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TASKS 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 therefore finally drawing some sort of conclusion about it.

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.

Horrible food

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.

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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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.

In the following extract, to which word or phrase does the pronoun "It" refer ?
"...That cry still rings in my memory. It is an epitome—not, indeed, ...."  (line 8)
Copy the word or phrase you choose, and paste it into the space below.

The pronoun 'it' refers to   

 

 

In the following extract, to which word or phrase does the pronoun "It" refer ?
".... It is an epitome—not, indeed, of English food, but of the forces which drag it in the dirt...."  (line 9)
Copy the word or phrase you choose, and paste it into the space below.

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

 

Total Score:

Writing

 

> Write a blog entry about the subject of horrible food. 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. Finally, you must refer in some way to the E.M.Forster extract above.

Words: 400-600

 

 


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