Hey everyone, it's Andrew here.
How's it going? Welcome to Simplified Speech, the Q -Lip series where we have easy -to -follow natural conversations to help you improve your English skills.
Simplified Speech is perfect for intermediate learners who want to improve their English listening and speaking by hearing real English spoken at a relaxed pace.
Today's episode is all all about vegetables.
That's right. Vegetables.
Seems like a random topic, but actually my co -host Cassie and I had a great conversation.
So you'll hear us talk about shopping at local farmers markets, finding great deals on vegetables at those markets, trying to grow our own food, and even subscribing to veggie delivery services.
It's a fun and useful conversation and there's lots of everyday vocabulary packed into it, so I think you'll learn a lot.
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All right, it's time to welcome Cassie to this conversation and get started with this episode.
Let's do that now. Here we go.
Enjoy. And joining me now to talk about all things vegetables.
Should we call this episode the all things vegetables episode Cassie?
I don't know if that really rolls off the tongue too much but yeah it's my co -host cassie hi we could call it veggie tales did you ever watch that when you were a kid veggie tales yeah i did for listeners who don't know too much about veggie tales what is that series it's a christian biblical series but they tell bible stories um not they a bunch of vegetables tell bible stories so there's like like a tomato and a cucumber and they all talk to each other.
It's cute. So anyways, Cassie, let's call this episode Veggie Tales.
That's a cute title for it.
We're going to talk all about vegetables and not necessarily our preferences for the kinds of vegetables that we like to eat, but more about shopping for vegetables, procuring vegetables.
Maybe we'll even get into talking about growing vegetables and I think let's start with shopping Cassie you mentioned to me today that you went to a local market and you got a great haul from the market and could you tell us about your veggie haul that you got this morning yeah sure so there is a market literally right down the street from my house it takes two minutes to walk there and it It stretches for several blocks and it is amazing, Andrew.
I can find local, fresh produce of any variety.
To name a few today, I got tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, bok choy, bean sprouts, beets, and broccoli.
Did I mention broccoli?
I don't think so. So and broccoli and broccoli.
And how much did that cost you?
It cost me a little over 20 ,000 won, which in US dollars is, I don't know, $17.
It was so affordable.
Compare that to going to one of the popular grocery stores in the country or the supermarkets in the country.
What would be the difference in price?
Do you think you saved a lot of money by going to the local market instead of the grocery store?
I think I saved a ton of money.
To be fair, grocery stores do have convenience for single family homes or maybe a couple because you can buy smaller amounts of produce.
You know, maybe you only need like one onion instead of 10 onions.
However, I have been cooking a lot more now.
So the farmer's markets just make way more sense for me in terms of stretching my dollar as far as I can.
Stretching your dollar.
I like that expression.
That's an expression that just means to try and buy as many things as possible for the lowest amount of money, right?
For the lowest cost possible.
Really efficient shopping.
Yeah, I love that. One nice thing that sometimes happens when you go to a local market as well is that sometimes the people who are selling the vegetables will be kind and give you a little extra, right?
Maybe you'll get an extra apple or an extra onion, or I don't know, something like that.
Has that ever happened to you at all?
Yeah, it happens to me a lot.
Especially if I bring my baby along, they're like, so cute.
Here, have another one.
All right. So the cute baby is the the secret.
Yes. Another exciting thing that happens at the markets is that sometimes I can buy things that, one, I didn't even know they sell here in Korea, or two, if I try to buy it in a regular store, it costs so much money.
For example, Andrew, I found a box of Brussels Brussels sprouts at the market the other day for only 4000 won.
That's about three dollars while it was a big box like several hundred grams. While if you buy like a tiny box of Brussels sprouts in the local big chain grocery store, it costs a crazy amount of money, like five times the price.
Yeah. Wow. That's a great find.
I'm a little bit jealous because to be honest, Korea is a great place if you like Korean food, right?
If you like eating the kinds of vegetables that are easily grown in Korea, then you're going to love going to the local market here in Korea.
But when you are searching for some of the vegetables that maybe we grew up with back home, Cassie, then it can be a little difficult if If they're not really grown here in Korea.
Brussels sprouts, that's an example.
From time to time, when they're in season, you'll be able to find them.
But like you said, they're often very expensive.
But sounds like you got a really great deal there at the market.
But some of the other vegetables that perhaps we grew up with back home in North America, yeah, from time to time, it is a little sad that I've had to give up on some vegetables.
Like, for example, cauliflower.
