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Describe Your Favourite Food: IELTS Speaking Cue Card

You should say

  • What dish or food item it is?
  • How it is prepared or cooked?
  • How common this food item or dish is?
  • Why it is your favourite?
Show all 36 answers

Cue 1:What dish or food item it is?

  • Begin by naming your favorite food item clearly.
  • Provide a brief description of the dish, including its main ingredients.

Example

My favorite food is biryani, a fragrant rice dish that is often made with marinated meat, spices, and sometimes vegetables. It is a popular dish in India, especially in the northern regions.

Cue 2:How it is prepared or cooked?

  • Explain the cooking process in a simple way, mentioning key steps.
  • You can include any special techniques or ingredients that make it unique.

Example

Biryani is prepared by first marinating the meat in yogurt and spices for a few hours. Then, the rice is partially cooked separately. Finally, layers of marinated meat and rice are combined in a pot and cooked together on low heat, allowing the flavors to meld beautifully.

Cue 3:How common this food item or dish is?

  • Discuss the popularity of the dish in your region or country.
  • Mention any occasions or festivals where this dish is typically served.

Example

Biryani is extremely common in India and is often served at weddings, festivals, and family gatherings. It is a dish that brings people together, and you can find various regional variations across the country.

Cue 4:Why it is your favourite?

  • Share personal feelings or memories associated with the dish.
  • Explain what makes this dish special to you compared to others.

Example

Biryani is my favorite because it reminds me of family gatherings where we would all sit together and enjoy a hearty meal. The rich flavors and the aroma of spices evoke a sense of comfort and nostalgia for me.

Conclusion

    Example

    In conclusion, biryani is not just a dish for me; it represents love, family, and tradition. Its unique preparation and the joy it brings during special occasions make it my all-time favorite food.

    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: Lack of Detail in Description

    Providing vague answers can make your response uninteresting. It's important to give specific details about the dish to engage the listener.

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    Tip

    Include sensory details like taste, texture, and aroma to make your description vivid and appealing.

    2: Ignoring Cooking Process

    Failing to explain how the food is prepared can leave your answer incomplete. This is a key part of the cue card.

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    Tip

    Outline the main steps in the cooking process, mentioning any special techniques or ingredients that make it unique.

    Not Explaining Popularity

    Neglecting to discuss how common the dish is can miss an opportunity to connect with the audience's experiences.

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    Tip

    Mention where the dish is typically served, its cultural significance, or how often you and others enjoy it.

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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 most favorite food item for me is chicken lollipop as it is a Chinese and I love to eat Chinese. It is a mixture of spicy and tangy sauce. First, the chicken wings are marinated with a sauce made out of Chinese sauces. After the marination, they are deep fried and you get a crisp lollipop looking chicken wing which tastes superb. It has to be eaten along with the chutney or you can eat it directly. I love it because of its crispiness, the flavors of the sauces and also it is easy to cook.

    Band 7

    My favorite food item is Pani Puri and Pani Puri is made from basically two things, that is one is spicy chutney and second one is sweet chutney. So spicy chutney is made from Padina, coriander, green chillies and some salt and also sweet chutney is made from the jaggery and dates. So this is a blend of the two chutneys in a puri which is made from wheat flour or we can say flour also and it is my favorite dish because when it gets into the mouth it has a burst of flavors in it.

    Band 7

    To begin with, I would like to talk about my most favorite food that is biryani. To make this, it's definitely a long and a tedious process, but the time, the effort is definitely worth it. There are different biryanis available all over the world, but my personal favorite is Hyderabadi Dum Biryani, and the process to make it is simple but yet complicated. There are different ways to prepare it, and we start off by layering the mixture of the vegetables and the meat in the masalas and layering it alternatively with rice, and then finally sealing it with an air-pressured container. So this is a complicated process, but once it's ready, it's absolutely going to blow our minds off. And it is very famous in the area I live, the city I live called Hyderabad, and the city is known for its different aromatic biryanis. And in addition to it, I love exploring and experimenting with different biryanis available in different cities as well, like the Afghani Biryani, the Lucknowi Biryani, and the Kashmiri Biryani. My personal favorite has to be the Hyderabad one. There is so much, I also love biryani because it represents the culture we live in, so diverse, but yet once when we all are put together, they bring out so much flavor.

