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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

    So basically, I love trying new foods. I love tasting and exploring various kinds of foods from different countries. And it's kind of like my hobby too. So to be precise, I would say pad thai is my most favorite dish and it's originated from Thailand. It's the most famous dish of theirs. And in addition, it is also the national dish of Thailand. This dish is usually made up of rice noodles and they add fish sauce and few tangy sauces to make it more saucier and juicy. It can also be added with some chicken or any kind of meat to make it more nutritious. And I have tried this in various places but initially I tried it at a restaurant when I was visiting USA. And they had the best pad thai and nothing could match their taste till now. And I like this food because it really is very comforting and it kind of satisfies all of my cravings at any time. If I'm sad, happy or whatever it is, I go for this. So in conclusion, this is the most favorite foreign food that I have tried. And I'll keep trying it whenever I have the chance.

    Band 7

    Earlier, a few months ago, I had the privilege to try out some steamed fish which was made in a Thai restaurant and I was able to find that in my hometown very luckily. So the steamed fish dish is made with white fish and it's very delicately filleted and after the steaming is done, they drizzle it with a really beautiful and flavorful lemon coriander sauce and it's served fresh and it's extremely delicate on a little touch. There's no bones of course because of the fillet and the spicy tangy flavor of the lemon coriander sauce and the delicate flavors of the supple fish. It really is something that's on my mind a lot these days too. I would really like to go and have it again. I'm starting to crave it once again after thinking about it. This is something we typically do not find in India. We do see steamed fish dishes but those are more strongly flavored and this is so gently flavored with the lemon coriander sauce and you get to actually enjoy the flavors of the white fish and it opens your mind to more different cuisines and cultures, I think.

    Band 7

    Till the ripe age of 7, I was a fan of only Indian food. I would never even try to have a sip or a small bite of any other food from any other cuisine. Let it be a small piece of bread, I would refuse it because it would have some Italian sauce on it. But eventually, it came at a point, I had to attend a birthday party and there the only food that they were serving was pizza. Now this was quite a scary experience for me since I had never tried pizza and I didn't know what country it was from. But the birthday child's mom forced me to have it and it turned out to be the best food I have ever had in my whole life. I remember having a slice of mozzarella cheese pizza and remembering the cheesy taste that the sauce was giving out and pairing it with oregano flakes was the cherry on top. Everything was divine and I regretted why I hadn't had the chance to have pizza or any Italian cuisine before. I started to have more Italian cuisines such as pasta, a lot of different versions of pizza and Italian is now one of my favorite cuisines alongside multiple other cuisines from different countries such as Thai food, Japanese, etc. So definitely it was an eye-opening experience when I had that slice of pizza during my friend's birthday party.

    Band 7

    My most recent trip to Vietnam gave me an eye-opening experience into the food and coffee culture. And even though Vietnam is majorly known for its coffee culture and the way they make their coffees, their food is extremely beautiful and extremely versatile. And post their colonization of the French, there was this amazing dish that was invented in Vietnam and it's extremely famous there and it's kind of like a street food. It's called banh mi. So basically, it's a French baguette and they slice it into half and they put whatever kind of meat you want. It could be pork, beef, chicken and it was a little bit a lot of sauces. It has a lot of veggies and basically toast it and they give it to you and you can have it on the go because it's a small petite thing which they give as a takeaway and you can you know just add a drink to and it tastes so nice like anything in bread tastes amazing but this specifically with the condiments that they add and you know the Vietnamese rice that they the Vietnamese vegetables that they add are just so brilliant and so beautiful that it's something that I cannot forget like my mother is a vegetarian but she still enjoyed it so much because they do have vegetarian options as well. They use tofu or other protein supplements that could be you know kind of replace the meat so it's an amazing experience that I had and I love the food there but especially there's something that I would want it to be present in India as well because it's it had the bursts of flavors and your mouth is explicit.