I love cauliflower.
flour red onions sometimes I can't find red onions very easily and fresh herbs like dill basil oregano mint they do sell them but they cost an arm and a leg they're very very expensive so yeah I've grown my own basil at home I've grown my own cilantro at home just because it's yeah too expensive if you want to buy these herbs in any great quantity like the quantity that you would actually need to make like a basil pesto it would probably cost you like 30 american dollars to buy that amount of basil at the supermarket cassie are you like me have you ever tried growing your own vegetables is that something
that you're into at all um when i was a kid we did a little bit and my sister now is hugely into it she grows a giant vegetable and flower garden in america But here I've just never been able to because I've always lived in an apartment or there was there was no space to grow things.
And I don't know, I've never been a plant person, so I don't even have plants at home.
I know you do that.
But yeah, in the future, I think I might want to try even a little bit, just like maybe one little plant of mint or something like that.
it one of my buddies who lives in the same city that you do cassie down in the southern part of the country he's got a wonderful vegetable garden and he grows lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and just all sorts of stuff and last year he came up to seoul to visit me and he brought me just this big hall this big basket of lettuce and tomatoes and onions and potatoes and I said to him I was like I didn't know you were a gardener man how did you grow all this produce like this is amazing and he said yeah I'm not really a gardener we just have a good spot just sort of put the little seedlings in the ground
because he doesn't start the plants from seed he actually goes to the local market and buys the seedlings and then plants them cool but he said you know i don't really have to do too much at all i just water it and then after a few months voila wow he must have perfect soil yeah i think he's got good soil and a good location with good sunlight as well so yeah i'm thinking about doing that this year making my own little vegetable garden and i would really like to grow some of those vegetables that we talked about earlier.
Cauliflower, purple onions, the ones that are hard to buy here in Korea.
But I think they're also hard to grow in Korea.
That's my gut feeling is that maybe that's why we don't have them here.
So I don't know. We'll see.
If I go ahead with the garden, I'll update everybody.
Yeah, let us know. up cassie you had also mentioned to me a little bit before we started recording that you recently signed up for a vegetable subscription box could you tell us what that's all about yeah so again i heard about this from my sister because she's really into this kind of stuff but in the u .s she would you know contract with a local company or farm i'm not sure that had subscription boxes So they would put random produce that they'd grown recently into a box, and then they'd ship it to you like once a week or twice a week or once a month.
And you would receive this box of produce, not really knowing exactly what's inside, and then you can use it throughout the week.
It's kind of like a fun vegetable present, mystery present.
isn't. I haven't gotten my first box yet, but I just signed up for a vegetable subscription service yesterday.
And the company is called Ugly Us.
And they send produce that's like totally fine.
It still tastes amazing, very fresh.
But it might look a little uglier than the stuff that they would sell to you know, the the normal big markets and grocery stores.
okay so ugly vegetables the ones that maybe you know it's like a carrot that has two stalks instead of just one long carrot that kind of thing yeah or maybe like a really weird tail at the end right but if you chop it up and put it in a salad or something you won't know at all it's just the sight.
It's unsightly but still tastes delicious.
Yeah, so you can get vegetables at a really good deal because, you know, you're getting the ugly ones.
Now we should go back and explain what these subscription boxes are because they're actually quite popular these days and there's so many different ones that you can sign up for.
I know when I listen to podcasts, I often hear them advertised on podcasts.
There's one that I hear advertised often, and it's for razor blades.
And that kind of makes sense to me because that's something that a lot of people need to get on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, razor blades don't last forever.
And if you have to shave your face or shave your legs or something quite regularly, then you're going to need razor blades.
So you can sign up for a subscription.
You can probably, I don't want to speak for this this company, I'm not sure.
But just my guess is that you could probably sign up for a six month subscription or a one year subscription.
And then at regular intervals, maybe every month or every six weeks, this company will send you razor blades.
And they also boast that they have a cheaper price than having to buy them in a store.
So that's the kind of subscription box, right?
You can subscribe to the service, and then they'll regularly send you razor blades.
But here, Cassie, you had a vegetable subscription box, and regularly?
How often did you say it?
Once a month? It depends on what you sign up for, but I signed up for once every two weeks.
Once every two weeks.
Okay. So bi -weekly, then, you'll get that fun vegetable surprise.
Yes, exactly. Exactly.
There are so many subscriptions that I would love to sign up for.
Like you mentioned, Razorblades, there's also a book box subscriptions, you can get new releases of famous titles, and you could also get skincare product subscriptions.
