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  • Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you some great expressions

  • and some great things you can say about food.

  • Now, this video will be very, very helpful

  • if you are taking the IELTS, because they often ask you about food in the speaking section,

  • and same with if you're doing the TOEFL, because oftentimes there is a question on food; not

  • always, but often. Also, just this video can benefit everybody, because food is something

  • a lot of people talk about, and so these expressions are very good to use in everyday situations.

  • All right, so let's get started.

  • I have, here, a question. This question comes up a lot on IELTS, sometimes on TOEFL, and

  • in everyday life. The question is:

  • "What kind of food do you like?

  • And what kind of food do you dislike or not like?"

  • So I've written here some key expressions you can use to...

  • Which mean "like" and "dislike". Now, for IELTS and TOEFL people, you really want to

  • show off your vocabulary, so these are some great ways to do that. All right, so let's

  • look at some of these.

  • The first one:

  • "I really like..." This is better than just saying: "I like", because

  • you're actually, you know, giving an amount. "I really like something."

  • So, for me: What kind of food do you like? I like Korean food,

  • so I can say: "I really like bibimbap.",

  • "I enjoy bibimbap.",

  • "My favourite dish is bibimbap."

  • "Dish" is similar to food, but it's not...

  • We wouldn't use it for talking about apples or oranges. We use it for talking about a

  • cooked meal. Okay? So a "dish" means something that is a meal.

  • So: "My favourite dish is spaghetti.",

  • "I'm keen on pizza."

  • And here, be careful with this part: "on".

  • "I'm keen on pizza."

  • Okay, for these two, if you're comparing two foods,

  • you can use these two expressions.

  • So, for example:

  • "I prefer bibimbap to sushi.

  • I prefer lasagna to pizza."

  • So it means I'm saying: "I like pizza better than sushi." Okay?

  • So, key here, preposition "to".

  • "I prefer __________ to __________."

  • Similar-I'll jump on this side-

  • "I'd rather", "I'd rather eat".

  • This means the same thing as "I prefer". The "d" here stands for "would".

  • "I'd rather eat bibimbap than sushi.

  • I'd rather eat Chinese dumplings than McDonalds." Okay?

  • So you can use these expressions, too. Very helpful for TOEFL and IELTS.

  • Okay, what about for dislike, things we don't like? Here are some examples.

  • "I really don't like..."

  • For me: "I really don't like McDonalds. I really don't like hamburgers.

  • I really don't like hotdogs."

  • This has the exact same meaning: "I can't stand hamburgers. I can't stand anchovies.",

  • "I'm not keen on tuna. I'm not keen on oysters."

  • Okay? And finally: "I really dislike...

  • I really dislike sardines."

  • Okay? So these all mean "don't like", and these all mean "like".

  • These are great expressions to use when you're talking about food on the TOEFL or the IELTS,

  • or everyday life.

  • So now let's look at some new vocabulary we can use when describing food.

  • Okay, so another question they might ask you on the IELTS or the TOEFL, or maybe one of

  • your friends might ask you this, is to:

  • "Describe your favourite dish."

  • Okay, I'm just going to say this very quickly:

  • The pronunciation of this word: "favourite", "favourite". Okay?

  • Not "fav-our-ite". And "dish", what's a dish again? A dish is like a meal. Okay? So:

  • "Describe your favourite meal." This is a very common IELTS question and TOEFL.

  • So, when you describe

  • your favourite dish, you might want to talk about how good it is. Okay?

  • "It's incredible, it's amazing."

  • So here are some words we can use that can help you maybe get a higher score

  • on your vocabulary. The first one... And these all mean pretty much "delicious".

  • The first one: "tasty". Ice cream is tasty. Chocolate is tasty.

  • We can say "flavourful". This means it has a lot of different flavours to it, it has a lot of different taste. So,

  • bibimbap is flavourful. Mexican food is flavour-, flavourful.

  • You can also use the word "divine".

  • "Divine" means it's incredible, it's amazing.

  • "Oh, the pizza was divine.

  • The tacos were divine." Okay? So it means really, really good.

