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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

    The foreign food I enjoyed is actually a dessert that I had in my friend's house on the night of Christmas and my friend, his mom made it specially for the Christmas Eve and it was tiramisu, a French dessert and actually it's made from coffee, bread, cheese, cream, cocoa powder and some other dish and some other ingredients. So actually it's coffee soaked bread with a mascarpone cheese. I asked my friend's mom to give me the recipe of it and I tried making the dessert like her but I couldn't because the taste was so amazing, it's delicious. It was and the meaning behind making that dessert in my home was the warm welcome that I received from his house and it made me feel great. So I wanted to surprise them, wanted to gift them the same dessert. I wanted to make it by myself and gift him.

    Band 7

    I like pasta, especially Alfredo pasta. I first had it in a restaurant at Delhi. I love the creamy texture of Alfredo pasta. I like having lots of vegetables such as mushrooms and capsicum and corn in it. I also like pizza from Italy. Everyone loves pizza. My favorite toppings are mushrooms and corn. And I like cheese burst pizza as well. The pizza which has cheese in its crust also.

    Band 7

    The dish I like very much is chicken biryani where I tried it in Hyderabad. The ingredients used in chicken biryani are chicken, some spices along with basmati rice, roasted onions. The cooking process takes usually like 30 minutes to 1 hour. The chicken is being marinated in curd and spices along with roasted onion. Later on it is slow cooked in a kadai. Later on water is added to the marinated chicken and basmati rice and slow cooked till it gives the aromatic flavor.

    Band 7

    Recently, I had the pleasure of tasting Wiener Schnitzel, which is the speciality in Austria. I was able to eat this when I was on an exchange program in Vienna, Austria, and I had it every Thursday for lunch. The procedure to make a Wiener Schnitzel included marinating a slab of meat in flour and then frying it in oil. This created a crispy outer layer on the meat, which could be turkey meat or pork or chicken, and it was served with a dollop of cream and onion sauce and a salad. I really liked how tender the meat was and how the taste complements the spiciness of the sauce and the freshness of the salad. I shared this dish with my friends in the exchange program, and all of them really liked it. I tried making it myself, but I failed because I couldn't find the right proportions to make it. So, I went with eating it in the canteen in my university. I was served this dish in a rather peculiar way when I ate it first. I was served the dish with a side salad of a red plant, and it tasted really good. The sauce was also red, and it had tomatoes in it. I really liked the dish, and I'm...

    Band 7

    I have always been open to experimenting with different types of food and cuisines and my most recent experiment was not an exception. I had the good fortune of visiting Korea last month and over there one particular food that I was very much keen on trying was Korean barbecue. Now I know it sounds not that much different from normal barbecue but trust me when I say Korean barbecue is a wonderful experience that anyone should try. They have varied kinds of meats prepared in a personal grill on your own table. It is a DIY experience so I was very curious about how I could cook my own dinner by myself. Fortunately it was not as difficult as it seemed. They had provided different kinds of sauces, different condiments and seasonings so it made the experience very much enjoyable. I had gone there with my cousins so the joint experience made it all the more fun. At that moment I was very skeptical about how it would turn out but looking back I can say I definitely enjoyed the experience. It was definitely an assault to the senses. Different flavors and tastes are very unusual compared to what I have been used to. It is an expensive affair so I would not suggest this for normal diet but I will say that I would definitely like to try it again. It has been an experience that I will most certainly cherish for my lifetime.

    Band 7

    A food that I tried and fell in love with the first bite was a smashed burger. Recently, a new cafe opened in our neighborhood. It was just a small burger joint and when I went there, in the menu I saw a smashed burger. I hadn't had any smashed burgers before so I just thought of trying it. But when I tasted it, it was just heaven. It was made of a soft brioche bun, topped with lettuce, then a juicy grilled patty that was smashed and charred to perfection. And it was topped with their custom sauce that I think was prepared with mayonnaise, tomato, mustard and pickles. And it was again topped with pickled onions and another piece of lettuce and it was closed with a brioche bun. And when I just took the bite, it was indescribable because it was so perfectly combined that I couldn't describe my happiness. It was like an instant euphoria.

    Band 7

    The food that, the foreign food that I have tried and tasted and have tremendously fallen in love with would be pizza. I never really got an opportunity to have pizza growing up because none of my family members liked relishing a delicious pizza, but the first pizza I had was at Domino's in my hometown. The pizza I love would definitely be the hot and fiery pizza that they have. I love the cheese pull, the cheese, my mouth has started watering now actually, but I love the cheese, the crust, I prefer wheat crust over the refined flour crust because I feel somehow it's a healthier alternative. Moreover, I love the toppings, especially jalapenos and paprika, they are my favorite. Along with that, I also like olives. I like all of these toppings because, especially the jalapenos and paprika because they give the spice that I like in food. The spicy and tangy taste of jalapeno is something that I look forward to every time I am in a pizza place and paprika is obviously spicy, so yeah, I like it very much.

    Band 7

    So, a foreign food which I really prefer and has recently become one of my favorite dish is the chicken Korean Ramen. The first time I tried this dish was in a Korean restaurant named Kori which is located in Guwahati. And the reason I found this dish to be so fascinating was for a particular kimchi flavor it produced. So kimchi is basically a fermented cabbage or fermented pickle which is used in Korean dishes to make them more spicy and tastier and that was something which really caught in my mouth and the taste made me feel like it gave me quite a bit of an adrenaline rush as I may frame it. The spiciness of the food, the chicken broth, the noodles, everything dipped with kimchi made the dish very tastier and very appealing to me as well as the chicken broth was very soothing for the gut health as well and these kind of ramen are even very easier to make and are very price efficient.

    Band 7

    One type of foreign food that I really enjoy is Japanese Sushi. I first tried it in a restaurant in Delhi and I was really curious because I had heard so much about it. The sushi I had was made of rice, seaweed, fresh fish and some vegetables. I could taste the salty seaweed, the slightly sweet rice and the freshness of fish. All together, the combination was very unique and refreshing. After that, I even tried making sushi at home. To be honest, I didn't do a very good job because rolling the sushi properly was much harder than I expected. Still, it was fun experiencing and I realized how much skill is needed to prepare it well. Apart from sushi, I also love Korean food, especially ramen noodles. Unlike sushi, ramen is easier for me to make at home. I usually cook the noodles and add vegetables, boiled eggs and some spicy seasoning. The flavors are rich, warm and comforting, especially during winters. The reason I like these food is that they are different from Indian cuisine. The spices are also different. They give me a chance to experience new flavors and culture. Also, I enjoy cooking them at home. Even if they don't always turn out to be perfect, eating these dishes makes me feel connected to the other parts of the world and that's something I really enjoy. New flavors, cultural experience, enjoyable cooking is my forte and I love doing it. Cooking is one of my hobbies as well.

    Band 7

    My favorite foreign food that I have tried so far is Turkish food and more specifically a kofta platter. I tried it while I was traveling in Qatar a few years back from an authentic Turkish restaurant. It mainly consists of ground meat kebabs which are paired with pickled vegetables and a flat thin bread. I like it mainly because it tastes wonderful. There is a harmonious blend of flavors and the specific fusion of tastes that leaves you astounded. If fate allows me, I would like to have more of such food.
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