This is an all ears English podcast episode 2477.
Are there free refills?
How to ask for more food and drink in English.
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Today we talk about portion sizes and how to talk about getting more food at a buffet.
Plus get cultural tips on dining culture in the U.S.
So before we get more into this episode, Lindsay, we did want to mention something because on this episode, we are going to be talking about food and portions and the abundance of food.
So Lindsay, what did we want to say about that?
Yeah, we just want to mention that we do recognize, before we go any further in this episode.
We recognize that food is scarce in different parts of the world and it is absolutely heartbreaking to us.
We are speaking in this episode from our perspective, our experience here in the US, but it breaks our heart to see scarcity of food around the world.
Yes, absolutely.
Alright, well, let's get into the episode.
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Hello, Lindsay.
How are you?
Doing great today, Michelle.
Excited to be recording.
How's everything going on your end?
Everything is going well.
Lindsay, when was the last time you went to a buffet?
Oh, I have not been to a buffet in quite a while, but when I go to a buffet I yeah, it is tempting to go back for seconds.
Right.
I have to admit, you know, even I don't eat that much.
Like my stomach's small, I guess.
I don't know.
But it's tempting to go back and you think, oh, that was so good.
Or there's so many great options up there.
Let me just go see what else is there.
Yes, exactly.
What about you?
Do you do that?
Yeah, well, I recently was at a wedding where there were a lot of buffet options.
And then, yeah, so I'll go check it out and see what I want.
And then, yeah, if there's something I want, I'll go back for seconds for sure.
Today, we're going to talk about vocabulary dealing with eating.
So... how much people eat.
This is also very cultural.
And speaking of culture, we recently did an episode about leftovers.
That one was a really good one.
We talked about an article.
We went through a lot of things dealing with culture.
So this is a really good one to check out.
I'll give you that information towards the end of the episode so that you can listen to it.
So hang on to the end guys and hit follow while you're here.
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Hit that follow button.
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Good.
All right.
So let's talk about some of these key words.
So the first one is portion.
So Lindsay, what is a portion?
Yeah, a portion is how much food a person gets like on their plate, right?
So the amount of food.
So for example, I asked for a small portion of the pasta, too much hurts my stomach.
Okay.
Yes.
And this goes along with there's that buzzword portion control.
What is portion control?
So it's the idea of people are maybe they're trying to reduce calories or something.
They might they might reduce the size of their portions.
So shrink their portions.
But the food is amazing and it's almost more satisfying.
So you eat a lot less.
You go out with a bunch of coworkers or friends.
You might share four or five dishes among 10 people, small dishes.
And that might be it.
That's at least in my experiences.
But the food's satisfying, it's good and it's okay.
It's enough, you know.
Yeah, absolutely.
So let's get to the next word.
The next one is helping.
And this one makes me think of my grandma for some reason, because she always says oh, another helping.
But my friend said it recently.
And that kind of inspired this episode because I hadn't heard that word in a while.
Yeah, it's kind of like a I don't know, a nostalgic word or something.
Yeah, I totally know what you're saying.
Yeah.
And this is similar to portion, right?
It's almost the same, but it's.
It's really.
It's more.
It's specifically about what is being served to one person.
It was so good.
I got two helpings.
Yes, exactly.
So that's just a personal choice if you decide. that you want to use that word.
It's not like it's out of style.
It's just for some reason, it just feels nostalgic.
I don't know how to explain that.
Um, but yeah.
So then seconds going back for seconds.
Also another way to say you're going to get two portions or two helpings.
Right.
Um, Yeah, this is often at a buffet, right?
Someone might get one plate and then go back for seconds.
Or you could just ask like for a kid might ask, Oh, can I go back for seconds?
Can I have seconds?
Right?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Absolutely right.
I want seconds.
Yeah, that's how it's said, right?
Seconds.
This buffet is amazing.
Did you try the dessert?
I'm going back for seconds.
That's true.
And that also happens in college dining halls.
But usually, at least in my experience, the food was not that great.
But it was just one big four-year buffet. you know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so that's why they talk about the freshman 15, the freshman 15.
Yes.
And freshman year of college, you tend to put on some weight because you're not thinking about what you're eating.
Yeah, oh man, so funny uh, great.
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OK, so other ways to say this in American culture, we are a culture of large portions.
I'm going to say in the US, it's really the largest portions that I've seen.
Maybe that's starting to change. as prices are going up in restaurants and things.
But what do you think?
What are your thoughts?
Well, I think that the fancier, the restaurant they're sometimes known for, the smaller portions.
So it's kind of interesting if you go out and it's a place that it may be like a sports bar, you might get a burger and just a ton of fries and it's just a huge portion.
If you go to a fancy restaurant, they might be a little bit smaller and some people don't like that.
They feel oh, they want to have you know, they want to pay for the most food, but it's kind of a quality quantity.
Yeah, it really is.
That's been my experience too.
But in general, if you go to like your average neighborhood bar and grill, right?
The equivalent of that would be maybe like a brasserie in Paris or something.
I think the plate you're going to get is definitely going to be bigger and, like I don't know I think, unnecessarily large, but in the US, compared to globally.
Uh, it's just crazy.
Yes.