  • And then we also have this one, you can be rich in money,

  • you can also, for food, be "rich in flavour". So I could say:

  • "The... The food from last night, dinner last night was rich in flavour. The cake is rich in flavour."

  • Okay? So these are all great expressions you can use.

  • Now, we have the different types of taste or the different types of flavour. Okay? So

  • I'm going to tell you about each one, and I'm going to give you an example of each.

  • So the first one: "sour", "sour". Okay? So I know the spelling looks like "sou" or something,

  • but it actually is pronounced: "sow-er". So, "sour" is a taste, and it's like the taste

  • of a lemon. Okay? You know that taste, it's very strong, and it causes you to go like...?

  • That's sour. So lemons are sour, limes are sour. There are certain types of candy, when

  • you put it in your mouth, it's very sour. So it's like tasting like a lemon.

  • We also have the word "sweet". Chocolate is sweet, candy is sweet.

  • We have the word "bitter", "bitter", "bitter". You'll notice with the "t",

  • in North American English, we pronounce

  • this like a "d", so I'm not saying: "bitter", I'm saying "bidder", but you can do it either

  • way. If something is bitter, it has... It's not sweet, it's not sour, and it's not salty.

  • It almost... It has a strong taste, and the taste is like coffee. If you've ever had a

  • cup of coffee with no milk and no sugar, just the coffee, that taste is very bitter.

  • We have the word "salty". Okay? So this is when you put a lot of salt on something.

  • Fish is very salty. If you've ever eaten tuna from a can, it can be very, very salty.

  • Same with french fries. Okay? People put salt on french fries, it makes the french fries salty.

  • Okay, now we have the word "oily", "oily", "oily", and "greasy".

  • Be careful with the pronunciation of these two; I hear a lot of students make mistakes. So: "oily" and "greasy".

  • For this one, you actually have to smile when you say it. So, just like "cheese", "grease",

  • "greasy". An example of something that's oily or greasy (they mean the same thing) is a

  • cheese pizza. If you look at a cheese pizza, the top of it is, like, almost wet, and it's

  • filled with pretty much fat, so we call that oily or greasy. Okay? French fries can also

  • be oily or greasy. Usually unhealthy food, not healthy food is usually oily and greasy.

  • Fast food is usually oily and greasy. McDonalds, Burger King, all of these fast food chains

  • usually have quite greasy and oily food.

  • Okay, the next word: "ripe", "ripe". If something is ripe, it means it's ready to be eaten.

  • So, we usually use this with fruit and sometimes vegetables, but a lot the times with fruit.

  • If you think about an apple, when an apple is ready to be eaten, it's ripe.

  • "Oh, this apple tastes so good. It's ripe."

  • Or mango, if you've ever eaten a mango, you can't eat

  • it when it's green; you wait for it to turn a different colour. When it turns into a red

  • colour or a different colour, we say it's ready to be eaten, it's ripe.

  • So, "ripe" means ready to be eaten, for fruit.

  • Finally, we have the word "spicy". It has the same meaning as "hot".

  • And so, spicy food

  • or hot food, if you imagine a red pepper... A red pepper is very spicy, it's very hot.

  • Indian food is very spicy, it's very hot. So, "spicy" means there's a lot of flavour

  • in it, and usually it makes your mouth feel like it's on fire if it's too spicy. Okay?

  • So that's the word "spicy" and "hot". Again, they mean the same thing.

  • All right, we also have some other words that are very important when describing food.

  • The first one is "raw", "raw". Okay? And notice how my mouth, it really opens up wide: "raw".

  • If something is raw, it means it is not cooked. Okay? So it's not cooked.

  • If you think about sushi, sushi is fish that is raw. It is not cooked fish; it is raw fish.

  • Another example is if you eat, you know, maybe you don't cook something

  • in your refrigerator, you eat it

  • raw. It hasn't been cooked. Broccoli, you can eat broccoli raw.

  • It means it hasn't been cooked yet.

  • Oh, and finally... Sorry, there's a mistake, here. This should be an "l", great.

