Food[edit]

Let's agree that the best food in the world comes from your own country. Which
country produces the second best food?
Are you personally a good cook?
What is your favourite food? Can you cook it? How is it prepared?
What types of foreign food have you tried? What is your favourite?
What is your favourite type of cheese? Do you like blue cheese?
Do you like chocolate? What is your favourite type?
Do you enjoy seafood? What is your favourite?
Do you like "rare" steak or do you think it is disgusting?
What are some typical foods from your home country?
How many food scares can you think of which have occurred in the last two
years?
When you buy food, do you read the label? What information can you find on
the label?
Do you ever take any nutritional supplements? Which ones?
Mealtimes[edit]
How many meals do you have each day? When do you have them? Which is
the most important?
Is there any meal which you habitually skip?
What do you usually have for breakfast?
Have you ever tried the traditional English breakfast? What did you think of it?
How often do you eat alone and how often with friends or family?
Typically, how much time do you spend over lunch?
At work do you have a full meal or just a sandwich? Which do you think is best?
Do you often eat "fast food"? What is your opinion of fast food?

If you no longer live in your home country - what food do you miss most? Or
what food do you think you would miss most if you were to leave?
What meals are typically eaten at special days in your country? At Christmas,
Easter, etc.?
Does anything strike you about the question: "Right kids, what do you want for
tea?"?
Diet and health[edit]
Do you think that you eat a balanced diet? What is a balanced diet?
What does the Mediterranean diet include? What does it NOT include?
Are you interested in your level of cholesterol?
How often do you have it checked?
Why is a high level of cholesterol said to be a bad thing?
What difference do you think that diet makes to your level of cholesterol?
What things could you do to reduce your level of cholesterol?
Do you take any action to consume less salt? Do you think people should
reduce their salt intake?
Do you think that a vegetarian diet could be healthy? In what ways do you
think it might be good and in what ways bad?
Do you, or anyone you know, suffer from food allergies? What problems do they
cause?
Are you allergic to any food? How do you feel if you eat it?
What action, if any, do you take to control your weight?
During February 2013 it was revealed that many supposedly "beef" dishes sold
in Europe contained varying amounts of horse meat. It you had eaten some of
this unknowingly how would you feel?
Junk food[edit]
What is "junk food"? Why is it called "junk"?
Is there a difference between junk food and fast food? If so, what is it?
If you had to chose between junk food and your heath? Which would you go
for ?

Why is it so tasty/popular?
How often do you eat junk food?
If you could, how often would you eat junk food?
Why is it said to be so bad for us?
What do you think about the suggestion that advertising (or sale) of junk food
to children should be restricted?
What do you think about the suggestion that if people put on weight and get
other health problems because they eat junk food then they should have
restricted services from the state medical services?
Do you think the following are junk food? Why/why not?
Commercially produced pizzas
Commercially produced hamburgers
Mass-produced sandwiches.
Chocolate.
Fried chicken.
Fish and chips.
Ice cream
Non-alcoholic drinks[edit]
How much water do you drink every day? Do you set out to drink a specific
amount or just drink when you are thirsty?
Do you think there is any difference between bottled water and tap water?
If you order water in a bar (or restaurant) do you ask for tap water or bottled
water? Why?
Do you think there could be a market for a bar which only sells different types
of water?
How much coffee, tea or other drinks do you consume? Do you think these
drinks are healthy?
How much sugar do you put in your tea or coffee? Does the amount you use
concern you?
Do you need coffee in order to operate? Could you be addicted?

Unusual food[edit]
In some cultures things are eaten which other cultures think are very strange.
What do you think about the following as food:
Dogs
Cats
Horses
Pork (pigs)
Rats
Snails
Seafood in general (shrimps, oysters, crabs etc.)
Different types of insect
Brains
Pigs' feet
Milk
Cheese
Blood
Black sausage (made from blood)
Haggis (sheep's stomach filled with various entrails.)
What do you think is the most unusual thing that you personally have ever
eaten?
Do you consider yourself to be an "adventurous" eater?
Fruit and vegetables[edit]
How often do you eat fresh fruit and vegetables? Do you have them with every
meal or just occasionally?
How often do you eat preserved fruit and vegetables?
Which are your favourite fruits and vegetables and which ones can't you stand?
What positive health benefits can you get from fruit?
Do you try to buy locally produced fruit or do you buy whatever is cheapest?

Are all types of fruit and vegetables constantly available in your country or are
they only available "in season"?
If you have a garden do you grow your own fruit or vegetables? Which ones?
How much difference is there between things grown at home and those bought
at the supermarket?
Food culture and Culinary trends[edit]
How has food, eating and drinking culture changed in the last 20 years?
Have any cuisines or styles become fashionable or established? Why?
Have any foods or cuisines fallen out of favour? Why?
Talk about some foods, cuisines or ingredients that interest you.
What do the following mean to you:
Seasonality
Field-to-fork
Authenticity (e.g., ingredients and technique)
Fusion
Food miles/Air miles
Street Food
Obesity
GM (Genetically Modified)
Pop-ups (a pop-up restaurant or shop)
Pesticides
(Celebrity) Endorsements
Nose-to-tail cooking (using less conventional cuts of meat and offal)?
How does colour of interior or space where we eat affect our notions or
opinions of what we are eating? What associations do we have with colours?
What do the following colours suggest to you: Blue, Grey-White-Black, RedTerracotta, Green, Yellow, Acid colours, Pastel colours?
Tea or coffee? Do you avoid the sweet course?

