Kazakh national cuisine. Food of Kazakhstan.

A guest is always given a special welcome and offered the place of honour. He or she is first treated to kumys (fermented mare's milk), shubat (fermented camel's milk) or airan (fermented cow's milk), then to tea with milk or cream, baursaks (fried dough balls), raisins, irimshik (dried cheese balls), and kurt (dried cheese and whey). Appetizers of horse or mutton meat follow (kazy, shuzhuk, zhal, zhaya, sur-yet, karta, kabyrga) always served with flat bread.

Kazakhs eat at a low table called a "dastarkhan" and the most popular dish has always been the national meat dish, "beshparmak" ("five fingers" because of the manner in which it is eaten). It is made of large chunks of boiled meat, which the host cuts and serves to each guest according to their importance: the pelvic bones and shin to the elderly guests of honor, the brisket to the son or daughter-in-law, the cervical vertebra to girls and so on. The highest ranking guest is served a sheep's head cooked in a special way and distributes it to other guests according to local tradition (old men, children, close and distant relatives). The meat is eaten with a boiled pasta sheet and a meat broth called shorpa, usually served in traditional Kazakh bowls called "pialas". At the end of the meal kumys is served, then tea. Today, around the dastarkhan gather Kazakhs, as well as many other nationalities: Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Germans, Uigurs, Dungalts and Koreans. These people who have lived peacefully with the Kazakhs have influenced their cuisine, everyday life and culture and adopted some Kazakh traditions. Today's Kazakh cuisine includes traditional Kazakh dishes as well as Uzbek, Uigur, Russian, Tatar, and Korean dishes, which Kazakhs enjoy. Traditionally Kazakh cuisine was mostly based on meat and milk products. But more recently vegetables, fruits, fish, seafood, baked dishes and sweets have been added to the list of delights Kazakhs offer to their guests.

 

TEXT 2

British pubs

A pub is a short word for "public house".In previous years pubs used to serve almost nothing but beer and other spirits. But nowadays you can be offered a various menu of hot dishes and snacks as well. Most pubs offer only special English meals, which is quite cheap. As for drinks, they are quite expensive. Some pubs are controlled by breweries, that is why beer may cost even higher than wine or other spirits.

British pubs have their special character appealing to the idea of tradition. Each pub has its own name painted on a signboard hanging outside. As a rule, this sign is made in a certain old-fashioned style. British pubs usually bear the names relating to their location: The Three Arrows, The Cross, The Railway, All pubs are built in a particular style. Even if it is a newly built pub, it is often designed to look as if it were about several hundred years old. All the windows in the pub are small in order to make a cozy home atmosphere. Very few pubs have tables outside the building. This peculiarity came from the Victorians who thought that people mustn't be seen drinking. On the other hand, many pubs have a garden at the back for children because children are not allowed in most pubs.

Another distinctive point of pubs is that there is no waiter service. Some people may consider that a bit strange way of making people feel comfortable, but British people are sure that being served at a table makes the visitors be reserved and unnaturally polite. So, when you come to a pub, the first thing you have to do is lean on the bar and wait for someone behind the bar to serve you. Eye contact and "smiling eyes" is a key to getting served faster. The staff in a pub is usually very friendly and jesting. They are expected to know all the regular customers personally, their preferences in food and drinks. It makes the atmosphere very relaxed, informal and amicable. All the staff is always ready to chat and take part in any sort of discussion.
The visitors of British pubs like to spend time playing there a wide range of games: from the well-known darts, skittles, dominoes, cards and billiards to more uncommon — Aunt Sally and ringing the bull. Many pubs also hold special Theme Nights with tournaments at the games listed above, or karaoke. A lot of pubs are equipped with large plasma panels, and many people come here to watch football or other sport game with a glass of beer in a pleasant company.

Many pubs use the name "Inn" in case they can offer lodging, besides food and drink, for a traveller.

 

Questions:

1. Have you ever been to a traditional British pub?
2. What makes British pubs so unique?
3. How will you describe the atmosphere in British pubs?
4. How many pubs are there in Britain?
5. What's the difference between pubs of the past and modern ones?
6. What can you say about the names of British pubs?
7. All pubs are built in an old-fashioned style, aren't they?
8. Why do very few pubs have tables outside?
9. What games do English people usually play in pubs?
10. What is an inn?

Task for self-study

Read and retell he text.

Foreigners often laugh at the British. They say "In Britain you get chips with everything!" But even the British don't eat chips. Instead, they eat the English breakfast, pancakes, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, haggis and many other kinds of food. Let's start with the traditional English breakfast.

In a real English breakfast you have fried eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and mushrooms. Then there is toast and marmalade. There's an interesting story about the word "marmalade". It may come from French "Marie est malade" or "Mary is ill". That's because a seventeenth-century queen of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, liked it. She always asked for French orange jam when she was ill.

British people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in February or March. For pancakes you need flour, eggs and milk. Then you eat them with sugar and lemon. In some parts of Britain there are pancake races on Shrove Tuesday. People race with a frying pan in one hand. They have to "toss" the pancake, throw it in the air and catch it again in the frying pan.

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding is the traditional Sunday lunch from Yorkshire in the north of England. It is now popular all over Britain. Yorkshire pudding is not sweet. It's a simple mixture of eggs, flour and milk, but it's delicious. Two common vegetables with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding are Brussels sprouts and carrots. And of course there's always gravy. That's a thick, brown sauce. You make gravy with the juice from the meat.

Haggis is the traditional food from Scotland. You make it with meat, onions, flour salt and pepper. Then you boil it in the skin from a sheep's stomach — yes, a sheep's stomach. In Scotland, people eat haggis on Burns Night. Robert Burns (Scottish people call him "Rabbie" Burns), was a Scottish poet in the eighteenth century. Every year the Scots all over the world remember him and read his poems.

Each of the dishes we told you about is very tasty and really makes people healthier.

 

Module 1 Unit 6