Match the food items (1–8) with the descriptions (a–h)

Food inventions

1.Chocolate chip cookie	a) In 1762 John Montagu, an English earl, was too busy playing cards to leave the table and have a formal meal. He asked his servant to put some meat between two pieces of bread and bring it to him. This snack was named after him, and these days it is the most popular lunchtime meal in Britain.
2.Candy floss	b) In 1853 a customer at the Moon Lake Lodge resort in Saratoga Springs, New York, USA, was being very difficult about his chips – he was complaining that they were too thick. Chef George Crum made up another batch, but the customer was still not satisfied. Annoyed by the customer, Crum made a batch that was so thin it was impossible to eat with a fork. To his surprise, the customer loved them, and these days so do people around the world.
3.Chewing gum	c) In 1905 eleven-year-old Frank Epperson mixed up a fruit drink in his back garden, in San Francisco, California, USA. By accident he left the drink outside overnight. When he discovered it in the morning, the juice had frozen around the mixing stick. Young Frank had invented something which would make him a lot of money.
4.Ice cream cone	d) In 1897 William Morrison and John C Wharton, from Nashville, Tennessee, USA, invented a way of heating and spinning sugar in thin threads onto a stick so that it forms a large ball of fine material. When you eat it, it melts in the mouth. It is commonly found, along with toffee apples, at fairs and carnivals.
5.Ice lolly	e) In 1904, at the St Louis World’s Fair, an ice cream vendor ran out of dishes to put his ice cream in. Ernest Hamwi was in the next stall selling Syrian pastry and offered to help. He rolled up some of the pastry so that the vendor could put his ice cream inside. It was a great success and ice creams have been sold in this way ever since then.
6.Sandwich	f) In 1930 Ruth Wakefield was busy making her favourite chocolate biscuits in Whitman, Massachusetts, USA, when she realised that she had run out of cooking chocolate. She broke some normal eating chocolate into the mixture instead. Ruth noticed that when the biscuits came out of the oven, the chocolate hadn’t melted but was still in small bits. These biscuits have sold very well ever since.
7.Marshmallows	g) In 1845 Thomas Adams gave up trying to make a synthetic type of rubber from chicle, the dried sap of a Mexican tree. He put some chicle in his mouth and started munching on it. He realised that he had discovered another use for it. He added some flavours such as liquorice and mint, and it has not stopped selling since then.
8.Potato crisps	h) These soft sweets were originally made and eaten by the Egyptians more than three thousand years ago. They made them from the root of the plant which shares the same name and grows by the banks of the River Nile.

 

 

Discuss the following questions in pairs.

1. Which of the food inventions in Exercise 1 do you like most? Which do you like least?

2. What is your favourite sandwich filling?

Without looking back, decide which sentences are true (T) and which are false (F).

1. The man who invented the sandwich was named James Mortimer.

2. The sandwich is the most popular lunchtime meal in Britain today.

3. When George Crum made potato crisps, he hoped to annoy the customer.

4. The customer was annoyed when he was presented with the potato crisps.

5. Frank Epperson left his fruit juice outside overnight intentionally.

6. Frank Epperson didn’t make any money from his invention, the ice lolly.

7. Candy floss is commonly found at fairs.

8. The first ice cream cone was a piece of rolled Syrian pastry.

9. The ice cream cone was invented in 1914.

10. Ruth Wakefield invented chocolate chip cookies by accident.

11. Chocolate chip cookies are made with baking chocolate.

12. Thomas Adams made synthetic rubber from chicle.

13. Chewing gum was invented in 1845.

14. The Greeks first made marshmallows two thousand years ago.

15. Marshmallows used to be made from the root of a water plant.

3. SPEAKING

What do you know about the three people in the photos?

Alfred Nobel Leonardo da Vinci Levi Strauss