Episode 0303

That's right. Today we have another food lesson. Our world cuisine lesson for today is all about Mexican food.

Okay, Mexican food comes from the country Mexico, but also parts of the United States, like Texas, have something called Tex Mex.

That's right.

So, you're going to hear a lot about these kinds of foods there. Let's check out today's dialogue.

Hello sir, welcome to Pistol Air Restaurant. May I take your order?

Yes, I would like the chicken cheese enchiladas with a side of guacamole.

Sorry, sir, but we ran out of chicken. May I suggest our delicious beef burritos or cheese quesadillas? Both include a side of guacamole and jalapeños.

Sure, I'll have the burrito. Do you have nachos?

Of course, sir. Our nachos come with melted cheese and chili.

Sounds good. Would you like anything to drink?

Would you like anything to drink?

Sure, I'll have a Corona.

Alright, we're back. So a lot of great dishes from Mexico. Let's take a closer look at some of those on Language Takeaway.

Language Takeaway.

So first up, Marco, we have the word enchilada.

That's right. We have some chicken cheese enchiladas. So this dish has chicken and cheese, but enchilada, what is that?

Okay, so it's basically a wrap that is covered in cheese, right?

That's right. So it has a base of a flour tortilla. So a tortilla is like a wrap, as you said. Let's consider it as flatbread.

Mhm, very thin.

That's right. And just a warning, you're going to hear me say the American pronunciation enchilada, and you're going to hear Marco say a more appropriate.

A little bit with a more Hispanic accent to it.

That's right. So the second one we've got is guacamole.

Guacamole, that's right. We say guacamole. And this is from the avocado fruit.

Guacamole

That's right. Avocados are green fruits. Uh they have a skin, so you take the skin off and you usually make guacamole with other ingredients.

Right, it has a little bit of lemon, onion, tomato.

Maybe a little spice, yeah.

Mhm.

So, uh yeah, it comes from that uh fruit that you said, and it's kind of like a paste, right?

It's yeah, it's something that we often use as a dip. So I can dip my potato chips or my tortilla chips in it, or I can use it as a sauce.

All right, very good.

And our next and probably one of the most popular dishes in the Mexican cuisine world is a beef burrito.

Burrito. So a burrito is another kind of wrap. We have a a tortilla, like you said earlier.

Um and inside there are many different things. So usually some rice and some beans uh and some meat, maybe beef or chicken.

That's right. So consider it kind of like a a a sandwich more or less.

But in a blanket instead of in bread.

Exactly, in a blanket. And then also we have cheese quesadillas. Now also uh these are made from the same blanket of of tortilla.

That's right. So this thin tortilla, this flour tortilla, um is put on top and on bottom. And inside you have some cheese, some melted cheese or other times you can have cheese and chicken.

And uh usually you find it, it's a circle, but it's cut into four pieces, so it looks like a pieces of a pie.

It is. And sometimes you have this with a side of jalapeño.

Okay, this is a some type of vegetable, I would guess.

It's a pepper. It's a pepper.

Right. So this is a very, very spicy pepper that people often use to make things taste hot.

That's right. So you can see them, they're usually green. And uh they're very, very spicy. So if you bite into one, it'll, it'll burn your mouth.

It will. And sometimes people like to put these on our next dish. What's the next dish, Marco?

We have some nachos.

Okay, this is a classic Tex-Mex dish. Like I was saying, so a lot of Americans love to eat this. And nachos are basically a plate of um tortilla chips with what on top?

Uh usually it has melted cheese and maybe some uh chili like we see in the dialogue. So it will kind of just consider a plate full of uh these chips, kind of they look like potato chips. Uh but they're made out of flour and on top a lot of cheese and uh maybe some meat or some chili on top.

And Americans also like to put sour cream on top.

Oh yeah, sour cream is very popular on this dish.

So a lot of uh dishes, these are probably the most popular ones that you can find at most Mexican restaurants and also in Tex-Mex style uh cuisine.

So why don't we take another look at everything and we'll be back in a bit with fluency builder.

Alright, so Marco, today we have only three things to talk about in Fluency Builder. The first one is something that the waiter said to the customer. It was to run out of.

That's right. He wanted some chicken cheese enchiladas, but unfortunately, they ran out of chicken. So the phrasal verb here is to run out of.

