درسنامه واژه ها

Camino de Santiago: Food – Vocabulary Lesson

Hi, this is Kristin Dodds, one of the teachers and directors of Learn Real English.

Welcome to this month’s vocabulary lesson called Camino Food. So as always, I have the text of the conversation here and I’ve made some notes about some words or groups of works that you may have had difficulty understanding. So I will be giving you the meanings for those words as they relate to this conversation. They could have another meaning in a totally different conversation, but I’ll be giving you the meanings as they relate to this conversation.

And, as always, I like to start out letting you know that there are three words that we commonly use in conversation, Joe, AJ and I, as well as other native American English speakers. So the first one is yeah. Yeah is a slang word for yes.

The second word is like. Now, as you probably know, like means to have positive feelings for someone or something. But it can also be a filler word. So what that means is it doesn’t have a meaning. It can just be used…you can hear it a lot in conversations but it doesn’t really have a meaning.

And the next word is actually two words combined together, y’know. It’s actually the combination of you and know. So sometimes when we’re speaking very fast it sounds like y’know.

Okay, so let’s begin now the conversation, Camino Food.

So first I would like to explain, in the title, Camino is actually short for Camino de Santiago. And the Camino de Santiago is the name of a 500-mile hike which Joe and AJ actually did. 500 miles is roughly about 805 kilometers. So they did this hike. They started in France and then they hiked, or walked, across a good part of the northern part of Spain. Traditionally people would walk this for religious purposes, for religious reasons.

Alright, so now let’s begin.

In the very beginning I say, “So what did the food end up being like in Spain, particularly for you, Joe, being vegan?” So when I say what did the food end up being like, I’m actually asking how was the food. And when I mention vegan, y’know, Joe being vegan, a vegan is someone who has a diet where they don’t eat anything that comes from an animal. So they don’t eat meat. They don’t eat cheese. They don’t drink milk. They don’t eat honey. Nothing that comes from an animal or another living being, because honey comes from bees.

Okay, then Joe says, “I actually looked at a bunch of entries on this Camino forum.” So a bunch means a lot.

And then Joe says, “Vegans should definitely become vegetarians.” So a vegetarian is someone who has a diet where they don’t eat meat. It’s not as strict as the vegan diet because a vegetarian will drink milk. They might eat cheese. They might eat honey, if they choose to, if they like it. So it’s not as strict as a vegan. The only thing that they do not eat is the meat from an animal. That is the main difference.

And then Joe says, “They’re going to starve to death.” So when he says they’re going to starve to death, he says they’re not going to get enough to eat.

And then Joe says, “It wasn’t super difficult.” So super here means too, it wasn’t too difficult.

And then Joe says, “There were some other options at times.” So options here is choices.

And then Joe says, “I always made sure I had some source of protein.” So source means type. And protein is something that we get from food. It’s something very important for humans to have. Their bodies, our bodies, need protein to be able to grow.

And then Joe says, “There were vegetarian restaurants and health food stores.” So a health food store, this is a grocery store but it has a little bit…it has healthier food than a normal grocery store. So the vegetables and the fruits are not sprayed with any chemicals and, which means that they’re organic. Organic means not sprayed with any chemicals to keep away bugs or insects when it’s being grown. And the other food as well being sold in health food stores is healthier than what you would find in a normal grocery store, like a big chain, a big…when I say a big chain, I mean a company that has many stores. So health food stores are usually smaller and they’re not, usually not big companies, although we do have one big company called Whole Foods here in America.

Alright, then Joe says, “They had vegan chorizo.” So chorizo is, it’s pork sausage.

Now pork is, pork means it’s the meat from a pig. So it’s pork sausage. So when he says it’s vegan chorizo, what he’s saying is it’s not made from pork. It’s actually made from plants. So it’s plant-based. But it’s made to look and taste like pork sausage, like the regular chorizo.

Alright, then Joe says, “And little vegan sausages.” So here again, a vegan sausage would be a plantbased, plant-based food that looks like, looks and tastes like a real sausage but it’s made from plants. It’s not made from animals.

And then Joe says, “I’d get hummus.” So hummus is a type of food and it’s made from garbanzo beans, or garbanzo beans are also known as chickpeas. So it’s, it’s kind of a very light brown, or as we would say, tan colored bean.

And then I say, “What was the typical food day to day?” So typical means usual.

And then AJ says, “I would have what the Spanish call a tortilla but we would call kind of like a quiche. So a tortilla is like a flat bread made from flour usually or corn.

So, y’know, it comes from plants. It’s plant-based. And a quiche, a quiche is…it looks like a pie but it’s a savory pie. So savory is the opposite of sweet.

Okay, then AJ says, “Which are essentially little appetizers.” So essentially means basically. And appetizers, an appetizer is a small food item that’s usually eaten before the main food item.

And then AJ says, “You can eat a wide variety of them.” So when he says wide variety he means large, a large variety or, in other words, you can eat many of them.

And then AJ says, “When we first got to Barcelona.” So Barcelona is the name of a city in Spain.

And then AJ says, “They had cured hams.” So ham, like pork, also comes from pigs.

It’s pig meat. Cured ham is salted pig meat.

And then AJ says, “Sometimes the food got a little repetitive.” So repetitive means it was the same food again and again and again.

And then AJ says, “I got a little tired of eating chicken and flan.” So when he says he got a little tired, he’s saying he got a little bored. And flan is a dessert, so it’s sweet.

