Vocabulary for food, cooking, and cultural traditions. Grammar: reported speech — telling others what someone said.
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Vocabulary
Food, cooking methods, and cultural traditions around eating.
Ingredient
One of the foods used to make a dish
She said the secret ingredient was smoked paprika.
Recipe
A set of instructions for preparing a dish
He told me the recipe had been in his family for generations.
Cuisine
The style of cooking associated with a country or region
She said she preferred Japanese cuisine to any other.
Staple
A basic food that forms a large part of a diet
He explained that rice was the staple food in his country.
Marinate
To soak food in a sauce before cooking to add flavour
The chef said she always marinated the meat overnight.
Portion
The amount of food served to one person
He said the portions at that restaurant were huge.
Ritual
A ceremony or repeated action with cultural significance
She told me that Sunday lunch was an important family ritual.
Ferment
To undergo a chemical process that preserves food or produces alcohol
He said that kimchi was fermented for several weeks.
Harvest
The gathering of crops; a seasonal period of gathering food
She said the harvest festival was the most important celebration of the year.
Fusion
A combination of different culinary traditions in one dish
The reviewer said it was a brilliant example of fusion cooking.
Delicacy
A rare or special food considered a treat in a particular culture
He warned me that the local delicacy was an acquired taste.
Street food
Food prepared and sold by vendors in public outdoor spaces
She said the street food in Bangkok was the best she had ever eaten.
Vocabulary exercises
Grammar
Reported speech — reporting what someone said
When we report what someone said, we shift the tense back one step (backshift) and change pronouns and time expressions.
Direct: "I love Italian food," she said.
Reported: She said (that) she loved Italian food.
We use say (no object) or tell (must have an object): She said she was hungry. / She told me she was hungry.
Direct speech tense
Reported speech tense
Example
Present simple
Past simple
"I cook every day." → He said he cooked every day.
Present continuous
Past continuous
"I am eating." → She said she was eating.
Past simple
Past perfect
"I visited Japan." → He said he had visited Japan.
Will
Would
"I will try it." → She said she would try it.
Can
Could
"I can make pasta." → He said he could make pasta.
Time expressions
Shift back
now → then, today → that day, tomorrow → the next day
That is optional in reported speech: She said (that) she was hungry. Both are correct. Remember: tell always needs a person: She told me / him / us…
Grammar exercises
Reading
Read the article carefully, then answer the questions.
Food as identity
Food is far more than fuel. In almost every culture on earth, what people eat — and how they eat it — is tied deeply to identity, memory, and belonging. Sociologists argue that shared meals are one of the most powerful ways humans build community and pass on cultural values from one generation to the next.
For many people who have moved to a new country, food becomes one of the strongest connections to home. A 2022 survey of immigrants found that preparing traditional dishes was the activity they most associated with their country of origin. Many respondents said they felt most like themselves when they were cooking food from their childhood.
The relationship between food and culture is not always simple. As cuisines travel and mix, they change. Dishes that are considered traditional today were often created by combining ingredients or techniques from different cultures. Italian pasta, for example, was influenced by Arab traders who brought dried noodles to Sicily in the Middle Ages.
Some argue that the globalisation of food — the spread of fast food chains, the homogenisation of supermarket shelves — is eroding cultural diversity. Others see it differently: the availability of ingredients from around the world has made it possible for home cooks everywhere to experiment with new flavours, creating an era of culinary creativity unlike anything seen before.
Comprehension questions
Writing
Guided writing task.
Task: Food and identity paragraph
Write a paragraph (80-120 words) about a food tradition from your culture or family. Use reported speech at least twice.
Describe a traditional food or meal
Report what someone told you about it
Explain what the food means to your culture
Use food vocabulary from this unit
0 words
Model answer
My grandmother told me that our family had cooked the same dish every Sunday for generations. She said the recipe had been passed down from her own grandmother and that the ingredients were always fresh from the local market. The dish is a type of slow-cooked stew using seasonal vegetables - what you might call a cultural staple. She explained that the ritual of preparing and sharing the meal together was just as important as the food itself. I asked her where the recipe had originally come from, and she replied that no one in the family really knew.