Practice English Reading Exercises for B1 – Cooking & Culinary Skills 5

Exercises:   123456

Reading 1

For each question, choose the correct answer.

The people below all want to find a website about holiday cooking.

There are descriptions of eight cooking websites.

Decide which cooking website would be the most suitable for the people below.

1   Sarah is hosting her entire extended family for Thanksgiving and needs to prepare huge amounts of food. She wants to make traditional holiday dishes, but because she works late, she strictly needs recipes that are very quick to prepare.

2   Tom wants to bake festive Christmas sweets with his two young children, so the instructions must be simple enough for kids. Additionally, since his niece is visiting, everything they make has to be completely free of animal products.

3   Maria is looking for classic, generations-old holiday meals to recreate her grandmother’s cooking. She is on a tight budget this year and needs affordable ingredient lists. She also prefers learning through video guides rather than just reading instructions.

4   David hopes to impress his guests with a spectacular holiday roast meat dish. He is keen to learn advanced, professional cooking techniques to improve his skills, and he specifically needs expert advice on which drinks to serve alongside.

5   Elena is preparing a cozy holiday dinner for just herself and her husband. She wants festive dishes that are low in calories and healthy. She also really needs creative ideas for using up the extra food the following day.

Festive Cooking Websites

A The Speedy Feast

Planning a massive November celebration? This guide offers classic turkey and pumpkin pie ideas designed for feeding twenty or more guests. The best part is that all these familiar holiday favorites take under an hour to get ready, perfect for busy hosts who are short on hours!

B December Sugar Magic

Get your little ones into the kitchen for some winter baking! This site features incredibly easy biscuit and cake tutorials that toddlers and teens can safely help make. Best of all, every single treat uses plant-based ingredients, with absolutely no dairy or eggs required for these seasonal goodies.

C Affordable Autumn Dining

Celebrate the big November holiday without spending a fortune! We provide step-by-step written manuals for giant, crowd-pleasing meals using low-cost supermarket ingredients. These delicious traditional feasts require a full day of slow-cooking, but the mouth-watering results and money saved will make the long effort completely worth it.

D Heritage Kitchen on a Dime

Recreate the magical dinners your ancestors used to make! We share historical, heritage dishes that rely on highly inexpensive, everyday items to keep your wallet happy. Instead of reading long pages, you can follow our helpful online clips to watch exactly how each traditional step is done.

E The Masterful Host

Turn your festive beef or lamb centerpiece into a restaurant-quality masterpiece! This course teaches complex, high-level chef skills to help you perfect your carving and seasoning. Furthermore, our experts provide excellent recommendations on the perfect glasses of red or white to accompany your impressive main courses.

F Gourmet for Two

If you are cooking a festive meal for a couple, this site is ideal. We teach complicated, professional methods to create small but stunning plates. While these rich, buttery dishes are quite high in calories, they are perfectly sized so that nothing remains to be stored in the fridge!

G Light & Cozy Celebrations

Enjoy the holidays without the heavy feeling! We specialize in nutritious, low-fat seasonal recipes scaled down perfectly for a pair of diners. Plus, we include a brilliant bonus section showing you exactly how to transform your remaining cooked ingredients into delicious new lunches for the rest of the week.

H The Green Holiday

Impress a massive crowd with our plant-based holiday dining guide. From savory tarts to dairy-free chocolate cakes, everything is designed for feeding a dozen adults. The recipes involve hot sugar and sharp tools, but they yield fantastic extra portions to enjoy over the next 

few days.

Reading 2

For each question, choose the correct answer.

The people below all want to find a jam making course.

There are descriptions of eight food preservation courses.

Decide which course would be the most suitable for the people below.

1   Sarah wants to learn how to keep food fresh for a long time. She specifically wants to make jam using sweet summer fruits. She doesn’t have any equipment, so the course must provide the glass jars to take her jam home.

2   Mark works all week, so he needs a course on Saturday or Sunday. He wants to make jam using unusual tropical fruits like mangoes. He also hopes to learn how to beautifully decorate the jars to give as presents.

3   Lily and Jane prefer studying early in the morning. They are interested in making unusual jams using vegetables instead of sweet things. They also want the chance to buy extra empty jars from the school to use later.

4   David loves being outside and wants to pick his own fresh ingredients from a farm. He specifically wants to cook traditional strawberry jam. He is looking for a full-day experience that includes a lovely meal at midday.

5   Elena is busy during the day, so she requires an evening workshop. She wants to cook healthy, sugar-free jam. She cares about the environment and wants a class where she can bring her own used jars from home.

Food Preservation Courses

A Summer Sweetness

Discover the secret to making your delicious food last for months! In this fun class, we boil fresh, seasonal berries like raspberries and blackberries to create amazing treats. You won’t need to bring any containers, as we supply beautiful glass pots for everyone to pack their creations into.

B Island Flavours

Escape the office this weekend with our Saturday and Sunday workshops! We use imported ingredients like pineapples and papayas to cook unique, exotic spreads. Furthermore, our art teacher will show you how to paint labels and tie ribbons around your pots, making them perfect surprises for your friends.

