B1Food and cooking12 min
A podcast about learning to cook
A podcast guest talks about his first steps in the kitchen and the advice that helped him most.
Before you listen
You are going to hear part of a podcast for people who are new to cooking. The presenter, Lena, is talking to a guest called Tomás about his own experience in the kitchen. Before you listen, think about who taught you to cook, or who you would like to learn from.
- boilverb
- to heat water or food until it bubblesBoil the pasta for ten minutes.
- recipenoun
- a set of instructions for cooking a dishThis recipe needs two eggs and some flour.
- burnverb
- to cook something too much so that it turns blackWatch the toast or it will burn.
- flatnoun
- a home on one floor of a larger buildingHer flat is on the third floor.
- impressverb
- to make someone admire youHe baked a huge cake to impress his friends.
Listen · 1:37
The Everyday Table: cooking from zero
Show the transcript (try the questions first)
Lena: Welcome back to The Everyday Table, the podcast for people who are new to the kitchen. My guest today is Tomás, who says that two years ago he couldn't even boil an egg. Tomás, is that really true?
Tomás: Honestly, it is. I lived with my parents until I was twenty-six, and my dad did all the cooking. When I moved into my own flat, I ate sandwiches for about a month.
Lena: So what changed?
Tomás: I got bored, and buying lunch and dinner every day was expensive. So I called my grandmother, and she agreed to teach me on video calls every Wednesday evening. She'd watch me through the phone and tell me what to do.
Lena: That's lovely. What was the first thing you made together?
Tomás: Rice with vegetables. And I burned it, because I left the kitchen to answer a message. She still laughs about that.
Lena: What's the most useful advice she's given you?
Tomás: Cook the same dish three times in one week. The first time, you follow the recipe. The second time, you understand it. And the third time, you can change it a little.
Lena: I like that. Do you still make mistakes?
Tomás: All the time. Last month I put far too much salt in a soup, so I added some potatoes and more water. It wasn't perfect, but my friends ate it.
Lena: And what would you say to listeners who feel nervous about cooking?
Tomás: Start small, and don't try to impress anyone. For me, cooking has become the most relaxing part of my day.
Exercise 1 of 2
Understand the conversation
Listen to the podcast. Choose the best answer.
Exercise 2 of 2
Listen for details
Listen again and type the missing word or number. You can write numbers as words or digits.
Tomás lived with his parents until he was .
After he moved into his flat, he ate for about a month.
His grandmother gave him a lesson every evening.
The first dish they made together was rice with .
His grandmother's advice is to cook the same dish times in one week.
Tomás tells nervous beginners to start and not try to impress anyone.
Source
Original script by Joy English, read by open-source text-to-speech voices (Kokoro-82M, Apache-2.0).
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