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Describe a kind of foreign food you like and you have had: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What the dish is?
  • Where you tried it?
  • What ingredients or taste you enjoyed?
  • And explain why you like it.
Show all 157 answers

Cue 1:What the dish is?

  • Begin by naming the foreign dish you enjoy and give a brief description of it.
  • Mention any unique features of the dish that make it stand out.

Example

One foreign dish that I absolutely love is sushi. It's a traditional Japanese dish that consists of vinegared rice paired with various ingredients, including seafood, vegetables, and sometimes tropical fruits.

Cue 2:Where you tried it?

  • Describe the location where you first tried this dish, whether it was a restaurant, a friend's house, or during a trip.
  • Share any memorable experiences related to that place.

Example

I first tried sushi at a popular Japanese restaurant in my city called 'Sushi House'. I went there with my friends to celebrate my birthday, and the ambiance was vibrant and welcoming, which made the experience even more enjoyable.

Cue 3:What ingredients or taste you enjoyed?

  • Talk about the specific ingredients that you liked in the dish.
  • Describe the flavors and textures that made the dish appealing to you.

Example

What I enjoyed most about sushi were the fresh ingredients, especially the salmon and avocado. The combination of the soft, sticky rice with the creamy avocado and the rich flavor of the salmon created a delightful taste that was both refreshing and satisfying.

Cue 4:And explain why you like it.

  • Explain your personal connection to the dish and why it holds significance for you.
  • Mention any cultural aspects or health benefits that contribute to your preference.

Example

I like sushi not only for its delicious taste but also because it represents a healthy eating option. It’s light yet filling, and I appreciate the artistry involved in making it. Additionally, trying sushi has opened my eyes to Japanese culture, which I find fascinating.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, sushi is more than just a meal for me; it’s an experience that combines flavor, culture, and health. I look forward to trying different varieties of sushi in the future and exploring more of what Japanese cuisine has to offer.

    Following this structure will ensure you cover all the essential points while providing a clear and engaging response to the cue card topic.

    Tips to answer this Cue Card

    1: Being Too Vague

    Candidates often provide unclear or general answers without specific details about the dish. This can make the response less engaging and informative.

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    Tip

    Include specific details about the dish, such as its name, ingredients, and unique flavors to create a vivid picture.

    2: Ignoring the Cues

    Some candidates fail to address all the cues provided, which can lead to incomplete answers and lower scores.

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    Tip

    Make sure to cover all the cues: what the dish is, where you tried it, what you enjoyed, and why you like it.

    Lack of Personal Connection

    Responses that lack personal anecdotes or feelings can seem flat and uninteresting, making it hard for the examiner to connect.

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    Tip

    Share a personal story or memory related to the dish to make your answer more relatable and engaging.

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    IELTS Cue Cards asked last week

    Reported by Leap students who gave IELTS

    Describe your favourite food at a traditional festival or a special event in your country
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    Pitampura Test Centre, New Delhi

    Answer

    I like to taste different types of cuisine. Here I would like to talk about my favorite dish at my traditional festival of Onam which is Sadya. Sadya is popular in my city. We are experimenting these cuisines on Onam festival day. Onam is a famous festival in my city. All family members get together in my home and we make a delicious Sadya. There are many ingredients includes that Sadya. Moreover, we make a big feast that day as well as we create a lot of memories together and we wear that day the traditional dress called Sari and men wear the Dhotis. That festival is really important to us because the whole day we are conducting different kinds of games at our homes and all the family members came together. It's a memorable day in my life. This is the festival. We are making the Sambar and Aviyal. These all the kinds of foods are making with the vegetables.
    Talk about a toy you liked in your childhood
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 8

    location icon

    Sector 34 Test Centre, Chandigarh

    Answer

    The toy which I liked in my childhood was a panda doll, which makes me pleasant and makes me more blush. The pandas are the most beautiful creatures of the world, which looks gigantic and has pooshy cheeks and they are like stars in the clouds and they dream in me. Furthermore, these have been given by my father. My father is a very very beautiful artistic person, who makes me think of that. Every day you will face every difficulties and make you suffer and move forward. Pandas are always seen in Japanese countries. It is my lifelong dream to visit a Japanese country and click a photo with the original pandas, which makes sounds better.
    Describe a time you were in a place where you didn't know the local language
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 6.5

    location icon

    Whitefield Test Center, Bengaluru

    Answer

    As India is a very large country full of diversity, so there are many places which have their own language and speak their native language. The place which I visited and I didn't know about their language was Leladakh, which is about 300 km away from my hometown and it is a very good place as it consists of different kind of trees, animals and have many scenic views and I visited over there last year in summers as it was the best time to visit because it has many, it was cold over there and we had summers in our area so it was the best time to visit over there and I went over there with my whole family.
    Describe a time when your friend damaged something you owned
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7

