Script: Listening Exercise 185

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John Millen
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FOOD TO DIE FOR

Voice 1: Do you know the expression 'to die for'? If someone said to you 'Last night I had some Japanese food that was to die for', would you know what they meant? They most certainly wouldn’t be telling you that the Sushi would kill you if you ate it!

Voice 2: If something to eat or drink is 'to die for', it is absolutely delicious. You use this expression when you want to say that the taste of something is utterly amazing. That new shop on the corner sells cupcakes to die for!

Voice 1: 'To die for' is a figurative phrase. It doesn’t mean what you think it means when you look at the individual words. It doesn't mean you are going to die if you eat or have eaten the food you mention.

Voice 2: But did you know there are some foods that are really 'to die for'? These are foods that will kill you or make you seriously ill if you’re not careful.

Voice 1: The ackee is a delicious fruit that grows in Africa and on the islands of the Caribbean - but eating the whole fruit can kill you. The ripe yellow flesh of the ackee is edible but the red skin and black seeds are highly poisonous.

Voice 2: Perhaps you’d prefer a slice of delicious Casu Marza cheese from the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea? Here is how it's made. The cheese is left outside and flies make holes in it and lay their eggs. The eggs hatch into maggots. Before they die inside the cheese, the maggots produce a liquid that gives this yummy delicacy its distinctive taste.

Voice 1: But some of the maggots don't die, and if they survive in your stomach when you've eaten the cheese they can burrow into your intestines and make you very sick.

Voice 2: The fugu, or puffer fish, is a Japanese delicacy, but it has to be prepared by a cook who knows exactly what he is doing. Certain parts of the fish are highly poisonous. If you want to try fugu, it is essential you to go to a restaurant where the chef has passed an exam in how to safely prepare the puffer fish for human consumption.

Voice 1: Sannakji or Wriggling octopus, an expensive Korean delicacy, and blood clams, sometimes found on seafood menus, are expensive tidbits that can kill you if not prepared properly. And cassava flour, used to make bread in Africa, can contain the poison cyanide if the grain from the cassava plant is incorrectly prepared.

Voice 2: So there are foods ‘to die for’ and foods that can kill you. It’s very useful to know which is which!

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