What do you think about the '5-a-day' recommendation?

Is breakfast an important meal of the day for you? Or is coffee and a cigarette
enough?
What makes an Oriental diet better than a Western one?
If you were to move abroad what would you miss most foodwise?
Are celebrity chefs or cookbooks a useful or useless addition to food culture?
See also[edit]

Alcohol conversation questions

Barbecues conversation questions
Environment conversation questions
Beer conversation questions
Genetically modified food conversation questions
Health conversation questions
Restaurants conversation questions
Vegetarianism conversation questions
Verbs used in cooking

Are you a vegetarian or a vegan?

Have you ever considered becoming a vegetarian?
Do you know many vegetarians or vegans?
How do people generally react to vegetarians or vegans in your country?
Have you ever visited a vegetarian restaurant? What was the food like?
Would you marry a vegetarian if it meant you could not cook meat at home?
Definition[edit]

Is someone a vegetarian/vegan if they eat ______?

poultry (chicken, duck, goose, turkey, quail)

seafood
vertebrates: fish, shark, whale
molluscs: octopus, mussels, oysters
crustaceans: crab, lobster, shrimp, goose barnacles
insects
milk, cheese, butter
eggs
honey
yeast
if very occasionally they eat red meat (beef, pork, deer, sheep, horse, mutton)
Why did you choose that particular definition?
Contrast with the definition of veganism: the practice of abstaining from the
use of animal products, particularly in diet, but also in clothes and any other
use.
Reasons[edit]

These are some of the reasons people give for being vegetarian. What do you
think of each reason?
Moral. Some people maintain that keeping animals in captivity is inherently
cruel, and killing them is pretty obviously unpleasant for the animal.
Deliberately causing pain or distress to another animal is morally wrong and
therefore we should not do it.
Religious. Some people belong to religions which do not allow them to eat
meat.
Environmental. It takes a vastly greater input of water, fertiliser and energy to
produce a kilo of meat than it does to produce a kilo of vegetables. In addition
rearing animals generates considerable quantities of the greenhouse gas,
methane - a for more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. So some
people are vegetarian because they want to save the environment and reduce
global warming.

Health. In most western countries people eat far too much meat. Red meat, in
particular, seems to be unhealthy.
What arguments can you think of against vegetarianism?
Others[edit]

What if scientists could genetically grow meat in the laboratory so there would
be no greenhouse gas burden and no suffering or violence since the meat and
fat are grown in cultures? Would you prefer to eat this meat or regular meat,
even if it were a "bit more" expensive? Could some vegetarians justify being
able to eat this synthetic meat? Why/Why not?
How would the world be different if everybody was vegetarian? Or a vegan?
How would you feel if you were told that you could no longer eat meat?
Can you think of any famous vegetarians? (Albert Einstein, Avril Lavigne,
Buddha, Clint Eastwood)
Do you think that vegetarians are more or less healthy than meat eaters?
What is the most logical reason for becoming a vegetarian?
What would you prepare for a vegetarian coming for dinner at your home?
(appetizer, main dish, dessert and beverage)
What meal would you miss the most if you became vegetarian?
What would be a great meal you would prepare for yourself as a vegetarian?
Would you go to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner?
What would be more difficult to eat, a strange new vegetable, or an exotic
piece of meat?
In May 2003 a UN report suggested that world food shortages would be
reduced if people ate more insects. What do you think of this idea and do you
think it would be acceptable to vegetarians? Note that eating insects is not
acceptable to vegans.

A-C[edit]

Add - adjust - arrange - bake - baste - batter - beat - blend - boil - braise - break
- broil - brush - burn - carve - chill - chop - clarify - crack - cook - cool - cover cut
D-K[edit]

Debone - dice - discard - drain - dress - fillet - flour - fold - freeze - fry (deep fry,
flash fry) - garnish - glaze - grate - grind - grill - gut - heat - knead
L-R[edit]

Lower - macerate - marinate - mash - melt - mince - mix - parboil - peel - pickle
- place - poach - pour - prepare - put - reduce - refrigerate - remove - rinse roast - roll out - roll up - rub
S[edit]

Salt - saut - scoop - scorch - scramble - season - serve - set - simmer - skim slice - soak - spice - spoon - spread - sprinkle - squeeze - steam - stir - strain sugar - sweeten
T-W[edit]

taste - thaw - thicken - toast - try - warm - wash - water down - whip - whisk wipe