What's your favourite snack? ⏲️ 6 Minute English — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:07Hello, this is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.
2. 0:12And I'm Beth.
3. 0:13It seems people around the world are in love with snacks!
4. 0:17From old favourites like popcorn and crisps to new inventions
5. 0:21like the chocolate sandwich, snacks are big business,
6. 0:24with an estimated $1.5 trillion a year spent globally on snacking.
7. 0:31Let's listen as British food historian Annie Gray
8. 0:34and Argentinian chef Barbara Oievari tell BBC World Service programme
9. 0:39The Food Chain what they like to snack on between meals.
10. 0:43I like salted peanuts and I love a banana – preferably together, actually.
11. 0:47I find that they hit the spot.
12. 0:49My favourite snack is called chipa.
13. 0:52It's a small, round bun made with cassava, cheese, butter, milk and salt.
14. 0:59Barbara's favourite snack is a cheese bread called chipa,
15. 1:03while for Annie, it's the combination of peanuts and banana
16. 1:07that hits the spot – an idiom meaning that it's exactly what you want.
17. 1:12Neil, what's your favourite snack?
18. 1:14Well, I want to say something healthy,
19. 1:16but actually, you know, I really love a bag of crisps.
20. 1:20Oh, me too!
21. 1:21Yeah, crisps are good.
22. 1:23Well, whatever you like to nibble on,
23. 1:24in this episode we'll find out why we are so in love with snack food.
24. 1:29As usual, we'll learn some useful new words and phrases.
25. 1:33And remember – you'll find all the vocabulary
26. 1:35and a quiz on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
27. 1:39OK. But first I have a question for you, Beth.
28. 1:42According to a recent YouGov survey,
29. 1:45which of the following snacks is most popular among Brits?
30. 1:49Is it: a) crisps, b) confectionery and chocolate,
31. 1:53or c) savoury snacks and biscuits?
32. 1:56Well, we both just said crisps so I'm going to say crisps.
33. 2:01Well, we'll find out the answer later in the programme.
34. 2:04Someone with a professional interest in snacking is Christine Cochran,
35. 2:08president of SNAC International, the trade association for the industry.
36. 2:13Here, Christine shares her ideas about why we love to snack with
37. 2:17BBC World Service programme The Food Chain.
38. 2:20A snack is an affordable luxury, so if you've had a bad day
39. 2:26or money is tight, this is something that you can turn to,
40. 2:29and I think that is why you see it as so popular.
41. 2:33Consumers, especially in the United States,
42. 2:36are looking for smaller, more convenient portions.
43. 2:40They're not always going to be able to sit down
44. 2:42and have three meals a day, right?
45. 2:45So, they're eating on the go, and the other thing that you see
46. 2:47is this desire for very specific functional ingredients, right?
47. 2:52So, mental clarity, gut health, muscle development, these sorts of things.
48. 2:57Again, they're nicely packaged in snack sizes.
49. 3:01Snacks are often seen as a little luxury,
50. 3:05but to be successful a snack must also be affordable –
51. 3:09an adjective meaning not expensive.
52. 3:12Snacks which are cheap enough for most people to buy
53. 3:15will sell even if money is tight – a phrase used to describe a situation
54. 3:19where there's only just enough money to live on.
55. 3:22Thanks to snacks, today fewer people sit down to eat a proper meal.
56. 3:27Instead, they eat on the go.
57. 3:29If you do something on the go, you do it
58. 3:31while you're busy travelling or moving around, rather than at home.
59. 3:35Many modern snacks target a specific function.
60. 3:38For example, an energy drink might claim to improve your gut health
61. 3:42or your mental clarity – a term describing a state of mind
62. 3:46which is focused and engaged, not dull or foggy.
63. 3:49But not everyone is a fan of modern packaged snacks,
64. 3:53such as the bags of crisps and chocolate bars which fill our shops.
65. 3:57Originally from Argentina, Barbara Oievari now lives in Florida, USA.
66. 4:03Here, Barbara tells BBC World Service's The Food Chain
67. 4:07how she encourages her nine-year-old son to choose more natural snacks.
68. 4:12Personally, I enjoy cooking and eating more natural, simpler snacks,
69. 4:17but of course I can't swim against the current,
70. 4:19and if my nine-year-old wants to eat the little baked snacks that have cheddar...
71. 4:24ironically it is something baked with cheese in it,
72. 4:27which is similar to what I enjoy – it's just the modern twist.
73. 4:31Barbara wants her son to eat healthy, homemade food,
74. 4:34although he prefers modern, packaged snacks.
75. 4:37Barbara complains she can't swim against the current.
76. 4:41The idiom, swim against the current, means to act differently
77. 4:44from other people, often because you do not mind being different.
78. 4:48Well, Neil, all these snacks have made me hungry!
79. 4:51Now, isn't it time to reveal the answer to your question?
80. 4:54Yes, it is. I asked:
81. 4:56According to a recent YouGov survey,
82. 4:58which of the following snacks is the most popular amongst Brits?
83. 5:02Crisps, confectionery and chocolate, or savoury snacks and biscuits.
84. 5:06And the answer was...
85. 5:08b) confectionery and chocolate, which 45% of Britons indulge in weekly,
86. 5:14according to that survey.
87. 5:16OK. Let's recap the vocabulary we've learned,
88. 5:18starting with the phrase, hits the spot,
89. 5:21which describes something which is exactly what you want or need.
90. 5:25If something is affordable,
91. 5:27it's cheap enough that most people have enough money to buy it.
92. 5:30The phrase, money is tight, means you only have just enough money to live.
93. 5:35The idiom on the go means doing things
94. 5:37while you're busy travelling or moving around.
95. 5:40Mental clarity is a state in which your mind is fully focused
96. 5:44and active, not dull or foggy.
97. 5:46And finally, people who swim against the current, or the tide,
98. 5:51do or say things differently from most other people.
99. 5:54Once again, our six minutes are up,
100. 5:56but why not head over to our website, bbclearningenglish.com,
101. 6:01to try the quiz and worksheets for this episode.
102. 6:04See you again soon!
103. 6:05Goodbye.