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CLIL
Unità di Apprendimento 1 The eatwell plate
Unità di Apprendimento 2 Food preservation
We should eat at least five portions a day of fruit and vegetables, because they contain vitamins and minerals which are important to keep our body and mind healthy, and fibre, which aids digestion and makes us feel fuller so we eat less. We should also eat a lot of potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and other starchy foods because they contain carbohydrates, which give us energy, but also fibre, calcium and vitamin B. We need to eat some milk and dairy foods because things like cheese and yogurt provide good sources of protein, which our bodies need for growth and repair, and even higher levels of calcium, vital for strong bones. We should also eat some meat, fish, eggs and beans as they are full of protein, vitamins and minerals. Red meats, like beef and lamb, contain iron and vitamin B12 but they are high in saturated fats. So it is important to eat lower-fat white meats like turkey and chicken. Fish is a good alternative protein as it is low-fat and contains fatty acids. We should not eat too much food like cakes, biscuits or chocolate, which is high in fat or sugar, and we should have water instead of fizzy and sugary drinks. Finally we should use fresh fruits as much as possibile. Last but not least, we should avoid too much fast food.
Physical food preservation methods tend to affect food by changing its temperature or water content. They include the natural process of air drying things like herbs, or sun drying fruit or stockfish, spray drying, using a hot gas to reduce products like milk or eggs to powder, or freeze drying food quickly at very low-temperatures to preserve it, resulting in lightweight products like freeze-dried ice cream or instant coffee, not to mention food for astronauts and athletes. Microfiltration, pasteurisation and sterilising are different preservation methods. Chemical preservation methods include both natural and artificial substances. Natural additives used to preserve food are sugar, salt, vinegar and alcohol, while artificial additives are preservatives, antioxidants and antimicrobial substances, although in general these last ones may be toxic if too much is used. Salt curing can be dry as for hams and sausages; sugar curing works in a similar way. Marinating consists of immersing the product in an acidic substance like vinegar, lemon juice or wine, sometimes mixed with oil and spices. Alcohol can also be used to preserve fruits like cherries, apricots and plums, with the addition of sugar.
1 Answer the questions. 1 Why is it important to eat a lot of fruit and vegetables? 2 Can you list some seasonal fruit and vegetables for each season? 3 Why is it important to eat potaoes, bread, rice and pasta? 4 What should we eat if we need calcium?
2 Decide if these are natural (N) or artificial (A) additives. 1 Alcohol .................. 2 Antimicrobial substances .................. 3 Antioxidants .................. 4 Preservatives .................. 5 Salt .................. 6 Sugar .................. 7 Vinegar ..................
Unità di Apprendimento 3 Alternative diets
The macrobiotic diet avoids foods containing toxins. Overall, it is a healthy diet as it is low in fat and cholesterol, but it can lack nutrients such as calcium, protein and iron. Many people become vegetarian because they do not agree with killing animals for food, intensive meat farming or for religious reasons. A vegetarian diet has no fish or meat, but can have products derived from animals such as eggs, milk, cheese and yogurt. It also contains nuts, cereals and pulses. A vegan diet avoids any animal products or products derived from animals. So vegans don’t eat fish, meat, eggs, butter or cheese, but they do eat nuts, fruit, vegetables, seeds and pulses. The raw food diet is based on the belief that the healthiest food for the body is uncooked. Rawists generally eat raw fruit and vegetables, germinated cereals and pulses, nuts, raw milk and honey. Although most food is eaten raw, heating food is acceptable if the temperature remains below 40 to 46°C as cooking can change the nature of food enzymes, which help us to digest food and absorb its nutrients.
According to the World Food Organisation (WFO), 1 to 3% of adults and 4 to 6% of children suffer from food allergies. Food allergy is when the immune system generates a bad reaction to specific proteins found in food. Any food can potentially cause an allergic reaction, but there are eight types of foods that are responsible for the majority of food allergies. These are gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish,peanuts, soybeans, milk and tree nuts. Food intolerance is a bad reaction to a sort of food or ingredient every time a person eats it, particularly in large quantities. This is not the same as a food allergy, because it generally affects the digestive system and not the immune system. Food intolerance occurs when the body cannot deal with a certain type of foodstuff, because it does not produce enough of the specific chemical or enzyme it needs to digest that food. The main difference between food allergy and food intolerance is that allergies produce specific symptoms, which usually develop within minutes of eating the food, while an intolerance produces more general symptoms that can develop several hours after eating. Another difference is that only a very small quantity of food is needed to cause a food allergy, whereas you would usually need to eat a larger amount of food to cause intolerance.
1 Look at the shopping list. Write V next to ingredients for a vegetarian meal, M next to the ingredients for
a macrobiotic meal, and VG next to ingredients for a vegan meal.
1 Fish ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Meat ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Pulses ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Nuts .............................................................................................................................................................................. 5 Fruit .............................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Vegetables .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Eggs ............................................................................................................................................................................. 8 Cheese .........................................................................................................................................................................
2 Decide if these sentences are true or false. 1 The symptoms of food allergy usually develop slower than those of food intolerancE 2 Only a small amount of food is needed to cause a food allergy, but you need to eat a lot to cause intolerance 3 The symptoms of food intolerance can be immediately life-threatening, whereas food allergy cannot
Unità di Apprendimento 5 Chinese cuisine
Unità di Apprendimento 6 HACCP
Food in China symbolises health, luck and prosperity. And it needs to balance colour, flavour and texture, following the Chinese philosophical principles of yin and yang. These are the complementary opposites: dark and light, warm and cool, sweet and sour. Hence dishes such as Sweet and Sour Pork or Salt and Pepper Squid. China is a huge country with varied geography, climate, agriculture, customs, and naturally food too. There are eight major types of cuisine, each with its own characteristics. But in general terms people in the North eat more wheat than rice, in the form of noodles or dumplings; while in the South they consume more rice, rice noodles and Zongzi, sticky rice wrapped in leaves. One of these starchy foods is usually an integral part of any meal. Southern food is also more spicy and Sichuan cuisine is a popular example of this. Widely served all over China, it combines spices like chilli and pepper and uses quick stir fry techniques at high temperatures. Regional Cantonese cuisine is what most of us eat at our local restaurants. It has light, sweet sauces like plum, oyster or sweet and sour; and it tends to use slow-cooking techniques such as braising, stewing and sautéing to preserve the flavour of the ingredients. Most Chinese dishes contain spring onions, ginger and garlic, and five spice, which is a mixture of spices.
The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, or HACCP, is a recognised way of making sure food safety hazards in all food businesses are managed responsibly and continuously. If you run a food business, you must have a plan based on the HACCP principles. It is a system that looks at how to handle food to make sure it is safe to eat. The HACCP process makes use of two main charts and decision trees. A flow chart is a diagram representing the sequence of operations, actions or equipment in an industrial process. A decision tree is a treelike diagram illustrating the choices available to a decision maker. Each possible decision and its possible consequences are represented by a separate branch of a tree. A working group needs to be formed to carry out all aspects of a selfregulatory plan: description of the products, drawing of flow charts etc.
1 Choose the correct option. 1 Which of the following does food symbolise in China? A All of the following B Health C Luck D Prosperity 2 What is it important to balance in Chinese cookery? A Colour B Feel C Taste D All of these
2 Read the text and decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F).
1 All food businesses must have an HACCP plan 2 It examines the processes to ensure food safety 3 There are eight principles in an HACCP plan 4 The HACCP helps to resolve problems in food processing
