13. Food

Listen to a short English conversation about food to practice your English speaking and listening skills.

To listen, press play in the audio player.

Rachel: You are listening to Dialogue Frog’s short English conversations. I’m here with Luke. My name’s Rachel and today we’re talking about everybody’s favorite topic, food.

Luke: That’s not my favorite topic.

Rachel: What’s your favorite topic?

Luke: Eating food.

Rachel: Okay. Today we’re talking about everyone’s second favorite topic, food. What kind of food do you like to eat, Luke?

Luke: Um, I like, I usually like savory things and…

Rachel: Verses sweet?

Luke: Yeah. Um, yeah, so tacos, pizza, um…Hershey bars that have been dipped in bacon grease…

Rachel: That…ye…salty sweet combination.

Luke: Yep.

Rachel: Yep, I’d call that savory.

Luke: It makes me weep. I can’t tell if they’re tears of joy or not or something else, but-

Rachel: It’s probably just bacon grease just kinda just rolling down your face.

Luke: Could be.

Rachel: Bacon grease is like the new ranch dressing. You just put it on everything and it makes everything good.

Luke: That’s true.

Rachel: I really like the food served mostly in the fall, especially during Thanksgiving.

Luke: Mm hm.

Rachel: Like casseroles and chili. Warm comfort food type dishes.

Luke: So, I’ve heard of rolls so if you have casseroles, what’s the ‘cass’ part? Cause it’s a choice right ‘cass or rolls?’ so where’s the ‘cass’ come from?

Rachel: I guess that’s the kind of dish? Like a casserole dish? I don’t know. I don’t make the rules, I just eat it.

Luke: That’s true. Maybe it comes from cast iron, peop-

Rachel: Cast iron?

Luke: People, people keep talking about cast iron.

Rachel: Yeah, it…Cast iron is really good for red meat.

Luke: That’s true.

Rachel: And corn bread is very good.

Luke: So, if you had to pick one top favorite food, what would it be?

Rachel: Give me a minute, they’re all so good. You have to, we have to like talk about food in categories, because there’s really good pasta, there’s really good bread, there’s really good sandwiches.

Luke: Okay.

Rachel: Um, I guess what I’m thinking sounds good right now is would be mac and cheese. Yeah, I guess I’m in a pasta mood.

Luke: Yeah.

Rachel: I just listed like three different kinds of noodles.

Luke: That-

Rachel: How about you?

Luke: Its interesting ‘cause growing up I’ve always thought pasta tasted like clay and so that’s-

Rachel: Yeah, it has a certain texture.

Luke: Yeah.

Rachel: Especially, that’s that’s why there’s just so many different sauces and so many different ways to prepare and serve it from around the world and different cuisines. There’s a noodle for everybody.

Luke: Mm hm.

Rachel: Mashed potatoes. Potatoes are one of those things that that are good with pretty much everything and there’s a million different ways to prepare potatoes as well.

Luke: They’re really versatile.

Rachel: Yep. Savory and sweet.

Luke: Mm hm. That’s why I just use them for everything, like deodorant and saving cream.

Rachel: Little too much, little too much starch going on. I guess you could iron a shirt with it. You know-

Luke: That’s true.

Rachel: Pre-starch a shirt.

Luke: That’s true. Use it for power. Plug in a light bulb.

Rachel: Yep yep, they really are good for everything. Well, this is Rachel signing off with Luke. We had a really great conversation about food. For transcripts and vocabulary, visit dialoguefrog.com.

Savory
Verses
Sweet
Dipped in
Bacon grease
Salty
Combination
Weep
Tears of joy
Rolling down
Face
Ranch dressing
Serve
Especially
During
Thanksgiving
Casserole
Warm
Comfort food
Dishes
Heard of
Rolls
Dish
Rules
Cast iron
Red meat
Corn bread
Give me a minute
Categories
Pasta
Bread
Sandwiches
Sounds good
Right now
Mac and cheese
Mood
List
Noodles
Interesting
Growing up
Clay
Certain
Texture
Sauces
Prepare
Cuisines
Noodle
Mashed potatoes
Million
Versatile
Deodorant
Shaving cream
Starch
Iron
Shirt
Pre-starch
Power
Plug in
Light blub

“The new ranch dressing.”

Ranch dressing is a popular salad dressing in the U.S. It is made out of buttermilk. Ranch dressing is so popular, people use it for more than just salads. It is used as a dipping sauce for carrots and other raw vegetables. Some people even dip pizza and fried chicken in ranch dressing. ‘Hidden Valley Ranch’ is a popular ranch dressing brand. You can also make your own like in this recipe from The Salty Marshmallow.