This is an Aller's English Podcast, Episode 2210.
What is QQ?
How to connect over Asian food in English.
Welcome to the All-Ears English Podcast,
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Are you feeling stuck with your English?
We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent
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with your American host,
Aubrey Carter, the Isle's Wiz,
and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.
Coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA.
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In today's episode, you'll learn why QQ describes food and Asia
and how we talk about this worldwide phenomenon in English.
Prepare for excellent English connections
about food and culture today.
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Hello, Aubrey.
How's it going today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you?
I am feeling good.
I have a question for you today in allyearsenglish.
You ready?
OK, so how do you feel about the snack called mochi?
Do you like it?
I love mochi.
There is this soft serve place called Swirlit near our home
that one of the toppings is these little mochi balls.
And I have to have them.
I love the chewiness, that texture.
And then you can also get it Costco now mochi.
It's like ice cream that has mochi
around the outside and treat our joes.
Oh, OK.
I love that chewiness.
What about you, Lindsay?
Yeah, I got really into mochi when I lived in Japan.
And I remember thinking the first time I tried it,
the true mochi, just the snack wrapped up in plastic,
I thought, ooh, it's not sweet enough.
And I was still coming off of my American taste.
And then after a year and a half there, I loved it.
Loved it.
Yes.
It makes sense that in America, often,
mochi is paired with ice cream, because we
want it to be sweeter.
But we also love that chewy texture, right?
Yeah, it's good stuff.
So all right, what are we getting into today, Aubrey?
I'm excited to talk about sweets.
Yes, this is so fun.
This is something Jessica was sharing with us
that was new to me.
And I love it.
It's the letter Q in English Q, is a food texture that's
very popular in Asia and now becoming very popular in the states
as well.
It's that combination of chewy elastic like in mochi.
And boba, those little tapioca balls in boba tea,
and perfectly cooked udon noodles.
I love that texture.
It's so good.
And I had never heard of this.
That's how it's described.
Q, and then if it's especially Q, then they call it QQ.
It's so fun.
I'm going to start using this all the time.
I love it.
I love what you learn when you travel the world.
And you're on the ground talking to local people.
You learn so much.
It is fantastic.
Yes.
And I love that all of our listeners in Asia are like,
yes, Q. We love QQ.
Yes, Q. It's so fun.
And so this term, it originated in Asia, meaning chewy,
but it's evolved to mean a little more than that.
And it's widely used in Chinese speaking communities.
You likely will be introducing this to someone in the States
if you talk about it.
They will be familiar with boba and mochi.
But if you call it Q, they might not be familiar,
but they are going to love to learn this
about Asian culture, Asian language.
I was so excited when Jessica shared this with me.
Yeah, it's a good opportunity for a connection moment.
Right.
Yes.
Slavery experiences.
Yeah.
Yes.
Absolutely.
We love talking about food.
We love sharing new things.
We discover about other cultures and other foods.
So I agree.
I think this is a fantastic connection topic.
So today we're going to give our listeners some new vocab
to talk about, is it like a mouth feeling?
Is that what we're showing our listeners?
Yes.
Like all of the words that we would use in English
to describe Q, because if you want to share this with someone
like, what is Q, you're going to need some terms in English,
especially if they haven't tried mochi or boba.
And so we're going to share that vocab
and also some great phrases for starting conversations
about this.
Ooh, OK.
All right.
So let's go into the first one.
So the first vocabulary word, obri, is chewy.
So when you think of the word chewy, what comes to mind?
Yeah, often candy, chewy candy is right.
Oh, sure.
Sometimes you'll call meat chewy.
If it's like overcooked sort of,
it means it needs to be chewed a lot before you swallow it,
noodles, sticky rice, mochi, dumplings.
Those are cute, all of those things.
I also think of like cooked shiitake mushrooms.
OK.
I love how they always get chewy and like a soup.
Got it.
Yeah, I love that.
I think of caramel or taffy is extremely chewy, right?
Saltwater taffy.
I don't know if that's common in Arizona on the East Coast,
especially the mid-Atlantic.
People love that stuff.
California, too.
