This is an IELTS Energy Podcast Episode 1591.
Rich or bland?
Band 9 adjectives to describe food on IELTS Speaking.
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Today, in this part, two of our two-part series, get tangible vocabulary to give the best possible answer when it comes to foods you like and don't like.
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Hello, Lindsay.
How are you today?
Hey, Aubrey.
I'm doing well.
It's a sunny day in Denver and I'm glad to be on the microphone.
Amazing.
I'm excited to talk about food again.
This is part two of a two-part episode with vocabulary and strategies for answering IELTS speaking questions about food.
You're going to learn so much today.
But Lindsay, I'm curious, do you like rich food?
I actually do.
I'm a rich food person like i really like chocolate, lava cake, i like cheese, i like have like peanut butter, that that feel that mouth feel it's like this is intense, this is yes yeah, and rich sauces like a really creamy, like fettuccine, alfredo or something like that delicious.
So Some people don't like that taste.
Some people prefer lighter things, but not me.
I mean, it doesn't matter what the season is.
Honestly, I'll take rich foods in the summer, winter.
Rich soups.
Soups that are really creamy.
There's a restaurant here that's just soups and salads and they have this super rich mushroom soup that not everybody.
I'll meet people and they don't like it because it's really rich.
I love it.
So when you do soups, then Aubrey, do you do more cream-based rather than broth-based, or could you also do broth-based?
I actually do more broth-based.
I don't usually buy cream because I know it's not healthy for me and I can't just pour cream into something.
So I will order it in a restaurant, but I'm trying to make healthier soups when I'm cooking.
But they're never as delicious.
They really aren't.
I know, like chicken noodle soup, it bores me to death.
I never do it.
It's just like, oh gosh, such a disappointment.
Anyways, let's get deeper into this, Aubrey.
Where shall we start today?
Yeah, there is a good chance that you will be asked about food on IELTS Speaking.
This could come up on part one, part two, part three.
You need topic-specific vocabulary.
You can't just describe food as good or bad.
So today's adjectives are less common and higher scoring than And.
If you missed part one, we'll share details at the end because with both of these episodes combined, you'll have all of the high-scoring vocabulary you need to talk about food on IELTS.
Awesome.
I'm so excited.
Guys, before we go any further into the vocabulary for today, hit the follow button immediately so that you don't miss a single episode of IELTS Energy.
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All right.
Absolutely.
All right.
Let's dive in.
Our first adjective is rich, which I asked Lindsay if she likes rich foods.
What does that mean for something to be rich, Lindsay?
Yeah, it's really just it's a strong, heavy flavor.
Often it combines rich ingredients.
So butter, cream, chocolate.
I don't know, maybe red wine or something.
Right.
You'd never describe like a salad as rich or something that's much lighter.
A broth based soup we would not describe as rich.
These are those heavier flavors.
Comfort foods are often described as rich when they're very flavorful and then often heavier.
We'll call them rich.
Exactly.
I mean, the salad dressing could be rich, but the salad itself would not make sense to say the salad is rich.
I can't see any scenario.
That's a good point.
So when it comes to salad dressing, if it's like vinegar based or lighter, then we wouldn't call it rich.
But if it's a creamy, like a ranch dressing or blue cheese, that's really creamy, then that could be rich.
Yeah, those are really popular dressings kind of in the Midwestern area of the U.S.
A lot of white dressings and that kind of thing.
Okay, so some examples.
The dessert was extremely rich, so I could only eat a small portion.
And this is common, right?
If a chocolate cake is super rich, you need milk with it or you just want one bite and you're good.
Right.
Or the sauce was very rich because it was cooked slowly with butter and herbs.
Another example of something that's rich is fudge.
And that's why usually you can't eat too much of it.
You start to feel a little sick if you have a few pieces, because it is so rich compared to just – You only need a taste.
Yeah, exactly.
Yes.
Okay.
That's a good way to start.
Bland would be the next one.
It's not exactly the opposite, but it's sort of different, right?
Yeah.
It means lacking flavor.
So any foods can be bland.
Even Rich foods, I guess, could be bland if they don't have enough flavor, don't have enough seasoning.
