📘 Part 3: Cooking

This episode's vocabulary

Utensil (noun) - a tool with a particular use, especially in a kitchen or house.

Starchy (adj.) - containing a lot of starch.

Tattie (noun) - a potato.

Stall (noun) - a large table or a small shop with an open front from which goods are sold in a public place.

Foodstuff (noun) - any substance that is used as food or to make food.

On display - arranged for people to look at or buy in a store.

Substantial (adj.) - large in size, value, or importance.

Proliferation (noun) - the fact of something increasing a lot and suddenly in number or amount.

Ready meal (noun) - a meal cooked and bought at a shop but taken somewhere else, often home, to be heated and eaten.

Contingent on/upon something (phrase) - depending on something else in the future in order to happen

To incline to/towards something (phrasal verb) - to think that a belief or opinion is probably correct.

Questions and Answers

M: What do we need to prepare when we cook?

R: Well, not being a cook myself, that's a very good question. However, I suppose generally, it's important to sort out what ingredients and utensils you need. Probably reading the recipe will be helpful too, with that in mind.

M: Why do people cook for others?

R: Why does anyone do anything for others? It's all about building and reinforcing relationships and social bonds. If you're a great chef, people see the value in that and appreciate the effort you've made. And that strengthens the connection.

M: And has it always been like this?

R: Well, I haven't been alive that long. But I think so, yeah. People have cooked for 1000s of years with the same intentions in mind. They've done lots of things together with the same intentions in mind.

M: But now things have changed in terms of cooking, right?

R: I don't think so. Have they? I mean, people do it less often. But the reasons why people do it together remain consistent when it does happen.

M: And what do people usually cook in your country?

R: Oh, I remember reading an article about this. Apparently, the diet's not changed in hundreds of years. So it's still starchy foods like potatoes. And then we also have other vegetables and meat together. So things like, well, we call it mince and tatties, but I guess you would call it minced meat and potatoes.

M: Do you agree that food is an important part of the festivals in your country?

R: Well, I've never really thought about it, to be honest with you. Though now you mention it, I suppose it does, actually. There are always food stalls with various local foodstuffs and products on display when you go to these things. Lots of companies produce branded food products too, which creates a sense of shared culture and community.

M: Which dishes are a must at festivals?

R: Well, that will depend entirely on where you live and what you have to work with, won't it? However, generally, I'd say it's important to have something substantial to help people manage their hunger if it's a whole day thing. In Scotland, most events have burger vans and stands with that in mind.

M: Lots of people don't want to cook these days. Why?

R: And I am one of them. Talking more broadly, though, I suppose with the proliferation of ready meals and increasing workloads, people just don't have the need or the energy for it anymore. So they just don't bother. And you can see the logic in that. If you don't have or want to, then why would you?

M: And why do people enjoy cooking?

R: Well, I guess for the opposite reasons. They have the time and money on their hands.

M: And do you think in the future more people will stop cooking?

R: I think that's entirely contingent on cultural and family values, really. If you think social bonds and families are important, and they are for things like mutual support, then you will have to make more of an effort. And if you don't, then you'll be less inclined to.

M: Is it important to have a meal together with your family?

R: Oh, I think that's entirely contingent on cultural and family values, really. If you think social bonds and families are important, and they are for things like mutual support, then you'll make more of an effort. And if you don't, then you'll be less inclined to or at least less inclined to do so.

Discussion

M: So, dear listener, cooking. And Rory started off with not being a cook myself. So a person who cooks could be a cook. Yeah? So usually when you go to a restaurant you have a cook and the main cook is called a chef. Like Gordon Ramsay. Jamie Oliver is a famous chef. And you can be like an amateur cook. Like you cook at home. So not being a cook myself that's a very good question. What do you prepare when you cook? Rory told us you sort out the ingredients. So you prepare the ingredients. Well, ideally you sort out the ingredients before you start cooking, right? And if you read some cookery books, they will tell you to prepare all the ingredients first and put them on a table and then you prepare utensils. Rory, what are utensils?

R: Utensils are just the things that you handle, well, material with, but in this case the things you handle food with. So forks, knives, spoons, bowls, everything you need to prepare the food.

M: Yeah, dear listener, and here it would be really cool if you name certain utensils. For example, colanders.

R: Or just use the word utensils.

M: Yeah, but it's just nice to say, you know, like you prepare spatulas. Come on, Rory. What's a spatula?

R: I have no idea. I can't cook. Aske my brother.

M: Spatula. Oh, dear listener, I don't know how to explain it. You should Google it. Google a spatula.

R: It's a flat utensil that you use to flip things over like burgers and pancakes, I think.

M: Yeah, pancakes. You flip pancakes with a spatula. Yeah. Or, for example, can opener or peeler. When you cook potatoes, you have to peel potatoes. So peeler. Or pizza cutter, this thing that you cut pizza with. Or scissors, knives brushes, or ladles. A ladle is the thing that you use to give soup to people or to stir a soup. Right? And also all these, you know, like pots. What are pots? We cook things in a pot.

R: A pot is like a deep metal ball.