Whenever we go, sometimes we'll go to Balboa Island
in Southern California.
And there's a really good, like a taffy candy store there.
So great rolls of taffy.
It's giving taffy.
It's giving taffy.
Taffy, right?
Saltwater taffy.
Yeah.
I love it.
OK.
So chewy is the first word that our listeners should write down,
then, right, Aubrey?
Yes, because Q is a combination of chewy and this next one, elastic.
Which I mean, we use the word elastic to describe so many things, right?
Elastic is in clothing a lot.
When you want something to stretch, but we also use it to describe food.
Something is chewed and elastic.
It means it's capable of being stretched.
And then, assuming it's former shape, this is especially accurate for taffy, especially
when it's being made and they pull it.
Right.
And sometimes if you go to those touristy locations, you can see it being made in the window
right there.
It's so bad.
I love that.
It's like a metal arm that's stretching the taffy.
It's so fun to watch.
Yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
Do you tend to order any kind of kind of chewy or sticky thing on top of your ice cream,
speaking of ice cream?
Because we love the topic.
Do you tend to get any kind of topping like that?
If I go to swirl it, I always get mochi.
They have a little mochi balls that you can add.
I love that chewiness of them, for sure.
My kids love gummy worms that we have here in the States.
That they're also really chewy.
It's a candy.
I don't love that on ice cream.
That's strange to me.
Yeah, that's strange to me too.
Yeah, they're in these ice cream places now where there are lots and lots of different
candies and chocolates like everything you can imagine that you would want to put on ice
cream.
And it's always kind of funny to see what my kids choose.
That is funny.
I always go for the hot.
If I do put something on top, it'll be more chocolate like peanut butter or hot fudge
or something.
Yeah.
You're avoiding those.
Yeah, I don't want the candy.
I don't chew.
I don't.
So yeah, if you are describing Q, the best way you can say it if they're like, no, I
haven't had mochi or boba.
You can say it's a combination of chewy and elastic.
And then you can name some of these other foods if they have tried dumplings.
Yeah.
It's very similar to a cooked dumpling outside of a cooked dumpling.
Oh, that will help them be able to understand what is that Q?
That makes sense.
And then what about using the word firm?
Also a good word to have in our back pockets.
Yeah.
Yes, absolutely.
And this, yeah, it's something that's Q is also firm, right?
I think about tofu when I hear the word firm because it's like soft or firm and I do
not like soft tofu.
I don't know about you.
I'm a fan of firm tofu.
Oh, yeah.
I like all kinds of tofu.
I think in the US, we don't fully exploit it.
But definitely again, back to my experience living in Japan, I mean, it was everywhere.
And yeah, I really like it.
And it depends on what I'm eating in a soup.
I like soft tofu, but like in Pad Thai, I want firm tofu.
So I guess it depends on the food for sure.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
You kind of don't want it to break in your chopsticks, right?
That sort of thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That makes sense.
Okay.
So we'll refer to meats as firm.
Like you can imagine chicken, pork calamari shrimp when they're cooked.
Then you might talk about the firmness of it.
Yes, or springy.
Oh, this one's good.
Springy.
What do we mean by that?
Yeah, it's like it means it's springing back quickly when it's squeezed or stretched.
So we'll often something Q is usually springy.
And so it's kind of elastic, right?
And also cakes, muffins, shortbreads, those types of things.
Also springy.
If you press it down, it's going to spring back.
Come back up with the yeast and everything, right?
Yes.
Okay.
Interesting.
All right.
Good stuff.
Okay, Aubrey, where do we go next?
I feel I'm imagining a moment with our listeners sitting with someone, maybe in the US
in the UK, describing kind of explaining what they mean and using these words.
I love it.
Yes.
I think this is so fun to just spark the conversation, right?
You can first ask someone, just like Lindsay asked me, have you tried mochi or do you like
mochi?
Do you like boba, right?
We're actually going to do a follow up all about bubble tea, boba tea and all of the
different kinds of fancy teas that are getting really popular in America because we're going
to do this on business English, Lindsay, because this is very common to invite a colleague
to get coffee or tea for like an informal meeting.
It's a really good skill to have.
