Name: Which cooking oil is the best? ⏲️ 6 Minute English
Uploaded: 2025-12-03T21:01:10.000Z
Duration: 6 min 15 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Hello, and welcome to Six Minute English from BBC Learning English.

Today we're talking about cooking oils and which products are best for our health.

When I want my food to be rich and creamy, I use butter.

But usually for everyday meals, I just use olive oil.

Yes, it varies, but I guess for East Asian food, I might sometimes use sesame oil.

Now, there are so many different oils we can use for our food.

And some of them are very expensive and claim to have big health benefits.

Today, we'll be finding out whether these products are worth the money and can really help us eat more healthily.

Yes, and don't forget to go to our website for a transcript of this program to read along.

And a worksheet to test what you've learned.

OK, Georgie, let's start with a question.

In the UK, a popular oil to cook with is olive oil.

But which country produces the most olive oil?

I know that Spain produces a lot, but I think I'm going to go with Italy.

Ok, well, we'll find out if that's the right answer at the end of the program.

Now, lots of us are careful about the amount of fat we eat.

We might avoid fast food and treats like chocolate or cake, but

lots of the fat we eat comes from the oils we cook with.

Yes, and some expensive oils claim to contain other vitamins that are good for us.

Presenter of BBC Radio 4 program Sliced Bread, Greg Foote has lots of emails about the problem.

I tell you what, Sarah, we have had an absolute walkload of emails sent to slicedbreadbbc.co.uk, asking about cooking oils.

Listener Alistair in Midlothian wrote that for years, we were told to cook with polyunsaturated oils like sunflower oil.

But now all the YouTube doctor experts are telling us seed oils are harmful.

They advocate consuming extra virgin olive oil, but

as I understand it, that's not suitable for frying a fish.

Also, I hear that over a certain temperature, olive oil turns harmful.

What the heck do I use for frying and roasting?

Greg says that he's received a workload of emails.

A load of something is a lot of something.

You'll also commonly hear the expression shedload or truckload.

These are used to emphasize how much of something there is.

And Greg uses wokload as a fun expression because he's talking about cooking oils and a wok is a kind of pan.

Greg reads one of the emails from a confused listener, Alistair,

who says that he's watched YouTube videos that argue that oils like sunflower oil are bad for you.

These videos advocate using extra virgin olive oil.

If you advocate something, you encourage people to use it.

But Alastair has also heard bad things about olive oil and that you can't use it at high temperatures.

He asks what the heck can he use for roasting and frying?

"What the heck?" is an informal phrase we can use to express frustration or surprise.

It does seem like there's a lot of advice about cooking oils and that not everyone agrees.

Yes, and some of the advice is to use very expensive options such as coconut oil and avocado oil.

People who advocate using these oils say they are wonder products.

A wonder product is an item, usually a food or medicine, that is very effective or beneficial for people.

But not everyone is convinced that expensive cooking oils are worth the money.

Nita Furuhi is professor of population health and nutrition at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, and

she talked to BBC Radio 4's Sliced Bread host, Greg Foote about expensive cooking oils like avocado oil.

Certainly, avocado oil is good for all the reasons mentioned,

If you're a particular connoisseur of the taste it brings and you prefer it and you have the money, then knock yourself out.

But there's lots of myths around these superfoods and wonder oils and wonder this and that, and

Nita says that avocado oil does have some health benefits, but

she's not sure they are worth the cost of a bottle.

She says if you like the taste and are happy to spend the money, then knock yourself out.

The expression knock yourself out means go ahead.

But Nita is also concerned about all the health claims about expensive wonder products like avocado oil.

They are nonsense, and products are not worth spending money on.

Ok, maybe I'll stick to my olive oil then.

And that reminds me of your question, Neil.

I asked you which country produces the most olive oil and I said Italy, and

Ok, let's recap the vocabulary we've learned in this program,

starting with a load of something, which means a lot of something.

We also commonly hear shedload and truckload.

If you advocate something, you encourage people to use it or do it.

The expression "what the heck?" is used to express frustration or surprise.

A wonder product is something that people think is very effective or beneficial.

And if something is described as hogwash, it's nonsense or not true.

Try the free interactive quiz on our website.

To test the vocabulary you've learnt, visit bbclearningenglish.com.