📙 Part 2: Describe a person you know who likes to cook for others

This episode's vocabulary

To stand out (phrasal verb) - to be very noticeable.

Front (noun) - a particular area of activity.

The best/better part of (idiom) - most of.

Cuisine (noun) - a style of cooking.

To pick up (phrasal verb) - to learn a new skill or language by practising it rather than being taught it.

To put someone out (phrasal verb) - to cause trouble or extra work for someone.

To go to great/such lengths (idiom) - to try very hard to achieve something.

Questions and Answers

R: Well, to be honest, I feel like everyone I know but me, likes to cook for other people. All of my friends are really good at this. However, one in particular who stands out in my mind is John. We used to work together a few years ago. And even though he lives in a completely different country now, he still tells me about all the things he's been getting up to, especially on the cooking front. Having known each other for the better part of 10 years, I think I can safely say he can make just about anything. But he's particularly good at Indian cuisine. So he makes a lot of things like curries using different types of spices he's picked up from all around the world. When we worked in the same town or when I came to visit, he would always cook something like that. And it was amazing each and every time. So I always used to look forward to it. When it comes to how he knows how to do all of this, I honestly have no idea. I never thought to ask him and I guess I'll need to bring it up now the next time we see each other. If I were to guess, though, just to guess, I suppose he picked it up from an early age. Since he's close with his parents and I think they cooked together at home all the time. On top of that, he's also been all over the world and takes a great interest in learning about different cultures. So I suppose food preparation and presentation is really a natural part of this. As for why he goes through all of this for other people, well, it's not like he gets nothing out of it. And since he's so skilled, I doubt it puts him out much. He likes to eat, so it's a great excuse to work in the kitchen. Or at least it's a great excuse to get to work in the kitchen. He's also a very good friend. So I suppose this is a natural part of that. Even if John never went to such lengths to please people, I'd still be happy to hang out with him. He's a great guy. And he knows a lot. Just in this case, we're going to talk about or we have been talking about his cooking skills.