1 . A. appealing
B. please
C. embarrassed
D. presentation
E. reputation
F. tracked
G. encouraging
H. preference
I. willing
J. compete
K. trend
British cuisine(烹饪) has come of age in recent years as chefs combine the best of old and new. Why does British food have a(n) 1 for being so bad? Because it is bad! Those are not the most 2 words to hear just before eating lunch at one of the smartest British restaurants, but head chef Neil Tomes has more to say.
“The past 15 years or so have been a noticeable period of improvement for food in England,” the English chef says, citing the 3 in British cuisine towards better ingredients, preparation and cooking methods, and more 4 presentation. Chefs such as Delia Smith, Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay made the public realize that cooking and eating didn’t have to be a boring thing. “It’s no longer the case that the common man in England is 5 to show he knows about food,” Tomes says.
There was plenty of room for improvement. The problems with the nation’s cuisine can be 6 back to the Second World War. Before the War, much of Britain’s food was imported and when German U-boats began attacking ships bringing food to the country, Britain went on rations (配给). “As rationing came to an end in the 1950s, technology picked up and was used to mass-produce food,” Tomes says. “And by then people were just happy to have a decent quantity of food in their kitchens.”
They weren’t looking for cured meats, organic produce or beautiful 7 ; they were looking for whatever they could get their hands on, and this 8 for quantity over quality prevailed for decades, meaning a generation was brought up with food that couldn’t 9 with neighboring France, Italy, Belgium or Spain.
Before star chefs such as Oliver began making cooking fashionable, it was hard to find a restaurant in London that was open after 9 p.m. But in recent years the capital’s culinary (烹饪的) scene has developed to the point that it is now confident of its ability to 10 the tastes of any international visitor.