You can have a very rich soup that's actually bland if it doesn't have enough seasoning and salt and just kind of tastes like cream.
Yes.
It would be bland.
So for example, the soup tasted a little bland.
So I added some salt and pepper.
A lot of things have to be like.
I've been eating hard boiled eggs and I feel like I have to add salt on the hard boiled egg to give a little something.
It's a little bland otherwise.
Otherwise, it's bland.
Exactly.
Or it's always disappointing when food is bland and flavorless.
So, yeah, this word is just less common, right?
Flavorless is a little more common, very similar meaning.
But these words rich and bland when you go to describe food, too many students are just saying it was good.
It was bad.
It was salty.
You need these less common words to push up your vocab scores.
Yeah.
Don't use the same words everyone else is using, guys.
Don't do that.
It won't get you anywhere.
It won't get you past IELTS.
Savory is another one we want to recommend for candidates.
Salty or spicy rather than sweet.
Exactly so, for example, for breakfast, i usually prefer something savory, like eggs or toast.
A lot of americans do not prefer savory breakfast.
They like a sweet breakfast.
That's like pancakes and syrup or french toast waffles right, sweet breakfast, yeah.
When i was a kid, whenever we got good grades which we usually did uh, We would go to this like waffle house and my mom would get us like waffles with whipped cream and like these very sweet fruit on top right.
Like the strawberry mix, you know what I mean?
And that was like our celebration, you know, for celebrating good grades.
Nice.
The actual, like those thick Belgian waffles with the sugar granules, have started becoming more popular here.
I first had them in Brussels on the street.
They'll just be a waffle you buy on the streets.
Delicious.
Very different from the waffles in like an American restaurant.
It's very different.
So superior.
Yeah.
With those ones, I think I had those last spring too.
In Belgium, they don't really put whipped cream.
You might put Nutella on it or just eat it plain because it's so delicious on its own.
That's not something you would put syrup and fruit and things on usually.
Exactly.
Or it'd be too rich, way too rich.
We have we have like our take on food is so intense in the US, right?
It takes everything to the extreme of sicky sweetness, right?
Or intensity, doesn't it kind of?
And when I first moved to Belgium and had those, I'm like this, this is how a waffle should be.
What have I been eating all my life?
I know.
These terrible American waffles.
So bad.
Savory.
So then another example, the pie had a savory filling made with vegetables and cheese, right?
Not sweet.
Yes, exactly.
You would never call like an apple or a cherry pie savory.
That means it is more salty.
It's cheese, meats, vegetables, all those types of foods we call savory.
Yeah, and aromatic now.
So this is more rare, this word.
This is something that has a pleasant smell.
So for example, the rice was very aromatic after being cooked with herbs and spices.
This means you can smell the food, right?
Bland foods are usually not aromatic.
Yeah.
Coffee is another example.
You walk into a coffee shop.
I mean, it's very obvious you're in a coffee shop, right?
The kitchen smelled amazing when the chef prepared the aromatic soup.
Yeah, this is definitely a band nine word.
I've never heard a student say it.
So if you can use this to describe a restaurant or a food that smells good but smells strongly, then you know, instead of just saying it smelled wonderful, say it was aromatic.
Really good.
And then juicy.
This is full of liquid, not dry.
So that liquid could be the grease of the animal fat, right?
Or it could be, yeah, I guess mostly, or it could be like butter, I guess.
Fruits.
Yeah, they're juicy.
Mm-hmm.
I think meats and fruits we most often call juicy for sure.
You might say, I love a burger that's juicy and full of flavor.
It just means not dry.
Sometimes meat, if it's overcooked, is really dry.
Yeah.
Or for fruits.
Where I grew up, we could pick fresh peaches from local trees that were incredibly juicy.
Is that true for you in Idaho?
Yes, absolutely.
Not in Idaho.
No, but here in Arizona, we have lots of citrus trees.
I have a grapefruit, orange and mandarin and lime right on your property.
That's awesome.
We planted them when we first moved in.
A lot of people have citrus trees here that have been here forever.
A lot of the land where I live used to be orchards.
And some of the trees were left when houses were built here.
