Bangkok Dangerous & The Joy Luck Club: Ethnic Food

Talking about ethnic food is something students like doing. You can also connect it to cultural issues in the classroom. Since I had a group full of foreigners, this activity was fun and instructive. In the following class, my students brought typical dishes from Korea, Indonesia, Poland, etc. It was great - but fattening!







Ethnic food is typical food from countries which are not from where you live. It is often called world food. But the definition of ethnic food varies according to where and who you are. Defining it is difficult. In a multi-cultural society like the U.S., one tends to perceive more and more cuisines as ethnic. Also, over time, items that used to be distinctly ethnic, like tacos and pizza, have become part of the mainstream American diet.


From the discussion: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070815112313AAhxFMD

I. Work in pairs:

1. What is your favorite ethnic food? Can you describe it to your partner?

2. What ethnic food have you ever tried? Where is the dish originally from?

3. Have you ever tried the following cuisines? What's your opinion about them?

- Italian

- French

- German

- Brazilian

- Indian

- Moroccan

- Argentinian

- Chinese

- Japanese

- Mexican


4. Which of these cuisines have become mainstream in your country? Do you consider them ethnic?

5. Take a look at the pictures below. Can you identify where the food come from? They're from the countries in exercise 3. 1.


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Answer key: 1. Argentine 2. German 3. Brazilian 4. Chinese 5. French 6. Moroccan 7. Japanese 8. Indian 9. Mexican 10. Italian


6. How does typical or ethnic food reflect the culture of a country?

7. Can you cook typical dishes from your country?

8. Do you like the typical food from your own country? Why (not)?

9. Can you write down the ingredients for a local food from your country?

10. Do foreigners usually like or reject the typical food from your country? Why ?

11. Is there a special way to eat typical food from your country?


II. Watch the first segment from the movie THE JOY LUCK CLUB and answer the questions that follow.


1. Where is the ethnic food from?

2. Have you ever seen/eaten that dish before?

3. Would you like to have it one day? Why (not)?

4. What would you do if you were asked for dinner whose main dish is the one in the movie segment? Would have it? If not, how would you react?

5. Describe the scene.











III. Now watch the movie segment from the movie BANGKOK DANGEROUS and discuss the questions that follow.

1. Where is the ethnic food from?

2. Have you ever seen/eaten that dish before?

3. Would you like to have it one day? Why (not)

4. What would you do if you were asked for dinner whose main dish is the one in the movie segment? Would have it? If not, how would you react?

5. Describe the scene.


MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE JOY LUCK CLUB

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - BANGKOK DANGEROUS