Horrible food
The Theme of 'Experiences' - Everyone will have some experience of having to eat horrible food. However, we should also think about what 'experience' really means. An 'experience' is not just something that has happened to you, it is something which you have thought about. We give form to an experience not just by observing what happens, but by describing it, by reflecting on it, and finally drawing a conclusion about it. This page contains a Paper 2 reading and Paper 1 writing task for a blog.
The extract from E.M.Forster that forms the basis of this text is a fine piece of writing in itself, typical of Forster's lucid phrasing and acute observation, but the text as a whole can be exploited in several different ways for different purposes:
The Theme of 'Experiences' ... Everyone will have some experience of having to eat horrible food, so this should get the students talking. However, it should also encourage them to think about what 'experience' really means. An 'experience' is not just something that has happened to you, it is something which you have thought about. We give form to an experience not just by observing what happens, but by describing it, by reflecting on it, and therefore finally drawing some sort of conclusion about it. This whole process can be seen clearly in what Forster writes about nasty English breakfasts (and about English food in general, and possibly about a certain English puritanism).
Similes and metaphors ... The Forster text is centred around the wonderfully disgusting evocation of the food, and this evocation depends on a string of figurative effects.
Accurate detailed reading ... The provided exercises test careful reading of the whole text, involving both referential pronouns (which Forster uses a lot), and interpretation of aspects of meaning which are evidently implied but may not be clear to many students.
The blog text type ... The text as a whole is a blog entry, and is a good example of the sort of entry which is based around a quoted text, with reactions and comments - it can serve as a useful model for this kind of blog. You might point out that the Forster extract apparently comes from an article written for Food and Wine magazine - and this itself could be seen as a blog entry before blogs existed.
Writing a blog ... Clearly, having read and studied this text, students can be invited to write their own blog entry, exploring the idea of 'horrible food' - most probably based on their own experience, but they could also be asked to find some sort of relevant text to form the basis of their writing, as does the Foster extract in this blog.
Using the handout
The text is presented in three different ways, as described below. Choose whichever of these three approaches suits your class and purpose best.
The whole text, complete and unmodified ... for use with capable students who can be expected to read and discuss all of the subtleties of the writing without much guidance. This whole text version comes with comprehension exercises - you can see the answers to these questions by clicking on the icon below.
1. That cry
2. English food
3. porridge & prunes
4. (the) haddock
5. sausages & bacon
6. (my) most horrid food experience
7. (her even more) dreadful food
8. to emphasise by contrast the awfulness of English food (accept any different phrasing)
9. they eschew pleasure and consider delicacy immoral (the 'they' is probably optional)
10. good white wine (award the mark only if 'wine' is included)
Horrible food
This blog entry is centred around a short text by the novelist E.M.Forster which is a fine piece of writing in itself, typical of Forster's lucid phrasing and acute observation.
Blogger Helvi Oosterman uses a brilliant quotation from the English novelist E.M.Forster to open up the subject of really nasty experiences of food. You can click on the eye icon to read the text below.
Forster was returning to England from somewhere exotic, maybe India, on the boat train, sitting in
the dining car, he’s waiting for the breakfast to be served. He wrote about this episode later in Food
and Wine magazine; it was 1939.
“At last the engine gave a jerk, the knives and forks slid sideways and sang against one another
sadly, the cups said ‘cheap, cheap’ to the saucers, as well they might, the door swang open 5
and the attendants came out crying ‘Porridge or Prunes, Sir? Porridge or Prunes, Sir?’
Breakfast had begun.
That cry still rings in my memory. It is an epitome—not, indeed, of English food, but of
the forces which drag it in the dirt. It voices the true spirit of gastronomic joylessness.
Porridge fills the Englishman up, prunes clear him out, so their functions are opposed. But 10
their spirit is the same: they eschew pleasure and consider delicacy immoral. That morning
they looked as like one another as they could. Everything was grey. The porridge was in
pallid grey lumps, the prunes swam in grey juice like the wrinkled skulls of old men, grey
mist pressed against the grey windows. ‘Tea or Coffee, Sir?’ rang out next, and then I had a
haddock. It was covered with a sort of hard yellow oilskin, as if it had been out in a lifeboat, 15
and its insides gushed salt water when pricked. Sausages and bacon followed this disgusting
fish. They, too had been out all night. Toast like steel, marmalade a scented jelly. And the bill,
which I paid dumbly, wondering again why such things have to be.”
Some breakfast that was. We all have been faced with inedible food at times, and Foster’s brekkie
has made me think of what has been my most horrid food experience. 20
If I had been forced to swallow the doughy dumplings mum sometimes added to her otherwise
excellent pea soup, I would now have to say that it was that soup. Luckily my darling sister loved
the dumplings and allowed me to slip them on her plate when no one was looking.