M: Yeah, or bowls. Different bowls, dear listener, for salads, for example, or you mix things in a bowl. So a good strategy, go to Ikea website. ikea.com. Go to menu and find kitchen utensils. Yeah. The category is called kitchen utensils. And they have pictures and names. Choose three names that you can remember, peelers, tongs, it's difficult to explain what they are. So you just go there and choose three. Together they're called kitchen utensils. And you read a recipe, or you have your recipe book or cookery book with recipes. Instructions about how to make this dish. Why do people cook? Why do people study science? Our answer is why does anyone do anything?

R: Well, why does anyone do anything? It's always about the relationships every single time.

M: Yeah. And Rory told us that cooking is about building relationships. Cooking is about building social bonds. So what are social bonds?

R: Relationships.

M: Yeah.

R: They're the connections that make relationships work.

M: And also cooking is about reinforcing relationships. So it's like boosting relationships, maintaining relationships. Yeah? And for example, if a person is a great chef. Chef. Remember? The most important cook, the boss of all cooks in the kitchen. So if a person is a great chef, people see the value in this. So they really appreciate it. Oh, who should we invite to our party? Yes, Maria. She's a great chef. So you know, they can use you and your cooking abilities. So they appreciate the effort you make when you cook. And this can strengthen the connection. This can reinforce the connection between you and this chef. And normally people just use other people who can cook well. People have cooked for 1000s of years. Present Perfect. Yeah? So people have always cooked for others. Our diet hasn't changed. Diet? Rory didn't mean that people in his country in Scotland went on a diet, no, just everything we eat. The diet hasn't changed. So in Scotland, people usually eat vegetables, potatoes, meat, minced meat. You eat whiskey for breakfast.

R: We don't eat whiskey. Not for breakfast.

M: No? For lunch?

R: It's always just... I mean, I don't think the diet's changed. What changed was people's lifestyles, they're not moving around as much so they don't need these energy stores that potatoes provide. They probably would benefit from having more protein in their diet.

M: Some questions could be about food and a festival, dear listener. Okay?

R: They could. That's a weird one.

M: Yeah. It's a bit strange, huh? So food is an important part of a traditional festival in my country, or just around the world. So think in this direction, dear listener. And yes, there are always food stalls. Food stalls? Like food kiosks, food places.

R: Places to buy food in the open air.

M: Yeah, with various local foodstuffs. So local foods, different kinds of food, or you can say local foodstuffs or products on display. And lots of companies produce branded food products, like local branded food products, yeah?

R: Yeah. For example, at least in this country, things like haggis would be a national food, but more local food...

M: Local cheeses, for example.

R: Yeah, local cheeses, local game products.

M: Local bread. Local sausage. And this creates a sense of shared culture, it creates a sense of shared community, because you live there and in this area, people produce ice cream, or they produce local chocolate from your area. Yeah? Which is really nice. And they go to this festival, and you can buy local products. So if you know your particular local products, the name of these products, you can mention it. Some dishes are a must at festivals, and I say burgers are a must. Pancakes, waffles, sweet waffles. So at festivals, it's important to give something substantial to people. Substantial? Food with calories. Like burgers or pancakes, or donuts. Kind of like pizza, street food, you know, unhealthy, street food. So it's important to give people something substantial to manage their hunger, because usually you are at a festival the whole day. So you should manage your hunger. And for example, in Scotland, most events, most festivals have burger vans, or burger stands. Or maybe they have salad bars, or pancake vans. Ice cream vans.

R: Nah, salad bars would be far too healthy for a festival in Scotland.

M: Oh, yeah. Not for Scotland. Many people don't want to cook these days. Yeah. And this is because of the proliferation of ready meals. The proliferation of ready meals means there are ready meals everywhere these days. And it's very easy to get them. And then people slave away. They work hard, they don't have time to cook. So with increasing workloads, people don't have the need to cook or they don't have the energy to cook, so they don't bother. Don't bother? They just don't cook. So people don't have the time on their hands. People don't have money on their hands.

R: Well, it just means that they what? What's the best way of describing it? Have it available.

M: It's contingent on the values.

R: I got tired of saying it depends on.

M: Yeah, our favourite synonym. It's contingent on the values, it depends on the values. And again, we talk about social bonds and family values. And we can say that cooking is about mutual support. So we support each other if we cook together, like we prepare all the ingredients, we make a dish, or even if one of the parents cooks for the other parent, like they show support, they care for the other person. So they make efforts for somebody. So you can say that it's everything that's around cooking. So what do we have around cooking?

R: What do we have around cooking? Gather the food, prepare the food, maybe even kill the food. I mean, actually, we're laughing about that. But I was reading. There's a book that was talking about various communities in the Amazon, and how the men bond over the killing of the food.

M: We're happy you've enjoyed this episode.

R: Hopefully you had some appetizing grammar and vocabulary or found some.

M: Yum, yum, yum. If you're not into cooking, do your research, read about cooking, go to Ikea website, kitchen utensils and choose three interesting utensils you can remember and use about this episode. I mean topic. After listening to our episode. Okay, dear listener? Bye!

R: Bye! Bellissimo.

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