📕 Part 1: Fruit and Vegetables

What kind of fruits and vegetables do you like?

I'm not really fussed about which ones I eat really, unless it's dried fruit like raisins or something like that. I hate the texture of them. I'd rather just eat a grape with all its juices. As for the rest, I'm pretty tolerant of all of them, though if I have to pick a favorite, then it's probably strawberries since they're the sweetest.

How often do you eat fruit and vegetables?

Oh, well, probably not as often as I should to be honest. I think there are a few in the tuna salads that I have. At least there are some veggies in there. As for fruit, that's usually sprinkled on some sort of dessert, which I know isn't exactly the healthiest option, but it's the best I can do right now.

What kind of fruits and vegetables do you dislike?

Apart from the dried ones like raisins and dates, I'm not a huge fan of bananas to be honest, unless they've been blended into a smoothie so I can't taste them anymore. I just don't like how they taste when they're not combined with other things.

Were there any fruits and vegetables you disliked as a child?

Well, my mom used to force feed me bananas when I was younger, so that's probably why I can't stand them now. And maybe is part of the reason I couldn't stand them then either. I don't think I was enamored with any of them really, but what child does like their fruit and veg when they're little?

Where do you usually buy fruit and vegetables?

Good question. I can't remember the last time I went out with the express purpose of buying them specifically. Probably at the local supermarket since they sell avocados and they can go quite nicely with an omelette. There's a farmer's market that comes to the city center sometimes, but I don't think I've ever picked up anything from there.

Right dear listener, fruit and vegetables. We've never done this one before.

I know, it's a new topic.

So, we have paper, a new topic, paper. Yeah, listen to the episode, and then fruit and vegetables. So, Rory, tell us what's going on with the English language? Why we say fruit, but we say vegetables.

Fruit's the collective term, but you can talk about individual fruits as well.

But usually, dear listener, I like fruit. I like fruit. I like fish, I like fruit. But I like vegetables. Or veggies or veg. Like Rory said, oh, let's talk about fruit and veg. Veg. I like veg, I like veggies, I like vegetables. I like fruit. But also, the examiner can ask you, do you like fruits? Like different kinds, right? But fruit, fruits are possible. But Rory, tell us, can I say fruits are expensive? Or fruit is expensive?

I would say fruit is expensive because we're talking about multiple together.

Yeah, dear listener, so this is the thing. So you can say, fruit is delicious, because no s, right? Fruit is delicious, but vegetables are healthy. Fruit is healthy for you. So Rory is like, yeah, I'm not fussed about what I eat.

Usually. I just put everything in my mouth.

Yeah.

Just blend it all together and it will be fine.

Yeah, so I don't care much about what I eat. I'm not really fussed about which fruit or veg I eat. I'm not fussy. I'm not fussy. I'm not choosy. Yeah? I'm not picky.

Yeah, or well, not overly choosy.

Fussy is like being choosy, but it's like too much. It's like, oh, this is too much. I get very worried about it, this kind of thing. Yeah, so if you're okay with bananas, apples, oranges, so you're fine. I'm not fussed about which ones I eat. But I hate dried fruit. Dried, when they are not fresh, but they are dried under the sun, like raisins. Google raisins.

They're the worst thing in the world.

I hate the texture of them. Texture is this, they are soft, they are not soft, the texture. Like banana, for example, it's like a soft banana. So the quality, the touch, the texture of silk, for example. Actually texture is C1.

Is it?

Oh, amazing. It is. Yeah. So the first band eight, 8.5. And you can say, I enjoy eating grapes. Like fruit, grapes. They make wine out of grapes.

They do. That's why wine is better than raisins.

And you can say, if I have to pick my favorite, it's strawberries. So I like berries. It's okay, like fruits, vegetables, like berries, like strawberries, raspberries, different kinds of berries. Yes, you should learn certain names of fruits, for example, raisins, strawberries, grapes, what interesting fruit names, like exotic, so not to bore the examiner.

I feel like dates are quite exotic. What else is quite exotic? Starfruit.

Dragonfruit.

Starfruit.

Although, if you can afford them, then well done. Yeah. So from Thailand, some fruit from Thailand. Rory, how do you say avocado, avocado?

Oh, avocado.

Avocado. Yeah, dear listener. Avocado. There we go. Yeah, so just learn, maybe three names for fruit and three names for vegetables. It doesn't matter which one is which, because tomato is fruit or a vegetable, we don't know. So, for example, avocado, durian, dates, passion fruit.