So make sure guys you go over, Aubrey, when is that episode coming up sometime?
Maybe this week.
Next week.
So don't miss it.
Yes.
Yes, go over and hit follow on the business English podcast.
So you are ready to get that episode, which maybe it'll be the complement to this episode,
right?
The complement.
Yeah.
Yes, right?
We could do a whole episode on just bubble tea, boba tea.
That's related, right?
Those little bubbles are cute as well.
If you haven't tried them, you have to.
I'm obsessed.
I think it's so fun.
Yeah, we want to also share how you can connect about going, grabbing a coffee or a bubble
to you with someone.
I love it.
I love it.
So we're all so great.
What else should we talk about today?
So we want to give you a few other phrases just to start this conversation.
So first of all, you could say, you know, what Asian food is super popular where you live.
And then they will be free to answer if they love Chinese food, Thai food, whatever it
is that is popular where they live, and then there are so many good follow up questions
to ask them, what's your favorite?
What do you order when you go, right?
To just spark the conversation about Asian food in general, American's love Asian food.
Yeah, for sure.
I think fusion is really popular depending on where you live.
It has been for years, right?
Any kind of combination, I think, French and Japanese, or you see all sorts of different
combinations in bigger cities, right?
What's your favorite, Lindsay?
What's your favorite Asian restaurant in Denver?
Hmm.
There's a good sushi restaurant that I haven't actually tried yet, but I've heard it's
really good.
It's called Sushi Den and it's down in another neighborhood.
I need to try it.
Yeah, the Asian food in Denver, you know, being landlocked, I'm a little biased.
I say to myself, is it really going to be that good?
Right.
So if you're hoping to fly in the fresh fish, it can be really pricey.
Yeah.
So I think definitely on the East Coast, you probably, and the West Coast, you might
find in general better, but this particular place gets high rating.
So I do need to go.
Nice.
And then you can also ask about Asian grocery stores.
I think this is a fun topic of connection.
I talk with friends about this a lot just to recommend like, is there, what's your favorite
Asian grocery store here?
There are a few in Phoenix, but everyone has like passionate feelings about that about
which one's the best, which one is their go to?
Yeah, I know.
H-Mart is a big trend on the East Coast.
Do you have H-Mart in Arizona?
No.
I'm called lilies.
That's my favorite, but there are a couple.
And I love so much.
I go up and down every aisle, just looking at everything.
And it's probably especially fun for you having lived in Japan.
Oh my God.
It's amazing.
Lots of things you're familiar with.
Yeah.
I used to go in Boston to H-Mart a lot and get curry, rice, or just get moa, I guess sometimes
mochi, or also onigiri.
Right.
You know, onigiri, it's the triangles with the seaweed on the outside and the rice with
the little umebashi in the middle.
Just to feel, or even the green tea that you don't find as much here, just to feel like
your back.
Right.
Living abroad.
And how does it compare that the food in Boston, it sounds pretty authentic.
How did that compare to when you were living in Japan?
You know, I think probably New York's East Village has better than better Japanese food
than Boston.
It's well known for a little tiny little isakaia's.
Um, it was good.
I guess it's hard to kind of take the food out of the country.
It's never quite the same.
You go looking for that same experience and you'll never repeat that because it's an
important moment in your life.
It's about who was with you at that time.
Right.
Sure.
I can imagine any Japanese listeners living in the States are like, yes, Lindsay, you're
right.
It's not as good here.
You just can't quite repeat it, right?
You can't repeat it, but that's kind of a cool thing about life, right?
You can't repeat things in life, so let's fully enjoy them in the moment.
Yes, but we've talked about this in the past that, you know, Americans are kind of obsessed
with a lot of things about Asian culture, K-pop.
We did a great episode about K-Dramas.
That was 1947.
If you missed it, go back.
It was called Three Ways to Talk about K-Dramas in English.
Yes.
These are all great topics for connection, food, music, movies.
It's awesome.
Don't hesitate to bring this up with friends.
Oh my gosh.
Great way that you don't need to, you can talk about the things you want to talk about.
It doesn't have to be something that everyone else is talking about.
