Take Away English-Cooking 烹饪

British food is not as boring as you might think

The cult¹ of the television chef started in the 1960s when Fanny Craddock presented her BBC programme ‘Adventurous Cooking’. Each week she would teach the viewers a new recipe which they could later make at home.

Since then many more chefs have become household names by teaching the UK how to cook. Their impact on the nation’s eating habits has been highly significant. Almost six out of ten people in Britain claim that TV cooking programmes have changed the way to cook.

There are now so many celebrity² chefs on our screens that it is hard to remember who is who. Chefs have different specialities – some are seafood³ geniuses, others focus on cooking on a budget, one chef, Ken⁴ Hom, specialises in Chinese food.

What makes a good TV chef? Obviously, he must have highly-developed culinary skills. However, to capture the public’s attention as a celebrity chef it is necessary to have an engaging personality. Some TV chefs are as well known for their personalities⁵ as they are for their cooking.

Gordon Ramsay, for example, is famous for his fiery⁶ temper and foul-mouthed outbursts. The UK’s most famous TV chef, Jamie Oliver, is, by contrast, a likeable, happy-go-lucky figure.

Jamie Oliver’s television career took off in 1999 with the BBC series ‘The Naked Chef’. He made two more series with the BBC before being head-hunted by Channel 4.

Jamie Oliver broke the mould for making cooking programmes with his two most recent series. In ‘Jamie’s Kitchen’ he trained fifteen under-privileged teenagers to become chefs in his London restaurant. And in ‘Jamie’s School Dinners’ he set out to improve the quality of food in Britain’s schools by getting rid of junk food in the canteen.

GLOSSARY 词汇表
recipe 菜谱 eating habits 饮食习惯 on a budget 节省开支的 engaging personality 有魅力的性格 foul-mouthed outbursts 满口脏话 head-hunted 被猎头相中 under-privileged 贫困阶层的	household names 家喻户晓的名字 celebrity chefs 明星厨师 culinary skills 烹饪技巧 fiery temper 暴脾气 happy-go-lucky 乐天派的 broke the mould 打破常规 junk food 垃圾食品

 

1 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

2 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

3 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

4 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

5 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。

6 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。