There we go.

Passion fruit, mango. What's in a passion fruit?

What's in a passion fruit?

Passion fruit.

Or what is a passion fruit?

What does that taste like? Ooh, it tastes like ecstasy. It's so like, whoa, explosion. No, seriously, a passion fruit. Google it. Come on, Rory. They usually make cocktails and smoothies from passion fruit. It's like this, an explosion of ecstasy. Yummy, yummy. Not as often as I should to be honest. So, how often do you eat veg? Not as often as I should to be honest with you. Very rarely or not very often. Rory, how do you say rarely?

Rarely.

Rarely.

Rarely.

Rarely. Or actually, if you eat fruit and vegetables every day, you can say regularly. Rory, teach us to say regularly.

Regularly.

What?

Regularly is not difficult, is it?

No, because it's a LaLi, LaLi thing is difficult. Regularly.

Regularly. Do you know what else people have difficulty with just while we're on the subject of pronunciation? The word comfortable.

Mm, comfortable. So many of my students say comfortable.

It's not comfortable. It's comfortable.

Table, yes.

Comfortable.

No, it's not table. It's comfortable.

Comfort.

It's comfort, comfort. Yeah. And you can say that sometimes I have a vegetable salad.

Don't.

As for fruit...

No, you don't.

Okay. Like fruit is sprinkled. That means you put some small pieces on the top of it. Yeah, you take berries, like strawberries, raspberries. Yeah, they are not fruit, but it's okay to talk about berries. It's an IELTS test. Sprinkle is C2.

Is it?

It is C2, band nine moment.

Nice.

And it's a verb, so it's sprinkled. Yeah, so I usually sprinkle some fruit on top of desserts. So I just drop some strawberries or raspberries on top of the cake. I sprinkle some sugar on the cake, or I sprinkle some berries, some fruit on the cake. There we go, dear listener. And then what kind of fruits and vegetables do you dislike? There you go, dear listener, you say I dislike passion fruit. I dislike dates, raisins, and dates. Date, what is a date?

I don't know. It's a kind of dried fruit anyway, or it's semi-dried, I suppose.

Yeah, dear listener, just open Google, and just go to pictures. So dates are sweet, chewy, tropical, stone fruits, dates.

That's disgusting.

Yeah, I actually dislike dates as well.

Oh, are they not dried? I thought they were dried because they look like they've been dried.

Well, I don't know.

Does the internet not know?

Well, 20 interesting facts about dates. There we go. Oh my god. Yeah, actually dates are really useful and they are nutritious. They have all the vitamins in the world, C, A, B, D. And if you go to the mountains, for example, you should eat dates because they kind of they fill you up.

But they still taste horrible. For me.

Well. Ooh, a date tree is known as a tree of life.

Well, for me it's the death of my appetite. Sorry. If you like dates, then good for you, but I'm not a fan.

And now, dear listener, finally we know why Rory dislikes bananas.

I'm sure I've told you this before.

No, no, it's the first time I've ever heard this story. So, in the childhood, Rory was force-fed. That means when you make someone eat something they don't want to. Yeah. Rory's mom used to force-feed Rory. So, Rory's mom used to force-feed him bananas. So, I was force-fed bananas. So, as a child, you didn't want to eat bananas, but your parents are eat a banana, eat a banana. You don't go out until you finish this banana. Or for example, you can say I was force-fed soup or vegetables or broccoli. I was force-fed broccoli, that's why I hate them now, I can't eat broccoli now. So, I'm not a huge fan of bananas. I'm not a huge fan of broccoli, of durian. I can't stand bananas. So, I really dislike them. Again, your super vocabulary, raisins, dates, broccoli, what do you say avocado, Rory? Say it again.

Avocado.

But everybody likes avocados.

Not everybody.

I do, I do like avocado.

Not everybody.

Everybody likes avocados.

No, my student Oleg, Oleg, hello, for example, he doesn't like avocados.

Oh, hello Oleg, but no, you're incorrect. You've made the wrong choice. You must like the avocados.

Oh, you must like bananas then, Rory.

Yeah, yum, yum, yum, this soft and bananaish yellow, yum.

No, no, no. It's different. It's different because you must understand Maria, this is my opinion, so it's the correct opinion.

So you can say, when I was a child, I used to be force-fed. Or my parents used to force feed me. So they feed me today, in the past they fed me.