    Band 7

    A foreign food I personally like is the Octopus Balls also known as Takyoki in it's original language. It's a Japanese street food which is made up of flour batter, octopus, cheese and few other vegetables and it is fried in few bowls of rice and then it is served with oyster sauce and few bento flakes. Why I like this is because even though it's a street food it is very light to eat and it has it's own nutritional benefits. As I mentioned it is fried but still it doesn't get too oily. I tried it with my friends in Delhi.

    Band 7

    The one Italian dish I love to eat anytime of the day is pasta, especially alfredo white sauce pasta. The alfredo white sauce enriches the taste of the pasta with oregano, olives and the white sauce which is creamy and cheesy. I have had this first in a cafe and from then every cafe I go, pasta is always on my list to be ordered. What makes this dish excellent is the ingredients as I specified earlier, it's the creamy texture the pasta has and it's also a bit healthy as it has some veggies and has some protein like paneer or chicken. I can't see what all I should have included.

    Band 7

    The dish which I love and I ate was the fried rice with a mixture of prawns and a variety of seafood in it. This dish was the first dish I ever tasted in Singapore when I was undergoing my student exchange program. It was a very interesting item where we had multiple toppings of fish roe, crab slices, squid chunks and a lot more. It was a lot of history within food, a lot of things to taste, a lot of flavors as you get a roll of blasting and addictive taste which is really mouth-watering. I tried cooking and recreating the dish when I came back to my home country where I tried to recreate the same yummy delicacy and it turned out to be a really good hit even though it didn't match the same taste but it did give that refreshing punch of the similar flavor and distinct hint of the seafood.

    Band 7

    The kind of foreign food I enjoy the most would be the pork ribs and mashed potatoes that I had in Hard Rock Cafe in Buffalo, USA. I would describe it as a scrumptious combination of the sweet sauce of the barbecue pork ribs as paired with the creamy texture of the mashed potatoes definitely gave a very delightful feeling in my mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed eating it due to the fact that it was something I never had tasted before and it was definitely suited to my palate and I was delighted to have a taste of it.

    Band 7

    One foreign food that I really like is pizza. Pizza is an Italian dish but it is now famous all over the world including India. The first time I had pizza was about 4 years ago. I went to a Domino's outlet in my hometown with my cousin. I saw many types of pizza on the menu like cheese burst, veggie delight and paneer pizza. I ordered a medium size cheese burst pizza with a extra topping. When I took the first bite, it tasted amazing. The melted cheese, soft bread base and spicy topping made it very tasty. Since then, I have had pizza many times. I usually eat it on a special day like birthday or when I go out with my friends. Sometime I also order it at home during weekends. I like both vegetarian and non-vegetarian pizza. Second reason I love the pizza is that it is easy to eat and very filling. Also I can choose my own topping like olives, mushroom, paneer such toppings. It is hot, cheesy and has a lovely smell. The best part is the cheese. It stretches when we pull a slice. Pizza is different from Indian food but still, it suits our taste. Now many Indian restaurants also serve desi style pizza like spicy flavors. I think it is a good mix of foreign and Indian taste. I feel happy and satisfied whenever I eat pizza. It is not something I eat everyday but I enjoy it once in a while. So pizza is one foreign food that I like the most and have enjoyed many times. It has become a part of my fun moments with friends and family.

    Band 7

    One foreign food that I really like is Italian pasta, significantly spaghetti. I first tried it at an Italian restaurant in my city when I went with my friends for a dinner. The dish is very simple yet delicious. It mainly consists of spaghetti, olive oil, garlic, chili flakes, and parsley. What I enjoyed the most was the balance of flavor, the strong aroma of garlic mixed with slightly spiciness and chili and the smooth texture of olive oil. Unlike heavy creamy pasta, this one felt very light but satisfying. I like it because it is healthy, easy to digest and doesn't use too many artificial sauces. Another reason is that it gave me a completely new taste compared to traditional Indian food. Since then, I have tried making it at home and it has become one of my favorite comfort foods. So this is the spaghetti, my foreign food that I love it.
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