Global Pizza

So you thought the hamburger was the world's most popular fast food? After all, McDonald's Golden Arches span the globe. But no, there is another truly universal fast food, the ultimate fast food. It's easy to make, easy to serve, much more varied than the hamburger, can be eaten with the hands, and it's delivered to your front door or served in fancy restaurants. It's been one of America's favourite foods for over 50 years. It is, of course, the pizza.

A brief history of pizza

It's kind of silly to talk about the moment when pizza was 'invented'. It gradually evolved over the years, but one thing's for certain ─ it's been around for a very long time. The idea of using pieces of flat, round bread as plates came from the Greeks. They called them 'plakuntos' and ate them with various simple toppings such as oil, garlic, onions, and herbs. The Romans enjoyed eating something similar and called it 'picea'. By about 1000 A.D. in the city of Naples, 'picea' had become 'pizza' and people were experimenting with more toppings: cheese, ham, anchovies, and finally the tomato, brought to Italy from Mexico and Peru in the sixteenth century. Naples became the pizza capital of the world. In 1889, King Umberto I and Queen Margherita heard about pizza and asked to try it. They invited pizza maker, Raffaele Esposito, to make it for them. He decided to make the pizza like the Italian flag, so he used red tomatoes, white mozzarella cheese, and green basil leaves. The Queen loved it and the new pizza was named 'Pizza Margherita' in her honour.

Pizza migrated to America with the Italians at the end of the nineteenth century. The first pizzeria in the United States was opened in 1905 at 53½ Spring Street, New York City, by Gennaro Lombardi. But the popularity of pizza really exploded when American soldiers returned from Italy after World War II and raved about 'that great Italian dish'. Americans are now the greatest producers and consumers of pizza in the world.

Pizza Trivia

1. Americans eat 350 slices of pizza per second.
2. There are 61,269 pizzerias in the United States.
3. Pizza is a $30 billion per year industry.
4. October is national pizza month in the United States.
5. The world's first pizzeria, the Antica Pizzeria Port'Alba, which opened in Naples in 1830, is still there.
6. Pizza Hut has over 12,000 restaurants and takeaway outlets in over 90 countries.
7. In America, pepperoni is the favourite topping. Anchovies is the least favourite.
8. In Japan, eel and squid are favourites. In Russia it's red herring, salmon, and onions.
9. In Brazil, they like green peas on their pizza. In Australia the favourites are shrimp and pineapple.
10. The French love bacon and crème fraîche on theirs. The English love tuna and sweetcorn.

Level: Intermediate

Book: New Headway (the NEW edition)

Year: 2003
Author: Connie Odone

The History of Amusement Parks

 The amusement park industry started in medieval Europe with pleasure gardens. These gardens were outside the big cities and had live entertainment, dancing, games, fireworks and a few rides. These gardens were very popular until the 1700s, but the political difficulties of that time caused them to close.

In the late 1800s, the industry moved to America. At the time, people in many cities used electric trolley cars for transport. The trolley companies wanted more people to use their cars at the weekend, so they built amusement parks at the end of the lines. Even though they were simple parks with picnic areas, restaurants, games and only a few rides, people loved them.

Then in 1893, things changed. The World's Fair opened in Chicago. The fair introduced the Ferris Wheel and other popular rides and was an amazing success.

From then on the amusement park industry grew. As the industry grew, there were more kinds of rides. They became scarier and more daring! By 1919, there were over 1500 amusement parks in America. Today, millions of people all over the world enjoy amusement parks.

Level: Beginner

Book: Changes for ESO 4

Year: 2002

American Diners

Diners are traditional fast food restaurants in the USA and cultural icons. Some are more than 100 years old!

In the 1950s, diners became famous around the world in American films and TV shows. Many diners continue to have retro 1950s designs, with bright colours and neon lights.

Diners serve simple, cheap food, like hamburgers and sandwiches. Americans go to diners not only to eat, but also to relax and meet friends.

• American singer Suzanne Vega wrote 'Tom's Diner' in a New York diner in 1984.
• It was the world's first MP3 song.

