

Underneath.

Becoming a Londoner all of a sudden.

Underneath Keith.

The sous chef, so it's not the head chef,

it's the one below the head chef.

So pop down, very British expression.

To pop down means to go to the shop.

To go quickly to someplace.

Often pop down to the shops.

So what on earth is she going to make?

Let's find out what happens in Chapter 4.

(bright music)

The Surprise.

"As the guests were finishing the main course

"and sipping on champagne, the best man

"and father of the bride were giving

"their after dinner speeches."

So sipping just means drinking little small amounts, right?

Little sips, right?

It's not gulping.

It's just sipping.

It sounds like a very refined wedding, right?

Very civilised.

So you've got the best man,

and the father of the bride were giving speeches.

The best man is the best friend of the groom

who's gonna get married.

And he'd normally give the rings to the groom

and makes a speech.

Father of the bride, obviously the bride

is the woman gonna get married.

And in England, the tradition,

at least in Great Britain, I think the UK,

the tradition is that the best man

and the father of the bride give

these after dinner speeches.

"Anya had just enough time to add the finishing touches

"to her surprise dessert."

To add the finishing touches

is very much a cooking expression,

and it's just to make the final adjustments.

Do you know when you're serving up

or plating up the food, and you just wanna make

some special little changes at the end?

The finishing touches.

You can do that, actually, not just for food,

but for any kind of work that you're doing.

"She had to announce that there was a change to the menu,

"that the new dessert would be a trip down memory lane

"for all of them, something that would remind them

"of home, childhood and love."

Wow.

"A perfect end to a wedding dinner."

This is a nice expression, right?

A trip down memory lane.

To have or to go on a trip down memory lane

is to do something or experience something

that reminds you of your childhood,

so memory lane is to revisit your childhood.

So typically, I don't know, maybe you watch a film

or a series that you saw when you were a child,

and you go oh, this is a trip down memory lane.

Reminds you of your childhood.

What's it gonna be?

Let's find out.

"And then they brought out the dessert,

"and everyone gasped."

(Keith gasps)

Just like that.

"At first, no one was sure what to say,

"but then some people started laughing."

Ha-ha.

"And very eagerly started to dig in."

To dig in is a lovely word,

it's more informal, but it's a phrase or verb

meaning to eat, to start eating the food.

To dig, literally like you dig a hole.

Imagine you're digging into your food.

It means to start eating your food.

"The desert was frozen banana pops."

Not bananas, but banana pops.

"Wrapped in coloured corn flakes."

Wow, what's that all about?

Well, if you don't know them, they look like this.

Bananas in corn flakes.

Fun, easy, and simple.

"It was fun, tongue in cheek, and everyone loved it.

"A perfect light-hearted note to end the wedding."

Tongue in cheek means that something is not serious.

When you say something tongue in cheek,

it means it's not serious.

Take it with a pinch of salt.

It's fun, right?

Light hearted.

Nice.

Wow.

"Anya was relieved.

"She had saved the day.

"And she had realised that she didn't need

"to be a professional chef to create delicious food.

"She was a talented amateur chef,

"and that was enough."

And that, my friend, is the story of Anya

and her cooking at her friend's wedding.

(bright music)

Recently some students were asking me,

'cause we have stories in the gold course as well,

they said, what do I do with this story?

It's there to review, like this story is to review,

but some things you can do, you can just listen to it,

you can just sit back, close your eyes,

and listen to it, and go to sleep.

You can use it for shadowing.

So shadowing is where you listen,

and as you're listening, at the same time,

you try and repeat on top what you hear.

It's great for that, because it's nice and slow, and paced.

You can use it to repeat different words and phrases.

As you're listening, you can just stop and repeat

some key phrases, and then make some of your own

phrases with the same words.

Most of all, enjoy it.

Have fun.

Make your learning fun and interesting,

and you'll be engaged, and your learning will be deeper.

Hey, by the way.

Did you spot the two words that were misspelt?

Ha-ha.

Well listen, if you want to find out and check,

you can download this story with the correct spelling

of everything, and you can double check it,

and you'll find out the answer.

That's it for today.

Listen, thank you so much for watching this video.

If you've liked it, please do subscribe on YouTube

and turn on notifications to find out

about new upcoming videos.

And that's it.

And I will see you in the next video.

Take care, my friend.

Keep practising .

All the best.

Bye-bye.

(bright music)