So yeah, listeners who are interested in this, they should think about what they like in their everyday life and see if there's a subscription box for it.
yeah i'm sure there is i think there's services and companies to cover all different sorts of products these days and i actually subscribe to a similar service to you cassie this ugly vegetable service back when i lived in montreal now i guess that was about 10 years ago now it was a long time ago but at that time there was even subscription boxes and the only thing that that sounds a little bit different was that I had some selection.
Like I could go to their website and say, I couldn't choose exactly what I wanted, but I could say, Oh, I want more greens this week.
And you wouldn't really have a choice of both the kinds of greens and guys here.
When we're saying greens, we mean like the green leafy vegetables, like different lettuces or maybe cabbage, something like that, right?
That green leafy vegetable spinach or what have you.
And also Also, the box wouldn't be delivered to my home.
They would deliver all of the boxes to a convenience store in my neighborhood.
And so everybody who subscribed to that service in my neighborhood would all have to go to the convenience store at the same day, each week or each month.
And I remember I would go to the convenience store and there'd just be these like plastic plastic, stackable boxes.
And they'd be just piled up in the back of the convenience store.
And I'd have to go and try and find my box and then take my box out.
And I thought, well, this service is really cool because we're eating these kind of ugly vegetables.
We're saving them from the landfill, essentially.
I also thought it was great for the environment that all of these boxes were just going to one centralized location, and they wouldn't have to to drive the mail truck to every house.
I thought that was great for the environment, but it was also a little bit inconvenient at the same time.
I felt like I was doing the work when I went there.
Digging through all the boxes to find your specific one.
Yeah, exactly. But it was a great service, and it was affordable and high -quality produce, so I was into it.
Andrew, I think all the things we've talked about today, the farmer's market and this vegetable subscription service, i think one thing that's so great about both of these things is that they're supporting local businesses i'm sure listeners can agree the last few years pretty much ever since covid inflation has been out of control around the world and the prices of groceries are just getting higher and higher and higher and the uh the people who control the food chain these big grocery businesses Are owned by just a few companies that can, you know, raise the prices because they don't have competition.
And I think listeners can agree that if we try to shop more local, not only can we get great deals and help the environment, but we can also support our small businesses.
is? Yeah, absolutely, Cassie.
And I can talk a little bit about the situation in Canada, because it's kind of funny.
In Canada, there are several different grocery store chains, but they're all run by, I think it's two companies or perhaps three companies.
But all of the different chains in Canada are operated by just a few companies.
So the branding makes it it feel like an independent small grocery store but it's actually owned by one of the big guys so you have this total control over the Canadian grocery market by some of these companies and they've actually gotten in trouble in Canada before there was this big scandal about price fixing over the price of bread and this was like a huge issue in Canadian politics and really really angered a lot of people.
And a lot of people said, I'm never going to support this company again, because they've been price fixing, which is where they agree to artificially set the price of bread at higher than market rates.
So you're paying more for the bread.
And it's just a very greedy thing for a big company to do, especially for such a a basic daily staple food like bread, right?
So many people are angry about this.
And as a result, a lot of people have resolved to never shop or to shop as little as possible at some of these big grocery chains, or even some of the smaller grocery stores that are owned by the big boys.
And so as a result, you see a lot of people trying to go to local markets more often.
And in Canada and North America, we usually call that a farmer's market, right?
In my hometown, there's a farmer's market that unfortunately doesn't operate during the winter from spring to late autumn, I suppose.
But during that time, you can go and buy directly from the farmers.
And it's not just produce, there are also baked goods.
So probably some bakers will, you know, make bread, and then you can go and buy it directly from the baker.
And a lot of people just think that this is a better way to do things instead of giving all of your money to these big, greedy corporations.
We can support each other.
We can use our money to support other local small businesses in our region.
And I really like this idea.
Unfortunately, sometimes it does cost a little bit more, but I feel like my money is going to a good cause, right?
I want to support the farmers in my town.
I want to support the bakers and the artisans in my town.
I'm really into it.
I love the idea of the farmer's market.
And whenever I'm back in Canada in the summer and the farmer's market is running, I love to go there and get some of the local produce.
I agree with you, Andrew, especially that last part you said about, you know, things might be a little bit more expensive, but you know that that produce is so fresh.
and you also know that the baked goods that they make are are homemade and they don't have those weird preservatives in it that you might get from things coming from a factory i don't know anytime i come home from a farmer's market whether it's here in korea or in the u .s over the summer i always just feel so happy and excited by all of the little treasures that i find whenever i go there Absolutely.
And it's funny, I was talking with my wife just about this the other day, and maybe I've even mentioned this on QLips before.
Sometimes I record so much, I can't remember what I've said and what I haven't.