    location icon

    Begumpet Test Centre, Hyderabad

    Answer

    When I was a kid, I had a little pencil box which had these four buttons which gave the pencil box an operative use. When you press the button, the box would open up. When you press the second button, a little part of it would slide out. Basically it was just a little electronical and a fun thing to have and I owned it when I was in 6th. One day after break, I was standing and talking there with one of my friends and another friend of mine was running through the hallway and accidentally she pushed my shoulder and my pencil box hit the ground and it broke into multiple pieces to the point that it was not functional anymore.
    Describe a book you recently read
    anonymous person icon

    Reported by

    Anonymous student Band 7.5

    location icon

    CBD Belapur Test Centre, Navi Mumbai

    Answer

    It Ends With Us is a book I read recently. It's by the author Colleen Hoare. It's mainly a story about two teenagers, Atlas and Lily, and how they just handle their life going through high school, adolescence, and just domestic violence at home. Both of them come from very, very different families. However, they have one common determining factor between them, which is domestic violence. The abuse that they've seen their moms go through is just insane, and they connect through that on a different level. They're actually in the same high school, but they never speak to each other until Atlas actually crashes into an empty house next to Lily's villa. When Atlas is homeless and he doesn't have anywhere to go, he just comes and breaks into the house next to Lily's, and Lily helps him with all the daily necessities like clothes and food, medicines and stuff. Furthermore, their friendship blossoms into love, but it doesn't really fructify as Atlas has to leave. This book really gave me a lot of knowledge about domestic abuse and how to deal with it.

    All Answers

    Here are all the answers by real-users practicing speaking for IELTS Cue Cards on our IELTS Prep App.

    Band 7

    A foreign food that I loved was Dosa. When I went to India around a year ago for my vacation, I tried their infamous Dosa along with coconut and mint chutney. The Dosa batter is consisting of lentils and lentils which is spread on a hot pan like pancakes and flipped over. The chutneys are a mixture of spices and ingredients such as coconut and so on. I really liked coconut chutney because it felt a little too weird and it had a bunch of flavors in my mouth as soon as I had it. I enjoyed the combinations of flavors and the variety of side dishes. It was truly a memorable moment for me and a dish that I will go back to.

    Band 7

    One foreign dish that I really enjoyed was Italian pasta, specifically creamy alfredo pasta. I first tried it at an Italian restaurant in my city called Little Italy a few months ago. It was my first time trying authentic Italian food and I was quite curious about how different it would be from Indian cuisine. The dish was made with penne pasta, butter, cream, cheese and a bit of garlic. I had a rich, smooth and slightly cheesy flavor that melted in my mouth. The sauce was creamy and perfectly balanced, not too heavy, not too bland. I especially liked the aroma of garlic and herbs like oregano and basil that gave it a wonderful taste. I liked this dish because it was comforting, flavorful and completely different from the spicy Indian food I usually eat. It felt elegant and simple and I appreciated how the ingredients blended so well. Since then, pasta has become one of my favorite international foods and I even learned how to cook it at home.

    Band 7

    Recently, I tried a new foreign Nepalese food. It's called Jhol momos. It is basically a soup base with steamed momos. I wasn't quite sure about the taste by the look of it, but I actually happened to like it by the end of it. I tried it at a street food joint close to my college. It tasted very peanutty, a taste that I'm not usually fond of, but I ended up really enjoying the hot, smoky, chilly flavor and the steamed momos. I may or may not try this again, but for a first time, new food, I really enjoyed the taste.

    Band 7

    I recently got exposed to a lot of foreign culture and a lot of the credit goes to the people around me for being extremely generous towards me. Recently during Durga Puja, which is a very big festival in my culture, where we hang out with our friends and family and we spend a good time together, a very close friend of mine took me to a Japanese restaurant to try sushi. I had no experience trying sushi and I had no experience using the chopsticks, but I got to it anyways. The sushi in itself was a whole experience altogether. The umaminess from the soy sauce, the crunchy vegetables, the toasted sesame seeds, the sticky rice, seaweed and the cream cheese bound everything together, making an experience I would never forget. Having it with him and the quality time that I spent together with the food that still lingers to my taste buds, brings back so many memories, making it even more memorable and worthy of remembrance. The best thing about sushi was the amount of umaminess it had and the amount of potential it has in holding on to something that is not just restricted to food, but also to a good time spent together. So I think it was one of the best experiences that I had and I would like to go back to it more often.