But unfortunately, on our property, there weren't any like mature citrus trees.
So we planted some and now they're bearing fruit.
It's amazing.
Amazing.
Yeah, that's really cool.
You get your own oranges and limes, lemons, that kind of thing.
Yes.
Amazing.
Yes.
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All right, tender.
We have to talk about tender, especially if we're going to talk about meat, right?
Something that is soft and easy to chew, but not just meat.
Um, there's other things that can be tender too, right?
I mean, yeah, this is interesting because we do often use it about meat and how well it's cooked.
We might say the meat was very tender after being slow cooked for several hours.
Or what else?
Barbecue.
I feel like we talk about being tender.
Good barbecue should be both tender and flavorful.
Yeah, you've talked about your slow cooker before.
Oh, yeah.
I use a pressure cooker a lot and it does make very tender meat.
But when whenever we're talking about food that is just easy to chew, we can call it tender.
Because sometimes imagine if someone just had like a dental procedure or their wisdom teeth removed, then they would have to eat very tender foods, soft foods,
Right.
So sometimes you'll hear tender describing other foods just if they're easy to chew.
Yeah.
I mean, you could say like a grilled cheese sandwich technically could be tender.
We don't usually use it to talk about that, but it could be.
Yeah, it's interesting.
We'll usually just say soft unless we're talking about meat, right?
Interesting.
You're right, actually.
I was trying to find a scenario.
Reserve tender for meat.
But if ever you're talking about, like you know, enjoying meat, maybe steak, that's a little more rare and not overcooked, you'd say, because you want it to be tender.
Yeah, I'm trying to think.
I guess fish too could be like sushi, you could say.
Would you say sushi is tender?
Maybe, yeah.
It's the opposite of tough because lots of things can be tough and chewy.
And the opposite of that is tender when it's easy to chew.
So you guys now have seven new words that you should absolutely write down practice into your – do a sample practice for yourself.
And first listen to this sample practice that we're going to talk about.
Oh, we have one more that we missed.
Oh, we missed one. too.
So this is an interesting word.
It sort of means the flavor is too strong.
For example, the garlic flavor was slightly overpowering.
So this is a negative.
If something's too salty, too garlicky, we'll say that flavor is overpowering.
Yes, or sometimes strong spices can become overpowering if they aren't balanced properly.
Yes.
Yeah, so that's an interesting word to describe food as well, right?
So yeah, but let's dive in with a couple of sample answers.
Lindsay, I will first ask you one.
We'll see if you can use a couple of the words we've taught today.
Let's do it.
All right, what is one of your favorite foods?
Oh my gosh.
I'm going to have to go with chocolate ice cream.
It sounds simple and I know a lot of people think that chocolate ice cream is a little overpowering, especially if you add toppings or you add things inside of it like brownie or peanut butter.
But for me, it is rich, flavorful, and it's just amazing.
It's the opposite of bland.
When I choose flavors like strawberry or vanilla, I always feel disappointed that I'm lacking flavor right.
It's really just not doing it for me.
I just attended a ice cream making class a few weeks ago and we loaded up the ice cream with lots of toppings and I'm still enjoying it now.
So 100% it's chocolate ice cream.
Nice, thank you.
Oh, man, that was great.
There's so much good vocab.
Not only did you share, you know overpowering rich bland that we taught today.
Those are all band nine going to push up your vocab.
But a couple of phrases I wanted to point out here.
First of all, the way you started this to say I'm going to have to go with is such a native, natural way of answering a question like this.
That's asking you to choose something, a favorite something, instead of saying you know you don't want to parrot the question and say like, my favorite food is ice cream.
Don't.
This is such a higher scoring way to say that to say I'm going to have to go with and then say what you would choose.
And then also, I also want to point out two more phrases, not doing it for me.
You're saying you know the flavors that you don't like, instead of saying that, like I don't really like vanilla or strawberry.
This is a much higher scoring way to say that.
You know, those flavors aren't really doing it for me or they're not really doing it for me.
This is a very idiomatic expression.
That means it's not what I like.
Yes, and it's interesting because I said that in the present continuous tense, but it still works because it is an idiomatic expression.
I'm not saying that I'm trying vanilla right now, right?