I should say at this point, my parents didn't torture me with food. They gave me food.

Of course, they did. They force fed you.

It was just not great. That's all. It was just strongly encouraged is probably a better way of saying this. I was strongly encouraged to eat green vegetables.

Yeah, dear listener, you can say that my parents used to torture me with food. I was tortured with food. Like my father made me eat that soup. I didn't like with onions, the onions were on top, they were floating in the soup, like worms, disgusting. Now I like onions. All right, I'm fine with onions, but I used to hate tomatoes, for example, for some reason, but now I enjoy tomatoes. And what interesting names for vegetables do you have in our vocabulary?

I don't know, I don't like vegetables.

Lettuce, cabbage.

Oh, lettuce. Turnips.

Turnips. Oh, that's a good one. Beetroot.

Beetroot, dear listener.

And other things that I will never eat because I don't really eat vegetables. I've just realized how few vegetables I actually eat.

Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay. When was the last vegetable I ate?

Ay-ay-ay-ay. In Scotland, they don't have vegetables, obviously.

We do have vegetables. But I'm just trying to think, what was the last vegetable I actually ate? There are tomatoes in the salad, but tomatoes are a berry.

Oh no. So we have beetroot, that's like purple thing. Then you can say something like cucumbers. Oh, eggplants, for example. Onions, if you say onions, not onions, onions. Then you can say I enjoy green vegetables, spinach, dill, like a herb, pumpkin. There we go, pumpkin.

I like pumpkin.

And sweet potato.

Sweet potato. All things I have never eaten. Well, I had sweet potato chips once.

Oh, there we go.

Yeah, sweet potato chips.

Does that count? If it's chips?

Chips.

And broccoli.

Broccoli is okay.

So choose again, two, three names of interesting veggies, dear listener. Don't be boring like tomatoes, cucumbers.

Passion fruit. Hey, why do you not like tomatoes? Apart from the fact that they are not actually vegetables.

Yeah, they're berries, right?

I think so. It's not a botany lesson, so the examiner may not know themselves. And even if they do, you could just say the closest thing is tomatoes.

I buy fruit and vegetables at the local supermarket. At the market, at the shop, at a local store, or I go to a farmer's market, where farmers sell their products. And if you go there to buy these things specifically, you go there with the express purpose.

The express purpose is the specific purpose.

Yeah. And if you buy fruit and vegetables, you pick them up. I pick them up from there. Pick up, in this context, means to buy something. Rory, could you give us a sentence with this pick up?

I picked up some fruit from the shop yesterday. I did not do that. I have never bought fruit in my life, apart from maybe avocados for an omelette.

Ay-ay-ay. But have you ever been to Thailand? Didn't you buy mangoes?

Mangoes? Where would I buy them? I have never been to Thailand.

Oh. Tomorrow I'm going to buy avocados. I have a friend staying with me, so I'm going to go and buy avocados.

Yeah, tomorrow you go to Thailand, exactly, Rory.

I'm not going to go to Thailand tomorrow. Dear listener, if you are from Thailand, let's just correct this mistake of Rory's life. He just has to go to Thailand and eat all your beautiful, delicious fruit.

I think there's more to Thailand than the delicious fruit. I'm pretty sure they have other kinds of food as well that's nice.

Yeah, sea and more mangoes and mangoes and mango shake.

Yeah, they have mango shakes.

Do they?

Well, good for them.

Right dear listener. Now we are wrapping it up with a joke about fruit. Rory, you don't answer the question.

Okay.

Because I ask the question and I answer the question. Then you explain the joke.

Rory, you will do as you are told.

Okay, so here it is. Are you ready? Right. What's a ghost's favorite fruit? Booberries.

That was absolutely awful.

So, in English, when you scare people, you say boo. And the joke is, what's a ghost... Why am I explaining the joke?

Why are you explaining the joke?

Right Rory, could you explain the joke?

Yeah. Ghosts go boo to scare people. And blueberries have the word blue, which sounds similar to boo. So there you go.

Where's your enthusiasm?

Your joke killed it.

What's a ghost's favorite fruit? Booberries. Right. And what's a vampire's favorite fruit? A nectarine. Nectarine, because vampires bite you on the neck, so it's nectarine. Nectarine. Right, dear listener. Thank you very much for this. I think Rory has just died.

Thank you for your tolerance. I've just died on the inside.

Bye.

Bye.