    Band 7

    A foreign food that I absolutely enjoy is Khaosuey. The first time I tried Khaosuey was in a restaurant called Burma Burma right here in Bangalore. What I absolutely loved about Burma Burma was that they offered a Jain menu that is food items that exclude onion and garlic. This Khaosuey was made incredibly well and my reasons for it are firstly it was really creamy, second the flavor of coconut was prominent and lastly it had the perfect amount of spiciness as well as creaminess incorporated within it. The ingredients were fresh and the broth was really filling. Overall the dish was really comforting and hence I really enjoyed having it. As for the ingredients, I loved the crunchy bean that comes on top. It ties the whole dish in together and I love the Pad Thai noodles that were used in the dish as well.

    Band 7

    One of my favorite dish was egg fried rice, which I also tried making at home. What's so special about this dish is the MCG and the garam masala which is used in it. It gives it a unique flavor and a spicy flavor. The story behind it dates back when I was 8 years old and my mom was working in an IT company. It was a holiday for my school, so I was home alone. So my mom took me with her to her office. We were late to the office, so I was hungry. After getting down from the bus, my mom saw Dragon Truck which sells fast food over there. I quickly went there and ate this egg fried rice, which was absolutely tasty and I loved it. It was the first time I had that dish and it was something very special and memorable for me. Hence, my mom also mastered this recipe and especially made this dish for me once at my home. So, egg fried rice is one of my memorable and all time favorite food.

    Band 7

    I recently tried something called as kaya toast. It is basically made up of a coconut jam with a lot of ingredients which was homegrown so I might not be the best to explain what are the ingredients in there but you would think a toast is a toast what is what is so good about it but I had to try this upon a recommendation and I fell in love with it instantly the minute I tried because the toast has a cube of butter in it and it is so gooey and tasty and a bite of it would instantly take you to heaven so they also provided that with the dash of chili oil and soft-boiled eggs. Eggs are something that nobody can go wrong with but this kind of egg was something that I've never tried before and these were soft and warm and gooey and overall it paired up well with the kaya toast that I had. This was also something that we tried in Singapore upon a layover so we never got to try that again but given a chance I would fly down to Singapore just to have this kaya toast honestly it was worth it

    Band 7

    One day, I found a green weird looking fruit in my kitchen and when I inquired my mother about it, she said that it's avocados, a special fruit which is native to Mexico and has been imported to India from her office. To give context, my mother works in the agricultural sectors and it's very common in my house that she brings varieties of rasp fruits and vegetables and we would be experimenting with it, tasting and thinking which is more delicious than the other one. And when I asked, can I have a bite of those avocados, my mother said no and she said that you need to wait for some time before they get ripe. In the meantime, I was watching YouTube videos on how to prepare a dish from avocados and I found this one particular dish called guacamole. So it's basically when you add avocados, tomatoes and garlic and onions to make a salad, a squishy salad like dish, that's your guacamole. And I was curious, I wanted to know how it would taste, so after a few weeks of once the avocados were ripe, I prepared it, I've added all the ingredients suggested by the recipe and also added something special, garam masala and few native Indian spices. Once I prepared it, I toasted the bread, I paired with it and I took it, my first bite, it was absolutely delicious, it was something I've never tasted before and since then, I don't think there has been a week where I have not eaten guacamole in my home.

    Band 7

    Well, I would say it's a pizza. It's an Italian food. When I was in college, we went on a trip to Delhi where I have first time tried pizza and I instantly fell for it. It was so amazing. The bread was so thin and the toppings and the cheese, what not, everything was there. And instantly I went to the chef and asked for the recipe. But he was so reluctant to give the recipe at the start. After requesting him for the several times, he agreed to share the recipe. Moreover, he let me do the pizza by myself and I really enjoyed making and experiencing the whole process and it turned out very well. And I took notes of the pizza recipe. I came back home and I started trying the recipe on my own. Though I tried the recipe at the restaurant, I was unable to cook here properly. After several failed attempts, finally I got to get the output properly and I asked my mother to taste it and she loved the pizza. And she said that she never tasted something like that because obviously she never tasted because it's a foreign food. Apart from that, I have tried many pizzas in many places.

    Band 7

    I would like to talk about pasta which is the foreign food I really like and I have had many times. First of all, pasta is an Italian dish and it is very popular in my country too. I like it because it has a soft texture and it can be cooked with different sauces like tomato or cheese. I had pasta in the restaurant with my family last month. It was creamy and full of the vegetables and I enjoyed it a lot. Also, I sometimes try to make pasta at home but it does not taste the same as the restaurant one. Moreover, pasta is easy to eat and it makes me feel full quickly. Pasta is one of my favorite foreign food because it is tasty, filling and gives me a different experience for my daily meals.
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