Having to eat raw oysters for the first time and at a rather formal lunch was scary and somewhat
tricky, but a good white makes many unwanted things slide down easily. Then there was that 25
dreadful cook in my primary school, and her even more dreadful food… I think that was IT, and
only some warm school milk to assist you to get it down.
What about you, was it tripe, brains,or a crocodile steak?
https://oosterman.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/no-grey-food-for-e-m-foster/
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Handout
Horrible food Reading
- When you have finished reading the text carefully, reflect about how the writing expresses the idea of how 'horrible' food can be.
- In particular, identify as many similes and metaphors as you can, particularly in the Forster extract.
- When you have identified these - how do they work? Make notes about what each simile or metaphor means, in depth.
- Be prepared to explain your ideas in class discussion.
Quiz - detailed reading
Carry out the following exercise, which is about understanding how pronouns refer back in the text.
The pronoun 'it' refers to
The pronoun 'it' refers to
In the following extract, to which words or phrases does the pronoun "they" refer ?
"...Porridge fills the Englishman up, prunes clear him out, so their functions are opposed. But their spirit is the same: they eschew pleasure and consider delicacy immoral. That morning they looked as like one another as they could..." (lines 11-12)
Copy the words or phrases you choose, and paste them into the space below.
The pronoun 'they' refers to
** If you have included 'and' or '&', award yourself the mark.
In the following extract, to which word or phrase does the pronoun "It" refer ?
"...‘Tea or Coffee, Sir?’ rang out next, and then I had a haddock. It was covered with a sort of hard yellow oilskin, as if it had been out in a lifeboat, ..." (lines 14-15)
Copy the word or phrase you choose, and paste it into the space below.
The pronoun 'it' refers to
If you have not included the article 'a', award yourself the mark.
In the following extract, to which words or phrases does the pronoun "they" refer ?
"...its insides gushed salt water when pricked. Sausages and bacon followed this disgusting fish.They, too had been out all night. Toast like steel, marmalade a scented jelly..." (lines 16-17)
Copy the words or phrases you choose, and paste them into the space below.
The pronoun 'they' refers to
** If you have not included 'and' or '&', still award yourself the mark.
In the following extract, to which word or phrase does the pronoun "IT" refer ?
"...Some breakfast that was. We all have been faced with inedible food at times, and Foster’s brekkie has made me think of what has been my most horrid food experience.
If I had been forced to swallow the doughy dumplings mum sometimes added to her otherwise excellent pea soup, I would now have to say that it was that soup. Luckily my darling sister loved the dumplings and allowed me to slip them on her plate when no one was looking.
Having to eat raw oysters for the first time and at a rather formal lunch was scary and somewhat tricky, but a good white makes many unwanted things slide down easily. Then there was that dreadful cook in my primary school, and her even more dreadful food... I think that was IT, and only some warm school milk to assist you to get it down...." (lines 19-27)
Copy the word or phrase you choose, and paste it into the space below.
The pronoun 'IT' refers to
** If you have not included the pronoun 'my' award yourself the mark - but only just, because really it's not everyone's 'most horrid food experience', but definitely hers !
In the following extract, to which word or phrase does the pronoun "it" refer ?
"...Then there was that dreadful cook in my primary school, and her even more dreadful food... I think that was IT, and only some warm schoolmilk to assist you to get it down...." (lines 25-27)
Copy the word or phrase you choose, and paste it into the space below.
The pronoun 'it' refers to
** If you have written the full phrase "her even more dreadful food" - award yourself the mark
Horrible food imagery
This exercise is designed to practice your vocabulary skills of context clues.
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out in a lifeboat pallid grey lumps steel hard yellow oilskin
wrinkled skulls of old men out all night salt water scented jelly
Everything was grey. The porridge was in , the prunes swam in grey juice like the , grey mist pressed against the grey windows. ‘Tea or Coffee, Sir?’ rang out next, and then I had a haddock. It was covered with a sort of , as if it had been , and its insides gushed when pricked. Sausages and bacon followed this disgusting fish. They, too had been . Toast like , marmalade a . And the bill, which I paid dumbly, wondering again why such things have to be.”
The Blog
Now that you have read a blog, you are encouraged to write your own blog entry. Read the prompt below and remember to incorporate the conventions of a Blog:
- first person statement and/or narration
- awareness of the reader, e.g. direct address, a lively and interesting style etc.
- closing statement, e.g. invitation to comment, a conclusion drawn etc.
On a recent trip you had an experience with "horrible food". Write a blog entry about the subject of horrible food for your readers. You should draw on your own experience and taste, and describe what you think of as 'horrible food' - and should also try to explain what 'horrible food' means for you. You are encouraged to reference the E.M.Forster extract above.
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