And then I say, “It might be chicken and beef.” So beef is the meat of a cow. It’s cow meat.

And then AJ says, “Just order ala carte.” So ala carte means individual food items.

And then AJ says, “The best meal of the whole Camino.” So whole means entire.

The best meal of the entire Camino.

And then Joe says, “They’d give you three different courses.” So a course is a specific set of food items.

And then I say, “It was just a fixed price.” So a fixed price, this means it’s the same price no matter which option was chosen for each of the three food items.

And then Joe says, “It would get quite expensive.” So quite here means very. It would get very expensive.

And then Joe says, “Usually the first dish.” So dish here means food item.

And then Joe says, “Give me the spaghetti but don’t put the fish in.” So spaghetti, this is…this is a type of food item or dish that is basically pasta and like a tomato sauce and there’s meat in it. It’s an Italian food item or an Italian dish.

And then Joe says, “But I very rarely got the menu of the day.” So when he says I very rarely, what he’s saying is I hardly ever got the menu of the day, or he’s also saying he didn’t get it very often.

And then Joe says, “Like when you got to Galicia.” So Galicia is an area in the northwestern part of Spain.

And then Joe says, “I’d have to ask if they had a meat broth in it.” So broth is a soup base. It’s the base of a soup, so it’s the liquid part of the soup and many times in soups that liquid part comes from an animal, like chicken, chicken-based or chicken broth.

And then Joe says, “But that was usually pretty filling.” So when he says it was pretty filling what he’s saying is he didn’t feel hungry after eating it. It actually filled him up, or he felt full.

And then Joe says, “They made lentils a lot of the time.” So a lentil is a type of food that comes from a specific plant and lentils look like little beans, really small beans.

And then Joe says, “But if they had lentils and they were veg.” So veg, this is a shortened word for vegetarian. So it means not cooked, or what veg refers to in this sentence is not cooked with a meat base. So it’s vegetarian. Remember vegetarians don’t eat meat. They wouldn’t eat…or something made from meat like a broth.

And then I say, “Well, no wonder you lost weight.” When I say no wonder, I’m saying I’m not surprised you lost weight.

And then I say, “It sounds like you were starving.” So when I say starving, I’m saying it sounds like you were not eating very much food.

And then Joe says, “For lunch I had bread, avocado, nuts and fruit.” So an avocado is…it’s technically a fruit although most of the time we think of fruits as being sweet and an avocado is not sweet. But it is technically a fruit and it’s green color. You have to, you don’t eat the outside of it so you only eat the inside part. And it’s soft, creamy. It’s very delicious. It’s shaped like a big egg.

And then Joe says, “Oat milk is really popular there.” So oat milk, this is a plantbased milk instead of an animal-based milk. You usually, when you hear about milk, you think of it coming from a cow or a goat. But oat milk is made from oats which is…oats come from a plant.

And then Joe says, “They’d have almond milk, soy milk occasionally.” So almond milk, soy milk, there are other plant-based milks so they…almond milk is made from almonds, the nuts…the nuts almonds, and soy milk, soy is like a little bean. So again, these come from plants, not from animals.

And then Joe says, “When you got to a big city the options opened up for you.” So when he says the options opened up, he’s saying there were more choices.

And then Joe says, “Then I would just gorge myself.” So when he says gorge, he’s saying he would eat a lot.

And then I say, “AJ, you were also in Madrid.” So Madrid is the name of another city in Spain.

And then Joe says, “Two big cities versus a small city.” So versus here means compared to.

And then Joe says, “A lot of places just catered to peregrinos, the pilgrims.” So catered means provided food, drink and other necessary items for. And peregrinos is the Spanish name for pilgrims and a pilgrim is a person who travels to a very special place for religious reasons.

And then I say, “So we’re talking basic staples along the Camino.” So when I say basic staples, I’m talking about basic local food choices.

And then I say, “Didn’t you actually say it was hard to find some good food?” So when I say hard, I mean difficult. Wasn’t it difficult to find some good food?

And then AJ says, “And then things like olives, sardines, all these kind of little tapas.” So sardines, this is a type of small fish.

And then AJ says, “Those are the ones I remember most distinctly.” So distinctly means clearly.

And then AJ says, “Which felt Spanish, uniquely Spanish.” So uniquely here means special, or uniquely Spanish, special to Spain.

And then Joe says, “But relative to bedtime, it was very late.” So relative here means compared, but compared to bedtime, it was very late.

And then Joe says, “You can’t really stay up too late on the Camino.” So stay up means stay awake.

And then Joe says, “There are a couple of staples of Spanish food.” So staples here means food eaten regularly.

And then Joe says, “With varying degrees of quality.” So varying degrees of quality means the quality could be good or the quality could be bad.

And then Joe says, “We had paella one time at an albergue, y’know, a hostel.” So paella, this is a type of Spanish food with rice and usually a meat. And a hostel, this is a cheap place to stay, a cheap place to spend the night, like a very cheap hotel.

But sometimes you actually share a room with someone.

And then Joe says, “And then the gazpacho I had.” So gazpacho, this is a Spanish style soup made from tomatoes and other vegetables.

And then Joe says, “The gazpacho that we make at home is way better.” So when he says way better, he’s saying much better.

Alright, this concludes or this is the end of our vocabulary lesson for the conversation Camino Food and I’ll be right back with the commentary.