This could be center around your interest, right, and then pull people in, and then now
you have the vocabulary for it.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yes.
Okay, roleplay time.
I'm excited.
We're discussing a local Asian restaurant.
Shall we do it?
Yeah, let's do it.
All right.
Have you been to Thai chili garden?
I went last night and it's so good.
Yes, we went a few weeks ago.
I got pad Thai with tofu.
That was perfectly firm and so good.
I'll have to try that.
Did you order dessert?
I always get mango and sticky rice.
That sweet chewy rice is my favorite.
Yum.
We got mochi.
I love it.
It was qq with that springy elastic chewy texture.
That is just so good.
Oh, fantastic.
Sound of your natural.
You might not find mochi at a Thai restaurant.
No, I'm trying to get in all of these texture words, right?
It's okay.
Maybe it's a fusion Thai restaurant.
It's okay.
Yeah.
So you said, let's see.
You said, yes, we went a few weeks ago.
I got pad Thai with tofu.
That was perfectly firm and so good.
So it's well cooked.
Yes.
This would be a great conversation to have with a foodie friend because some conversations.
If you know your friend doesn't care that much, you might just ask about restaurants and
then let the conversation go elsewhere.
But I do have friends that this is how the conversation goes.
We're sort of describing specifics about the meals because they're interested.
They want to know.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah.
In our Connected Communicator course, we talk a lot about food being a foodie, what it means.
We ought to an elevated diner in Chicago.
So guys, if you're not in that course, go to
allersenglish.com slash connection and check it out.
Yes.
Absolutely.
And then you said sweet chewy rice when you're describing the mango and sticky rice.
Yeah.
Sticky rice is also that cue.
You could call it right.
It's that kind of chewy elasticy rice more so than other rice.
And then the coconut sauce that they put on top of it, of course, is that is the good
stuff.
That is the good stuff.
But usually when I go, I feel like, well, I guess I don't go to tie that that much.
But when I go, I feel like often it's not in season.
And so, you know, it's not available, but have to.
Yes.
That does happen a lot less so here in Arizona because we get a lot of our fruit from Mexico
and there I think they're able to grow mangoes most the year because that doesn't happen
here very often, luckily.
Mm.
So you have access to mangoes and sticky rice all the time.
Yes.
Yes.
Move to Arizona, guys.
If you want right, mangoes all year.
And then you said, yum, we got mochi.
I love it.
It was cute, cute with that springy elastic chewy texture.
Wow.
I love this to like throw cute, cute into the conversation like this because then Lindsay
you maybe would have been like, what's cute?
I haven't heard of that, right?
And I've kind of described it there.
That springy elastic chewy texture.
So maybe you would just move on and be like, OK, I guess that's what that means.
Right.
But you might stop and be like, wait, what?
I want to know more about this.
I want to know more about this.
Interesting.
I love that.
Really cool.
All right.
I'll bring any takeaways for today for our listeners.
Yeah.
Just guys, Americans in general love Asian food, Asian culture.
Which makes it a great way to connect in English.
So use today's vocabulary and these phrases to spark a conversation.
Don't hesitate.
This is a great way to get deeper with your friends.
Yeah.
I think the best conversations come around.
Topics were actually interested in from the beginning.
Don't feel like you have to talk about politics or you have to talk about something.
Just because everyone else is talking about it.
You can talk about your favorite things and still find the connection moment.
Right.
Like the discover that a friend has been to Asia and has all kinds of interesting insight
or maybe you've been to the same place or at least that you love the same things about
Asian culture, even if both of you haven't been there yet.
It's amazing what you find in common when you just spark a new conversation.
So cool.
Love it.
Well, thanks for bringing this topic today, Aubrey.
And I am excited to have our listeners go over and hit follow on Business English to
get the next part of this series.
Yeah.
Yes.
Absolutely.
So I'm going to talk about taking a coworker colleague to coffee or tea and lots of interesting
stuff about bubble tea.
Boba tea is going to be a super important episode right for building that work relationship.
All right.
Well, I'll see you over there soon.
Awesome.
Thanks, Lindsay.
Take care.
Bye.
Right.
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