Food around the world

For 99% of human history, people took their food from the world around them. They ate all that they could find, and they moved on. Then about 10,000 years ago, or for 1% of human history, people learned to farm the land and control their environment.

The kind of food we eat depends on which part of the world we live in. For example, in the south of China they eat rice, but in the north they eat noodles. In Scandinavia, they eat a lot of herrings, and the Portuguese love sardines. But in central Europe, away from the sea, people don’t eat so much fish, they eat more meat and sausages.

In North America, Australia and Europe there are two or more courses to every meal and people eat with knives and forks.

In China there is only one course, all the food is together on the table, and they eat with chopsticks.

In parts of India and the Middle East people use their fingers and bread to pick up the food.

Nowadays it is possible to transport food easily from one part of the world to the other. We can eat what we like, when we like, at any time of the year. Our bananas come from the Caribbean or Africa; our rice comes from India or the USA; our strawberries come from Chile or Spain. Food is very big business. But people in poor countries are still hungry, and people in rich countries eat too much.

16.Answer the questions.

1.When did human history start? Was it about 10,000 years ago or was it about 1 million years ago?

2.Do they eat much rice in the south of China?

3.Why do the Scandinavians and the Portuguese eat a lot of fish?

4.Why don’t the Germans eat much fish?

5.Which countries have many kinds of sausages?

6.How many courses are there in China?

7.How do people eat in The Middle East?

8.Why can we eat strawberries at any time of the year?

17.Read the article and comment it.