23. Food and international cuisine

• Healthy diet is a part of healthy lifestyle

• Drinks

• Types of food considered as unhealthy

• Eating habits (vegetarians, vegans)

• Eating out (fast food restaurants, favourite restaurants)

• Cooking – food served for special occasions and family celebrations

• Typical Czech meals

• Other cuisines (typical English and American meals)

• Do you like cooking? Why? Why not?

• My favourite meal - description – preparation

23. Food and international cuisine

Healthy diet is a part of healthy lifestyle, so everyone should use some basics of healthy habits. Our diet should be consists of 3 macronutrients, carbs, protein and healthy fats. Carbs are for example in rice, potatoes and fruit. Proteins are in meat, quark, fishes or yoghurt and also in plant based sources of food. It means beans, lentils or tofu. Fats are also important for our health especially for hormone balance. But it does not mean fried chips or crisps. Good sources are avocado, fishes and nuts like almonds or hazelnuts.

On the other hand we should avoid eating junk food, which are considered as unhealthy ones, like pizza or candy and also processed food, for example biscuits or fast food.

Drinking is also very important for us. Always is good to hydrate your organism and afford yourself sip of water. Especially in today’s hurried time when people are often exhausted and suffer from headache it’s great to drink a lot. For sure it could be still water without sugar or artificial sweeteners. I don’t think, that is great habit but people often drink a few couples of coffee per day. In my case it improves my concentration. Other sources of drink could be for example tea or alcohol.

Nowadays lot of people are thinking about many trends. Very popular are Vegetarianism or Veganism. These are people who are avoiding meat or completely animal products like milk, eggs, and dairy and of course all types of meat.

In special occasions we tend to eat out. I personally prefer restaurants more than fast foods. There ought to be kind service and peaceful atmosphere.

The Czech Republic is known mainly for its architecture and beer, but it is also the home to some very tasty food. All nations have their pub food, and the Czechs are no exception. Typical fare (pokrm) would be pickled sausage with onions, and pickled cheese with peppers. When we are talking about svíčková, it becomes magic. This meal is a combination of pieces of tenderloin (svíčková) covered in a sweet creamy sauce, and served with sour cream on a slice of lemon, cranberry sauce and dumplings.

Goulash is the Czech version of the Hungarian dish. Řízek is a meal which is difficult to translate but easy to eat. Traditionally, řízek is breaded and fried pork.

Personally I like cooking, because I prepare my own meals every day. My favourite dish is banana pancakes. Preparation is quite simple. You need only eggs, banana and honey. Break eggs into the bowl and whisk them together. Then add the banana, the ripe ones are the best, and mix it together until the texture is smooth. Last stuff to add is honey. Then briefly fry it in pan. Serve it with cream.