That's right. And we heard the past tense. So unfortunately, we ran out of chicken. This means that we no longer have chicken. We sold all of the chicken.

That's right. So for example, if you're in your car and all of a sudden you run out of gasoline, it means your car will stop running.

That's very bad situation. So to run out of means to not have anymore.

That's right. So you ran out of money. Maybe you have no more money.

Another bad situation.

All right. So instead he ordered a burrito that included a side of guacamole and jalapeños.

Okay, so the reason we included this is because it's important to remember this as a phrase. A side of. So this burrito comes with a side of guacamole or this burrito has a side of beans.

Mhm.

Uh so a side of means a small portion, a little bit.

That's right. The most important part of a side of is that it doesn't come in the dish or inside the burrito, let's say. It just comes separately on a separate little plate.

Or it can come next to, yeah, next to the main dish. So if the main dish is uh tacos, you can say I want tacos with a side of black beans. You would get the black beans in a little bowl next to you, but that's not the main thing.

Exactly, exactly. So a side of.

Now, for our last phrase, when we talked about the nachos, they came with melted cheese and chili. So what do we mean by they come with melted cheese and chili?

Okay, so this verb to come with means that they they have as a part of the dish. So this is not a side. Not like before when we were talking about a side of. This means that um in the case of nachos, the nachos have on them, on top, cheese and chili.

That's right. So sometimes if you go to McDonald's and you buy a a meal, you get a burger and the burger comes with uh french fries and a Coke included in the meal.

Or you can say, uh unfortunately, this meal does not come with a drink. So you have to order the drink extra.

That's right.

Okay, so a lot of great stuff. Let's take another look and we'll be right back.

Hello sir, welcome to Pistol Air Restaurant. May I take your order?

Yes, I would like the chicken cheese enchiladas with a side of guacamole.

Sorry, sir, but we ran out of chicken. May I suggest our delicious beef burritos or cheese quesadillas? Both include a side of guacamole and jalapeños.

Sure, I'll have the burrito. Do you have nachos?

Of course, sir. Our nachos come with melted cheese and chili.

Sounds good. Would you like anything to drink?

Would you like anything to drink?

Sure, I'll have a Corona.

It does. A lot of cheese and also a lot of tortillas. So tortillas are these um usually round, flat, pancake-like things. They're not sweet, they're savory. And uh you usually put things in them like tacos or fajitas or burritos.

That's right.

Um and there's two kinds, right?

That's right. So you have tortillas that are made from flour, that are usually white. And then you have corn tortillas that are made from corn and they're usually a little bit more yellow.

Mm, that's right.

So it's it's actually Mexican food is very, very good, but usually it's a little bit spicy. So if you don't really like uh spicy food, you should tell the waiter or waitress to not make it spicy.

That's right. If you, if you don't eat spicy food, you certainly don't want to eat any jalapeño peppers.

That's right. I'm actually not really a fan of spicy food. So for example, I really cannot eat jalapeño peppers.

Yeah, they're very, very spicy.

Mhm.

So um this is part of our mini series that we have all about world foods. We've already taken a look at Italian food. We have Mexican food. Next we'll be looking at Indian food, Korean food, a lot of great international foods coming up.

Yummy. So let us know, do you like Mexican food? Have you ever had Mexican food? And if we left off some kind of Mexican food like tacos, let us know.

That's right.

Our website is Englishpod.com. We'll see you there.

The English part audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

A type of beer from Mexico.

Corona.

A spicy green pepper.

Jalapeno.

A dip of mashed avocado mixed with tomato, onion, and seasonings.

Guacamole.

To become liquefied by warmth or heat.

Melt.

A tortilla folded over a filling.

Burrito.

Let's try that faster.

A tortilla folded over a filling.

Burrito.

A spicy green pepper.

Jalapeno.

To become liquefied by warmth or heat.

Melt.

A type of beer from Mexico.

Corona.

A dip of mashed avocado mixed with tomato, onion, and seasonings.

Guacamole.

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

Melt.

Hey, could you please melt this cheese for me?

Melt.

Melt.

Corona.

Corona.

Corona.

Jalapeno.

Jalapeno.

Jalapeno.

I will give you 100 bucks if you can eat 10 jalapenos.

Guacamole.

Guacamole.

She always has guacamole with crackers.

Guacamole.

Can you buy an avocado? I want to make guacamole.

Burrito.

Burrito.

Burrito.