Level: Beginner

Book: Switch 1

Year: 2010

In search of good English food

How come it is so difficult to find English food in England? In Greece you eat Greek food, in France French food, in Italy Italian food, but in England, in any High Street in the land, it is easier to find Indian and Chinese restaurants than English ones. In London you can eat Thai, Portuguese, Turkish, Lebanese, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Swiss, Swedish, Spanish, and Italian — but where are the English restaurants?

It is not only restaurants that foreign dishes are replacing traditional British food. In every supermarket, sales of pasta, pizza and poppadoms are booming. Why has this happened? What is wrong with the cooks of Britain that they prefer cooking pasta to potatoes? Why do the British choose to eat lasagne instead of shepherd's pie? Why do they now like cooking in wine and olive oil? But perhaps it is a good thing. After all, this is the end of the 20th century and we can get ingredients from all over the world in just a few hours. Anyway, wasn't English food always disgusting and tasteless? Wasn't it always boiled to death and swimming in fat? The answer to these questions is a resounding 'No', but to understand this, we have to go back to before World War II.

The British have in fact always imported food from abroad. From the time of the Roman invasion foreign trade was a major influence on British cooking. English kitchens, like the English language, absorbed ingredients from all over the world — chickens, rabbits, apples, and tea. All of these and more were successfully incorporated into British dishes. Another important influence on British cooking was of course the weather. The good old British rain gives us rich soil and green grass, and means that we are able to produce some of the finest varieties of meat, fruit and vegetables, which don't need fancy sauces or complicated recipes to disguise their taste.

However, World War II changed everything. Wartime women had to forget 600 years of British cooking, learn to do without foreign imports, and ration their use of home-grown food. The Ministry of Food pusblished cheap, boring recipes. The joke of the war was a dish called Woolton Pie (named after the Minister for Food!). This consisted of a mixture of boiled vegetables covered in white sauce with mashed potato on the top. Britain never managed to recover from the wartime attitude to food. We were left with a loss of confidence in our cooking skills and after years of Ministry recipes we began to believe that British food was boring, and we searched the world for sophisticated, new dishes which gave hope of a better future. The British people became tourists at their own dining tables and in the restaurants of their land! This is a tragedy! Surely food is as much a part of our culture as our landscape, our language, and our literature. Nowadays, cooking British food is like speaking a dead language. It is almost as bizarre as having a conversation in Anglo-Saxon English!

However, there is still one small ray of hope. British pubs are often the best places to eat well and cheaply in Britain, and they also increasingly try to serve tasty British food. Can we recommend to you our two favourite places to eat in Britain? The Shepherd's Inn in Melmerby, Cumbria, and the Dolphin Inn in Kingston, Devon. Their steak and mushroom pie, Lancashire hotpot, and bread and butter pudding are three of the gastronomic wonders of the world!

Quotations about English food:

'It takes some skill to spoil a breakfast — even the English can't do it!'

J K Galbraith, economist

'On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.'
George Mikes, writer and humorist

'If the English can survive their food, they can survive anything!'
George Bernard Shaw, writer

'Even today, well-brought up English girls are taught to boil all vegetables for at least a month and a half, just in case one of the dinner guests comes without his teeth!'
Calvin Trillin, American writer

'English cooking? You just put things into boiling water and then take them out again after a long while!'
An anonymous French chef

Level: Intermediate

Book: New Headway (English Course)

Year: 1996

Authors: Verona Paul and Jason Winner 

How to have a good time in... Sydney

Sydney has everything you want in a city. It's beautiful, it has old and new buildings, there are fantastic beaches, and the food is delicious.

The best times to visit are spring and autumn. In summer it is very hot. 

There are cheap hotels in King's Cross. A room is about $50 a night. There are internacional hotels in the centre. Here a room is about $150 a night.

Sydney has theatres and cinemas, and of course, the Opera House. The best shops are in Pitt Street.

Go to the harbour. There are beaches, walks, parks, and cafés and, of course, the wonderful bridge.

Sydney has the famous Bondi Beach. People go swimming, surfing, windsurfing, and sailing.

For night-life, there are clubs and bars in Oxford Street.

There are restaurants from every country — Italian, Turkish, Lebanese, Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Australians eat a lot of seafood — it's very fresh!

There are fast trains and slow buses. The best way to see Sydney is by ferry.

Level: Beginner

Book: New Headway

Year: 2000