Describe a foreign food you would like to try

Describe a foreign food you would like to try – Cue Card # 300

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Last Updated: Monday, 24 August 2020 20:04

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IELTS Speaking Part 2: IELTS Cue Card/ Candidate Task Card.

Describe a foreign food you would like to try.

You should say:

• what it is
• how you know about this food
• where it is mostly prepared and consumed

and explain why you want to try this foreign food.

Model Answer 1:

The idea of trying different kinds of food from different continents or cultures has fascinated me since the day I started to learn about this beautiful world and its people around me. But, then there are some food items which I would like to try more than others, and today I would like to talk about one such foreign food that stands out from the crowd of other food.

The name of this foreign food is “Japanese okonomiyaki”. It is a Japanese pancake which is full of authentic flavours and textures, with fresh squid or prawns along with a “mirin” and a particular kind of honey sauce. It is a special dish that is perfectly garnished with bonito flakes. By the way, “okonomiyaki” means “cooked or grilled as you like it”.

In many other countries in the world, this delicious dish is also known as “Japanese Pizza” because it looks a lot like a regular pizza except it contains different ingredients. Anyway, one may want to describe it, but in reality, it is actually nothing but an iconic Japanese street food which is primarily made from shredded cabbage, flour, eggs and water. By the way, I learned about this foreign food when I was watching some food network TV channel about a few months ago.  Later on, I searched on the internet also to learn more about this Japanese food which also has become very popular in many other countries around the world like the USA, Europe and other Asian countries.  However, even though, this food is widely popular around the world, it is mostly prepared and consumed in Japan.

I want to try this iconic Japanese street food, mainly because it is loaded with pretty much all kinds of vitamins, proteins and carbohydrate. Apart from that, I also want to try it because I want to understand what kind of taste it really has, and, on what occasions, I can serve this particular food for my friends and guests when we are celebrating something. Finally, I want to try it because the decoration of this food looks so classy.

Model Answer 2:

There is a foreign food that I would really like to try, but I wonder if my choice will surprise you?  I will tell you what it is, how I learned about it, where it is mostly eaten and explain why I want to taste it so badly.

The food is…. Pizza!  Now, of course, this is a food that you can buy all over the world, and I really enjoy the pizza that I can buy in my home country which is England in the UK.  However, I recently learned from a friend that the style of pizza available here is nothing like the authentic Italian pizza you can get if you visit its country of origin, and since then, it’s one of the things on my bucket list.  That is, something I’d like to do before I die is to travel to Italy, find a local pizzeria and get a really authentic pizza.

So how did I learn what I’ve been missing?  I shop regularly at a local family-owned delicatessen.  The proprietor is Italian, and he is a great foody – that is he takes food very seriously, sourcing only the best ingredients. He and his wife are both vegetarian like me, so they often suggest food or recipes.  The other day we were talking and he was bemoaning the lack of ‘proper’ pizzas in this country.  He told me that whilst of course, Italian food is very regional including its pizzas, they are nevertheless distinctive.  All pizzas MUST be cooked in a wood-fired oven for a start, the dough should be tossed by hand.  The pizza should only be made with the very freshest and finest ingredients, and is best eaten outdoors too, of course, against the backdrop of the Italian countryside!

Pizza is eaten everywhere in Italy, though of course approximations of pizza can be bought the world over.  Even so, my deli friend has persuaded me I’ve been missing out, and I’d like to find out for myself how different it might taste if I go for an authentic recipe, venue and location.  I’ve never had a real pizza, and I’ve never been to Italy either, I think it would be a winning combination – not to mention that it would also be a great excuse to go to a beautiful country that I have yet to visit.  What do you think, would you like to come too?

[ Written by – Lucy Marris |  Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ] 

Sample Answer 3:
I would like to try the Salmon fish with onion and olive oil which is a foreign menu for the people of our country. In our country, we do not have the Salmon fish and the finest quality olive oil is imported from Italy. The exotic menu I have mentioned is available only in a five-star hotel in our country. If I get the opportunity someday, I will try this food item.

I learned about this item from a lifestyle & travel related TV channel a few years ago. I was randomly checking the programs of different channels and I noticed this TV channel. The cook described in details how to prepare this food item, what ingredients would be required, how to make it tastier and I watched it all with utmost interest and attention. A few years later I found this menu in a billboard beside a big hotel in our city and at that time I planned to have it. Since it is a foreign food item and available only in this luxurious and expensive hotel, it would be quite expensive for me.

After watching the TV program on cooking, I got interested in this food. Apart from that, I heard that Salmon fish is very tasty. The way the TV program presented it was very impressive and extraordinary. This program and their way of cooking grabbed my interest and attention. I would like to taste it mostly because I watched it in a TV program and heard that this is a menu worth trying.

Similar Cue Card Topics

Your ability to talk about this Cue Card would enable you to talk about the following Cue Cards as well:

1. Describe a foreign menu you have had.
2. Describe a food item you ate outside your home.
3. Describe your favourite dish.
4. Describe a common food item in your country.
5. Describe a program you recently watched on TV.