When Rome was at its peak, many of its people lived in insulae
-apartment blocks without kitchens- and bought food ready-cooked from
stalls. In those days, the cost of fuel made cooking for many people more
efficient than cooking for a few. These days it is the cost of labour
that is driving people out to buy fast food: they do not have the time
to cook because they are working to earn money.
The proportion of women going out to work is probably the main force
pushing this time-saving trend. Britain and America are the countries
with higher rates of convenience-food consumption and number of working
women. Convenience takes different forms in Britain and America. In America,
people buy food more in restaurants and takeaways, and eat it in their
cars, homes or offices. In Britain, ready meals from supermarkets are
the main result of the drive to convenience. Ten years ago, the sector
barely existed; now it is worth £1.5 billion. These days, Tesco
launches 1,200 new convenience products a year. Variety increases consumption.
Convenience is taking over supermarkels' fresh produce departments.
Bagged salad hardly existed five years ago. Now Tesco sells £150m
worth a year. The basic lettuce has gone: these days it is washed and
mixed with herbs and croutons. "Lettuce", says Tesco's manager,
"was a slow-growing business. We've brought some excitement to it".
Convenience food helps companies by creating growth; but what is its
effect on people? Disastrous, according to an historian at Queen Mary,
University of London. "For people who think cooking was the foundation
of civilisation, the microwave... is the last enemy... The communion of
eating together is easily broken by this device that liberates family
members from waiting for mealtimes... The companionship of the camp fire,
cooking pot and common table, which have helped humans to create collaborative
links for at least 150,000 years, could be broken."
Meals have certainly suffered from the rise of convenience food. The only
meals regularly taken together in Britain these days are at the weekend.
Indeed, the day's first meal has almost disappeared. In the 20th century
the leisurely carnivorous British breakfast was replaced by the cornflake;
in the 21st century, breakfast is vanishing altogether a victim of the
quick cup of coffee in Starbucks and the cereal bar.
Convenience food has also made people forget how to cook. One of the apparent
paradoxes of modern food is that, while the amount of time spent cooking
meals in Britain has fallen from 60 minutes a day in 1980 to 13 minutes
a day in 2002, the number of books and television programmes on cooking
has multiplied. But perhaps this isn't a paradox. Maybe it is because
people can't cook any more, so they need to be told how to do it.
Convenience food also has an impact on health. Of course, there is nothing
intrinsically bad about ready- to-eat food. But these days it is easier
for people to eat the kind of food that makes them fat. Three Harvard
economists, in their paper "Why have Americans become more obese?",
point out that, in the past, if people wanted to eat fatty hot food, they
had to cook it. That took time and energy, which discouraged consumption
of that sort of food. Today mass preparation of food has taken away that
limitation.
stall: parada de venda en mercats i al carrer.
Tesco: una de les principals cadenes d'hipermercats de la Gran
Bretanya.
launch: llançar (un producte) al mercat.
leisurely: tranquil, pausat.
Starbucks: cadena americana de cafeteries.
(From the press. Adapted .)
PART ONE: READING COMPREHENSION
1. Choose the best answer.
1. Why didn't Romans at a time cook at home?..
a) Because it was cheaper to buy ready-cooked food.
b) Because they had to work and had no time.
c) Because kitchens were not big enough.
2. The most important factor in the increase of fast food consumption
over the past few years is the fact that...
a) people like going out to eat.
b) it is a more efficient way to eat.
c) most adults work nowadays.
3. Convenience food can be bought in...
a) restaurants and takeaways, but not in supermarkets.
b) supermarkets, but not in restaurants and takeaways.
c) restaurants, takeaways and supermarkets.
4. One of these statements is true. Which one?
a) Buying convenience food is a tendency that started fifty years ago.
b) The market for convenience food has started to decline in favour of
fresh producís.
c) The growth of convenience food consumption appears to be unstoppable.
5. According to the article, how has convenience food and the microwave
affected meáis?
a) Family members no longer cook together.
b) Families no longer have most meals together.
c) Family members have to wait for mealtimes.
6. In which way are breakfast habits recently changing in Britain? More
and more people...
a) no longer have breakfast at home.
b) are having bacon and eggs instead of cornflake for breakfast.
c) are not having breakfast at all.
7. People are now interested in books and TV programmes on cooking because...
a) they like preparing international dishes.
b) cooks are becoming international stars.
c) they need to learn how to cook.
8. Ready-to-eat food has a negative impact on health because...
a) people can eat unhealthy food without having to cook it.
b) it does not bring as much energy as home-made meals.
c) this type of food is, by definition, fatty and unhealthy.
PART TWO: WRITING
Choose ONE topic. Write about either 1 or 2.
1. The author of the article thinks that people, specially in the US
and Britain, have forgotten how to cook. Can this also happen in Mediterranean
countries like Spain? Write a dialogue in which people (e.g. an American
student, a Catalan grandmother, a famous cook, ...) express their opinions.
2. Write an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of convenience
food
3. Vocabulary
Explain next words in English, write the phonetics and also an example:
stall, peak, trend, fast food, fuel, to discourage, indeed, sort.
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