16. Ukrainian food

Ukrainian cuisine is closely linked to the customs, culture and way of life of Ukrainian people. It is famous for its diversity and flavours. The most popular Ukrainian dish is borsch. This thick and delicious soup is prepared with a variety of ingredients including meat, mushrooms, beans and even prunes. Mushroom soups, bean and pea soups, soups with dumplings and thick millet chowders are also popular.

“Holubtsi” or stuffed cabbage, is another favourite dish, as are “varenyky” filled with potatoes, meat, cheese, sauerkraut or berries such as blue-berries or cherries. “Varenyky” are often mentioned in folk songs.

Ukrainians like diary products. Some samples: cheese pancakes and “riazhanka” (fermented baked milk). There are no holidays without pies, “pampushky” (type of fritters), “baba” (a tall cylindrical cake) and honey cakes.

Ukrainian sausage is delicious. It is preserved in a special way – in porcelain vessels filled by melted fat.

Of course, every region of Ukraine has its own recipes and traditions.

16. English meals.

The English usually have four meals a day: breakfast, lunch, tea (five o’clock) and a dinner. Breakfast can be a full “English breakfast” of corn-flakes with milk and sugar, or bacon and eggs, toast and marmalade, tea or coffee with a toast or something similar. This is usually called a “continental breakfast”.

At midday everything is stopped for lunch. Most offices and small shops are closed for an hour and the city pavements are full of people on their way to cafes, coffee bars, restaurants. Factory and plant workers usually eat on their canteens.

The English like what they call “good plain food”. Usually they like steak, rost beef, Yorkshire pudding, and fish, and chips.

Afternoon tea is taken at about five o’clock, but it can hardly be called a meal. It is a cup of tea and a cake or biscuits. At the weekends afternoon tea is a special occasion. Friend and visitors are often invited to have a chart over a cup of tea.

Dinner is the most substantial meal of the whole day. It is usually eaten at seven o’clock. The first course may be soup (though English don’t like it very much). The main course will often be fish or meat, perhaps the traditional roast beef of old English and a lot of vegetables. The next course will be something sweet and often baked, such a fruit pie. Last of all there may be cheese, often with biscuits.

On Christmas Day a roast turkey is traditionally cooked for dinner. It is usually followed by Christmas pudding.

16. American food.

Americans have a wider assortment of foods to choose from than consumers in any other country. Meats, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts from various parts are available throughout the country during any season of the year. In addition the consumer can choose from foods that are fresh, frozen, canned, cooked or uncooked. Currently, virtually all food stores have available a wide array of frozen foods especially prepared to be heated or cooked in a microwave oven.

The microwave oven has revolutionized the home preparation of meals. It, along with supermarket, where virtually any kind of foods are available, make the preparation of food the most time-efficient in the world. A family can make only one trip a week to the supermarket, to purchase its food needs for an entire week.

Since the 1950-s fast-food and take-away restaurants have had a phenomenal proliferation, first in the US, and more recently throughout the world. The first fast-food chains like McDonald, Burger King which offer sandwiches, hamburgers, French-fried potatoes, hot dogs, pizzas, pancakes, chili and fried chicken, have been joined by other chains some of which offer Mexican, Chinese and other ethnic foods. The cost of the food in such restaurants is frequently cheaper than if one were to prepare similar food in one’s kitchen. Consequently, an entire family may frequently go to eat at fast-food places for convenience and economy.