C The Savoury Pantry

Start your day right with our 9 AM cooking sessions! We skip the sugar and use ingredients like tomatoes and red peppers to make delicious savoury spreads. We supply one container for your cooking, but we also sell plenty of cheap, empty glass pots in our shop if you need more.

D Farm to Table

Join our complete daytime experience! We start by walking through our fields to harvest fresh red strawberries directly from the plants. Next, we boil them into a classic, traditional spread. After your hard work, everyone sits down together to enjoy a delicious, hot afternoon meal in our café.

E Healthy Harvest Nights

Join our after-work sessions starting at 7 PM! We focus entirely on cooking delicious, healthy spreads without adding any extra sweet powder. Because we want to help the planet, we ask all students to carry their own washed, empty glass containers with them to store their finished cooking back to their houses.

F The Berry Kitchen

Learn the best methods for keeping your summer food fresh all winter! We use delicious seasonal berries to cook amazing sweet spreads. Please note that students must carry their own glass pots from home, as we absolutely do not keep any spare containers in our busy teaching kitchen for you to use.

G Weekend Sunshine

Our popular Saturday and Sunday classes are perfect for busy workers. We focus on cooking with bright, exotic ingredients like mango and passionfruit instead of normal local berries. You will take your delicious cooking home in plain, simple pots, ready to eat straight away with your daily breakfast toast!

H Morning Magic

Start your day healthily at 9 AM! We specialise in cooking delicious, fruity spreads that contain absolutely no artificial sweet ingredients. We care deeply about the environment, so we actively encourage all our morning students to arrive with their own recycled glass containers to fill and take away with them.

Reading 3

For each question, choose the correct answer.

The people below all want to find a professional chef shadowing experience.

There are descriptions of eight shadowing experiences.

Decide which shadowing experience would be the most suitable for the people below.

1   Leo is determined to become a head cook in the future. He wants to experience the true high-pressure atmosphere of a busy local restaurant to see how staff handle thousands of evening orders.

2   Mia loves baking sweet desserts and wants to observe a pastry specialist at work. She gets anxious easily, so she needs a calm, relaxed environment without any stressful situations. She is only free on weekends.

3   Jonas wants to learn advanced knife skills for preparing fish, but he doesn’t want to be in an actual restaurant. He is looking for a professional training centre. He needs a session on a weekday morning.

4   Clara hopes to open her own meat-free café one day. She needs to spend a full working week observing a chef in an authentic restaurant that only serves plant-based dishes, to truly understand daily business operations.

5   Sam wants to observe how spicy Asian dishes are prepared. Instead of just watching, he wants the opportunity to actively help the chefs cook. He goes to college during the day, so he needs an evening placement.

Professional Chef Shadowing Experiences

A The Evening Rush

If you are serious about a culinary profession, join our bustling city dining room! You will stand beside our head chef during our busiest dinner services. It is an incredibly fast-paced, demanding experience with lots of noise and heat, but perfectly prepares you for the reality of professional cooking.

B Sweet Weekends

Watch our master bakers create amazing biscuits and cakes! This takes place in our quiet, peaceful kitchen every Saturday and Sunday. We focus on patience and detail, so there is absolutely no rush or pressure here. It is a wonderfully relaxing way to spend your weekend watching professionals at work.

C Morning Catch Academy

Perfect your slicing techniques with fresh seafood! Rather than a busy dining venue, this takes place in our purpose-built educational facility. Join our expert tutors from Monday to Friday before midday. You will closely observe exactly how to prepare ocean ingredients properly in a focused, professional learning environment.

D The Green Kitchen

Step inside our popular city-centre diner that prepares exclusively vegetable-based food! We invite future business owners to shadow our head cook from Monday through Friday. You will spend five days experiencing exactly how a genuine, busy restaurant manages its daily tasks and develops delicious menus without using any meat.

E Eastern Spice Nights

Discover the secrets of hot curries and noodles at our authentic Thai eatery! We want you to put on an apron and assist us with preparing ingredients. These practical, interactive sessions happen after 6 p.m., making them ideal for students who want to participate and get their hands dirty!

F The Breakfast Shift

Experience the extreme pressure of a working café during our crazy morning rush! You will observe how we deal with hundreds of hungry customers before 11 a.m. It is a highly stressful environment, but ideal for anyone wanting to see what a genuine professional kitchen feels like early in the day.

G Plant Power Weekends

Explore the world of meat-free cooking at our award-winning vegetarian bistro. You can stand beside our chefs and see exactly how we run a real dining room. This is a short, two-day observation experience taking place only on Saturdays and Sundays, perfect for learning new plant-based recipes very quickly.

H The Ocean Diner

Watch our talented team prepare fresh seafood dishes during our busy weekday lunch service! Starting at 10 a.m., you will see our chefs use incredible slicing techniques in our extremely popular seaside restaurant. It is a fantastic way to see how an actual seafood business operates on a daily basis.

Exercises:   123456