  • "Bland",

  • so it rhymes with "and", "bland". "Bland" is when something is very boring,

  • there's no flavour. Okay? So, for example, imagine eating soup

  • and there's no salt, no pepper,

  • no spices, it's just pretty much boiled water, that would be very bland. Okay? There's no

  • flavour. A lot of students tell me Canadian food is a little bit bland. I don't know if

  • I'd agree, but I've heard a lot of students say that, so it means it's boring and without

  • flavour. All right, so let's come back here and let's do some pronunciation together next.

  • Okay, so another question that's very common if you're talking about food is:

  • "Do you like to cook? Do you like to cook?" This comes up a lot on the IELTS test, the speaking test,

  • as well as sometimes the TOEFL. So, we have two answers here.

  • "Yeah, I can cook. I like it."

  • I've also written: "I can't cook."

  • So the reason I bring this up is for pronunciation.

  • A lot of students don't know the difference in pronunciation between "can" and "can't".

  • Because on the TOEFL and IELTS you are marked on pronunciation, that's one thing they look

  • for, this is a way to improve your pronunciation mark. Okay: "I can cook."

  • "Can" is pronounced...

  • If you know who Barbie is, her boyfriend was named Ken. So I can put that here, Ken.

  • It's pronounced the same way: "I can cook." This is very different from "can't". My mouth,

  • for this, gets very big and wide, it's almost like somebody's pulling my mouth apart when

  • I say: "can't", "I can't cook."

  • Which one is louder? I want you to listen.

  • "I can cook.",

  • "I can't cook."

  • This one is the loud one. Okay? So if they ask you a question about:

  • -"Oh, do you like to cook?"

  • -"Oh yeah, I love cooking. I can cook really well."

  • or "No, I hate cooking. I can't cook." Okay.

  • Another thing you can say if you get asked this question, is you can talk about your

  • specialty. Your speciality is the thing you're good at cooking. Okay? So for me, my specialty

  • when it comes to cooking is gingerbread cookies.

  • I make very, very good gingerbread cookies.

  • I'm famous for my gingerbread cookies, so I would say:

  • "Oh, my speciality is gingerbread cookies. What's your speciality?"

  • Okay? Some of you might say: "Pizza", some of you might

  • say something totally different. So the specialty... And it's pronounced "spec-ial-tee", is the

  • thing you cook the best. So it's a good word to use.

  • Okay, finally, last thing I want to talk about, these are some common foods that students

  • mispronounce. Okay? Again, you're getting marked on pronunciation, so let's just look

  • at these words and how to pronounce them correctly. The first one:

  • "chocolate".

  • A lot of students say: "choc-o-late", that's incorrect.

  • It's like this "o" doesn't exist: "choc-late".

  • We have this word, many students say: "veg-e-table". Sorry, four: "veg-e-ta-ble".

  • We don't pronounce it this way. First off, make sure your "v" is good: "veg".

  • We say: "vegtable", "vegetable",

  • "I like vegetables."

  • Okay, a lot of students make... Make mistakes with this word, too. The pronunciation of

  • this: "fruit", "fruit". Okay? So not "frete",

  • a lot of students pronounce the "i" as a "e"

  • sound. It's not "frete", it's "fruit".

  • And finally, similar to "chocolate", many students

  • mispronounce the word "broccoli".

  • They say: "broc-co-li", but it's actually just: "brocc-li".

  • The "o", here, it's quiet; it's a silent "o", so: "broccoli".

  • Okay, I hope you've enjoyed this video.

  • We've learned a lot of new words about food,

  • a lot of ways to talk about it. If you're doing the TOEFL or IELTS,

  • I hope you use some of these words, because they can help you in terms of your vocabulary mark,

  • as well as they can help you with your grammar and pronunciation.

  • I also want to invite you to come visit our website at www.engvid.com.

  • There, you can actually do a quiz to practice all of these words,

  • and to make sure that you understand them and that you can use them.

  • I wish you luck if you're doing the IELTS or if you're doing the TOEFL,

  • or if you're simply learning English.

  • Until next time, take care.

Hello. My name is Emma, and in today's video, I am going to teach you some great expressions

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