So if I'm repeating myself, everyone, please excuse me.
But you have to ask yourself, what kind of city do you want to live in?
What kind of neighborhood do you want to live in?
And in our neighborhood here we have some local independent coffee shops, we have some local independent restaurants and bookstores and these kinds of local businesses and it's so easy just to pass by them day in day out and you know just go about your business.
But I say to my wife we have to go to these local businesses sometimes.
We have to go to the local coffee shop.
We have to go to the independent bookstore.
We have to go to that restaurant that just started up because I want to live in a neighborhood and in a city where these kinds of things exist. For example, in Kelowna, my hometown, where the farmer's market exists.
And if you don't go to the farmer's market, if you don't spend your money there, then this kind of thing is going to disappear.
So I think that's another aspect of it is that by supporting local businesses.
We can create the communities that we want to live in.
I kind of want to live in those places where these local businesses and the local economy is thriving.
And if we don't visit, if we don't spend our money in these places, then they're not going to exist. And we're just going to find ourselves living in a place with only franchises and with only big businesses operating everything.
And that's a little bit sad to me, a little bit bleak, I think.
So yeah, I'm fully behind the go local movement.
I completely agree.
And I think you described that beautifully.
So listeners, if you take anything from this episode, buy local.
Buy local. Cassie, we'll wrap things up here in just one second.
But I wanted to ask you about another trend these days, which is called farm to table, farm to table.
And I think essentially there's two different ways that this could operate.
I've seen before where farmers actually will start offering meal services or restaurant services at their farm.
So you could visit the farm or in my hometown we have a lot of orchards and vineyards and and farms and so sometimes they'll have like a meal right at the vineyard. You can go to the vineyard, you can actually eat in the vineyard. They'll set up some nice tables and often there's like a beautiful lake view as well and maybe drink some of the local wine and have a locally prepared meal as well.
And I've also heard about restaurants who will source all of their vegetables and their meats and all of their ingredients from local farms. So the food is just all local, right?
It's It's coming from a local farm and it's being prepared locally by a chef in the region.
I'm curious, have you ever experienced any of this farm -to -table cuisine before?
Honestly, I don't think I really have. Or if I did, I didn't register it.
But I've watched YouTube videos about it and I am really interested in the movement.
I think it's a great way to get fresh food and feel like you're eating at a restaurant that is one sustainable and two locally friendly and it's building a strong community while also filling your stomach with yummy goodness yeah I think it's a great idea as well to be honest I don't think I've ever specifically gone to a farm to table restaurant whenever possible I do like to eat local, right?
So if I'm in Canada and I see maybe salmon on the menu and it says BC salmon or oysters from BC, then I'm much more likely to order that than, you know, something that I know is coming from a long way away.
And same in Korea too, like you could go to the butcher and they'll have meat from Korea versus meat from Australia or the USA.
And yeah, whenever possible, I think I'd rather eat the Korean local option instead of, you know, something that's been shipped halfway around the world.
So, yeah, I'm fully behind this go local movement.
I love it. Let's make it our goal for this summer.
As local as possible.
As local as possible.
Let's do it. Well, everyone, I think this is a good place for us to end this episode here.
But, of course, we would love to hear your opinion as well.
And I'm really interested, Cassie, maybe we can challenge our audience here to answer this question on our Discord community.
Guys, how do you feel about spending a little bit more money to A, buy a local product, and also B, support your local economy at the same time?
Cassie and I are willing to make that sacrifice, but I realize that it's not for everyone.
And so I'd love to hear different opinions from around the world.
And I'm going to throw this question out to our amazing Q -Lips audience.
Guys, you can leave your response on our Discord server and Cassie and I will look forward to reading what you have to say about this.
Also, don't forget, everyone, there's a helpful study guide and an interactive transcript for this episode available for all Q -Lips members.
You can sign up and become a Q -Lips member for an affordable price on our website, Q -Lips .com.
Today's a great day to sign up and become a member.
So go, go, go, QLips .com, and you can do that.
And also, we'll be having some speaking classes about this episode.
In fact, we'll have three different speaking classes.
So that's a wonderful way to be active with your English.
You've heard Cassie and I talk about this topic, but now we're going to throw it over to you, and we'll have some discussion about this topic.
It's a great way for you to share your opinion, to be active with your English.
and we know that this will improve your fluency overall.
So you can check out the schedule for our upcoming speaking classes just by clicking the link in the description for this episode.
All right, well, Cassie, thank you so much, and we'll catch you next time.
Take care, okay? Yep, see ya.
Bye, everybody.