We don't need such a big helping.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Helping.
When I think of helping, I think of when my grandma used to make macaroni and cheese.
She made it with a little elbow macaroni.
Um, and she put the slices of cheese in there.
And I remember the I have the nostalgia of her adding the milk and mixing it up.
Oh my gosh.
She actually put slices of cheese.
I feel like most people grew up on Kraft, mac and cheese, the box, the powdery stuff, which is probably not food at all.
I don't know what it is, but no.
Oh my, it's funny.
The things that I ate as a child, that now I'm thinking I do not want to give that to my kids.
But we knew.
We didn't know as much back then.
We didn't know.
Yeah.
And now it, um, so no, I did also have the boxed macaroni.
It's not that I didn't have that, but my grandma specifically would. always make it.
And I remember like ripping the cheese with her and throwing it in.
It's kind of a nice warm memory.
Yeah.
I mean, our listeners are going to relate to this.
There are so many memories that happen around food.
And just on a different note, what you said, we didn't know.
I have a theory that for our generation, ultra processed foods UPFs, are the I didn't know in our generation and for, like for my mom's generation, baby boomers, the smoking was i didn't know because my mom used to smoke in the 70s.
We they really didn't have the research out yet, or at least it wasn't available, and she quit when she found out that it was so dangerous.
And i think upfs are that for our generation, like the amount of upfs that i consumed as a child.
Cause we didn't know it, the little, the little cheese things with those red uh sticks that you would put on the crackers.
Do you remember those?
Oh, cheese and crackers.
Yeah.
I know.
What is that?
Was that even real cheese?
It's all delicious, but I don't think it's any of it's real food, you know?
No.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is a whole other topic we could talk about for a really long time.
For sure.
But anyways, we'll go into it another day.
It's just interesting to think about like research comes out and generational change happens.
And some things we just don't know until the research comes out.
It's really interesting.
Well, I'm afraid of what they'll find out about cell phones, of course.
Oh, cell phones, microwaves.
Yeah.
So many things and the plastics and everything.
It feels like you can't do anything right.
I know.
We should just do a role play and not think about it, Michelle.
All right.
But I do have one that I want to add, which is to get a refill.
Okay. because this is specifically for liquids or something in a portioned box.
So like coffee, but also it could be a frozen yogurt in a cup, popcorn at the movies.
And it could also be used as a verb to refill something.
So like I asked the waitress to refill my coffee cup.
Yeah, for sure.
Yes.
Or are there free refills of the popcorn?
So you want to ask that.
Some places will just have a popcorn popper there.
There's a uh, mixed drinks bar that i like to go to in salida and they have this nice big popcorn thing so you can have unlimited popcorn.
Yeah, you drink your cocktails.
It's the best yeah, i love, i love popcorn yeah um, all right, now let's do a role play, all right, so here we're at a buffet, all right?
Yes Okay, here we go.
Do you think they give free refills of coffee?
I would think so.
Okay, I will definitely be getting another helping of the pancakes.
Yum.
So good.
I'm not great at portion control, so I will be going back for seconds too.
Sounds good to me.
Oh, man, I love pancakes.
Oh, so good.
This episode is making me hungry.
Yes, me too.
All right, Michelle.
So first you said, do you think they give free refills of coffee?
And by the way, many places, well, you do have to ask nowadays.
If you go to a diner in the U.S., It's usually that diner cup, the unlimited coffee.
They'll just come around.
Do you want a refill?
You want a refill, honey?
With the typical accent, diner accent.
But not everywhere.
You get a coffee at a fancier coffee bar.
It's definitely not refills.
Right.
Or, yeah, sometimes you just don't know.
So you want to ask.
The other day I was at a restaurant and they had iced coffee and they just were pouring it, you know, like regular coffee coming around, like that.
And so we did ask and then their answer was, we can do that for you.
And like we said, they're free refills and we're like, we can do that for you.
And then you're like, Wait, what?
Interesting.
Okay.
Yeah, because I never think of free refills.
Always ask if you're not sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I only think of free refills with coffee as hot coffee.
I never think about it with iced coffee.
That's why we asked, but they did it.
So that was nice.
Cool.
All right.
Then what did you say, Michelle?
So I said, do you think they give free refills of coffee?
Nice.
And then I said, I will definitely be getting another helping.
And that's that one that reminds you of your grandmother, right?
Helping of the pancakes.
Yes.
Yes.
And then I said, I'm not great at portion control.
So I will definitely, I will be going back for seconds too.
Nice.
Very typical conversation, right?
Because we're always kind of different kinds of restaurants, the amount of food we want.
I love this conversation.
And there's another one episode related to it, Michelle.
What is it?
Yeah, this is the one I was mentioning, guys, earlier in the episode.
This was episode 2461.
That was leftovers, culture and class.
Alright, where should we leave our listeners today?
Alright, guys.
Well yeah, these are really useful words if you're out at a restaurant, at a buffet, just talking to somebody connecting over food.
So give these a try.
And always interesting to observe culturally as well.
All right.
Great stuff today, Michelle.
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All right.
Great.
All right, Michelle.
We'll talk to you very soon.
Have a good day.
All right.
Bye.
You too.
Bye.
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