Text 5. Eating in Britain

Years ago a Frenchman said that the only way to eat well in Britain was to eat breakfast three times a day. And, let’s be honest, most British food was terrible — overcooked vegetables, greasy sausages, boring sandwiches. For a lot of people, eating was something you had to do to survive; it was certainly not an enjoyable experience. But things have changed...

• Food has become very important in Britain. TV cooks are more famous than writers and their recipe books are bestsellers.

• More of us eat out regularly and we can get excellent food in lots of different kinds of restaurants — French, Indian, Italian, Greek, Thai, Indonesian ...even British!

• Traditional British pubs serve surprisingly good meals at good prices.

• British supermarkets are now full of exotic cooking ingredients, sauces, pasta, cheese, fruit and vegetables.

• The British love all kinds of ‘international’ food. The most popular is now pizza and, according to recent survey, 40% of British families have a curry for Sunday lunch, instead of traditional dishes like roast beef.

• We eat less meat and more fresh fruit and vegetables. A growing number of people are becoming vegetarians. Even children know about sugar-free sweets.

That is the good news. Unfortunately, there is also some bad news. As we work harder and have less time, we are eating more and more fast food and doing less exercise. For lunch, many of us have a hamburger or sandwich and when we come home in the evening we put our ready-made dinner into the microwave before sitting down in front of the TV. Meals are no longer family occasions.

Text 6. Ukrainian Cuisine

The national cuisine is haute and diverse. It reflects the richness of traditions and folkways of Ukrainian people.

The most popular and well-known Ukrainian dish is surely Borshch, an aromatic and appetizing cabbage-soup of some 20 ingredients. It may be cooked with beef, chicken, or pork, baked beets, beans and mushrooms. Served as the main course with Pampushki, soft rolls soaked in garlic, Borshch is so tantalizing that you won’t resist the temptation to taste it.

Traditional in the Ukrainian menu are Varenyky, a type of boiled dumplings with various fillings (cherries, strawberries, fried mushrooms, curd, chopped liver, etc.) and Golubtsy — cabbage rolls stuffed with minced meat.

Naturally, each region in Ukraine has its own habits and, consequently, its own culinary "repertoire" and specialty. In the Transcarpathian region Ukrainian hostesses will surprise you with making-your-mouth-water Kruchenyky (rolled up meat cooked a special way). In the Volyn region you will have pleasure to taste the most aromatic and sinfully-delicious home-made sausage. In Kyiv we recommend you to try dainty chic­ken Kyiv.

Ukrainian cuisine has a variety of dairy meal as well as sweet pastry, including doughnuts, cakes and other cookies, the fragrance of which is sheer delight.

The proud of Ukrainian people is wheat bread, sweet-smelling and light, with a delicious crisp crust.

If you have occasion to be at the Ukrainian home, you will be charmed by the sincere warmth of hosts and lavish home-made food for the Ukrainians are traditionally known to be hearty and hospitable people.

Unit 11. AT THE DOCTOR’S