That's not literally interpreting the grammar that way.
No good point, right?
Often you have the choice of present simple or present continuous for something like this, because you can, you know, say in general right, this doesn't do it for me.
Yeah.
Um, or you can put it in present progressive, you know, because you're eating all the time, right?
Every time you choose dessert, it's just not working.
Right.
So it's an ongoing thing.
Yeah.
Those are pretty flexible verb tenses.
Often they both work.
And then lastly, loaded up.
This is such a great phrasal verb.
When you're talking about food, a lot of foods, we put a lot of other things on them.
Like a baked potato might be loaded up with sour cream and cheese and all the other goodies you put on it.
Ice cream is a good example.
We load it up with toppings.
So this is a really good phrasal verb to describe foods that have other things put on them.
All right.
It's always fun to talk about food.
I mean, this is a great question.
So I'm going to ask you, Aubrey I'm going to flip it the other way and have our listeners listen in on this sample answer.
So Aubrey, are there any foods you do not like?
Yes, I detest sloppy joes.
This is a very American food that is usually ground beef, some kind of meat, with a sauce, a tomato based sauce.
But it doesn't matter how tender and delicious that meat is, how juicy it is.
It doesn't matter how aromatic the sloppy joes are.
I can't stand them.
Something about it really turns my stomach.
We ate it quite a bit growing up.
And everyone else will tell you that my mom's sloppy joes are amazing.
Ew, I can't do it.
I won't eat it now.
It's just the worst.
Interesting.
Thank you.
Thank you for your answer.
Wow, that's fascinating.
So you sort of developed an aversion over time.
That would have been a great phrase to use.
I wish I had thought to say that.
If you're talking about a food you don't like, guys, you could say that.
I have developed an aversion to this food.
It's a band nine way of saying I don't like it.
Interesting.
Yeah, no, that's wow.
Sloppy Joe's such a food of the 80s and the 90s.
Right.
We also ate it a lot growing up.
People still might.
I don't know.
I've never cooked it for my children.
Something about it.
Just I can't.
I love that you chose to say I detest instead of I don't like.
Right.
Again, I like what you said earlier.
Don't parrot the question.
Don't repeat the question back.
And you chose to start by saying I detest Sloppy Joe's.
Yeah, it's always good to go to extremes like that.
It also helps with the variety of intonation.
Then you can emphasize that more.
I detest sloppy joes.
And the other construction you used with a couple of vocabulary words is it doesn't matter how aromatic, it doesn't matter how juicy they are or sloppy joes are.
So that was also really high level in my mind.
That is a great phrase, a great chunk to use whenever, if you're wanting to say positive things about something that you don't like, in spite of all that.
You say it doesn't matter how and then use some of these band nine adjectives.
It could be that.
I still don't like it.
Yeah, that's really good.
Because if you want to choose something and you feel like all the words you've learned don't apply, just use a construction like this
Right?
Right.
Absolutely.
Use this chunk.
Or you can also say what it's not and be like when you're talking about something you don't like.
It's really not aromatic.
It's never it's, you know, yeah, you can always give the opposites to use this vocab.
Love it.
So good.
So good.
Guys, another episode to check out right now is IELTS Energy 1588.
If you love food, you'll love this episode.
Yes, that was part one.
Don't miss it.
We shared a lot of great high-scoring vocabulary and strategies that you will want to have if you are asked about food on IELTS, which is very likely.
Perfect.
And what's our final takeaway for today, Aubrey?
Yes, we talked about this on part one as well.
Questions like this, you might not think to prepare for because they seem sort of easy.
I can talk about food.
But a lot of these things you may not have ever talked about in English.
A lot of these things.
You might not know how to describe foods with high scoring vocabulary in English.
So be sure to practice questions about food using all of this vocabulary.
Yeah.
I mean, this is low-hanging fruit, like we said in the part one.
So let's nail this, right?
Let's get a high score here on this one because everyone eats, right?
We all have something to say about food.
Yes.
That's a very common question on IELTS.
So be ready with some Band 9 vocab.
All right, Aubrey.
See you next time.
Have a good day.
Awesome.
You too.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
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