    Band 7

    My favorite cuisine is Italian and my favorite food would be spaghetti. I love spaghetti arrabiata and the reason that I like Italian cuisine mainly is because it's very, it's not only flavorful but it's very subtle on the taste. There are no complex flavors. It's a very comforting meal and the main thing I love about the recipe is that you can tweak it accordingly to what available and protein that you have available in hand without having to change the taste, without having to vary the main sauce. Spaghetti arrabiata is basically made with garlic, tomato and basil. It's very easy to cook. It's a very simple recipe. It's pretty straightforward. You boil the spaghetti for the sauce, you grind the tomatoes, add basil and chopped garlic and cook it till everything is well combined and then you just mix the spaghetti in it. It takes about 10 minutes. I usually make it at home whenever I want to just grab a quick bite and I can also just change the recipe based on my preference, not only for the food available but also based on the weather. I can make this recipe even as a cold recipe. There is something called as a cold pasta where you make the sauce in advance and then you keep it in the freezer and let it cool down. It's such an easy dish that you can easily use the same ingredients but just cool the noodles as well as the sauce and just pour the cooled sauce over the noodles and it makes a very refreshing dish. Because of the basil it makes a very refreshing dish to eat even in hotter days. The flavour profile is very simple and the taste is extremely good.

    Band 7

    My favorite food is a bit stereotypical Indian dish. It's butter chicken. I really enjoy the smooth flavor of butter with a bit of spiciness and a hint of creaminess from the cream. Preparing butter chicken is a very linear process. Basically to start with we have to get a chicken in curry cuts and we have to prepare the gravy with boiling tomatoes and then onions sorting onions and then grinding it all up with bunch of spices and then we add chicken to it with lots and heaps and heaps of butter. It's a really common dish in India. You can try it from anywhere from a small restaurant to a five-star hotel and it will taste as good as you can make it at home as well. It never misses. I would recommend trying it at home. It's very it's not particularly easy to make but it's a fun experience.

    Band 7

    One of my favorite dishes of all time is probably Maghlouba, it's a traditional Saudi dish that I love. To be honest, I'm hungry right now just thinking of it. It's basically made of rice, chicken and multiple layers of vegetables from eggplant to potatoes to spinach and all of that. One of the reasons to which why I love it is probably because it's so delicious and it's really really filling. I've loved it since I was a kid, to this day I'm still obsessed with Maghlouba. And the main reason why it's called Maghlouba is because when the platter is put onto the dining table, you have to flip it in order to get all the layers of the vegetables.

    Band 7

    Coming from a mixed culture background and living in India, food not only is a part of your daily routine that you consume just to feed yourself, it suddenly becomes an emotion and a way to express yourself. For me, coming from the eastern side of India, I love my cuisine, there is a dish called Biryani, which is made popular in Kolkata. It is usually made with rice, which is garnished with onions, you can add a little bit of chicken in it, you can add any kind of meat in it, it is also made with seafood sometimes. It's a delicacy which is celebrated all over India in different ways and each of the state has its own take in it. Biryani is the food which is introduced to everyone and in every occasion, maybe it's a marriage, maybe it's an engagement, maybe it's a party, everywhere you can find a Biryani lover.

    Band 6-7

    I am a big gastronome, so I wouldn't say that there is a particular favourite food which I love the most because I just used to hop on all sorts of foods. However, recently I have started consuming Manchurian. I never liked Manchurian because I was told that it's related to non-vegetarian. So yeah, I used to keep myself away from it thinking that it was a non-vegetarian dish. But once I got to know that it's a vegetarian dish, you can prepare in a vegetarian way, I just loved eating Manchurian and the taste of it. The preparation is very simple, you just need to grate the cabbage, all sorts of vegetables, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, whatever vegetables you want to add. Then after, you can just add some flour, all-purpose flour. And then mix all them together, put some salt as well as pepper. And then you can shape out some balls and fry them in hot oil. Then you can cook them until they are golden brown and take it out of the oil. Once they are cool, you can then prepare a mix of sauces like chilli sauce, tomato sauce and add vegetables and put the Manchurian balls in the gravy. I would say Manchurian is a very popular dish and a lot of people love to eat it. It's very spicy and extra flavorful in my case.

    Band 6-7

    I am not a foodie person, but yes I love some of the Indian dishes which my mother cook in my home. I would love to talk about a food whose name is Pav Bhaji, which is made from potatoes, mashing potatoes on a hot tawa with some spices and mixed vegetables. I love that food because it is a mix-up of a number of vegetables and it gives a really vibrant color, red color and very delicious taste. I don't know how it is prepared, but my mother cook it for me when I used to come from my college and my mother also get me packed that food for me when I go to my hostel. This is very common in India, you can find it on roadside or street of Delhi and Mumbai, any part of the country. It is my favorite as I only love potato very much.

    Band 6-7

    The favorite dish of mine so far would probably be sushi, as I'm so much more into the Japanese cuisine, but on the other hand I do love spaghettis, you know, the touch of Italian style as well, but yes if I have to talk about my favorite food then it's probably gonna be the sushi part, because the sushi is so easy to prepare and you just need like two to four ingredients just to wrap up the thing in just five minutes and you're just good to go with that and I have made this dish like a couple of times for my family and friends whenever we have a picnic or you know a time where we get together and it's a very memorable thing for me that's why I feel like this dish has been like you know like a part of my life and it's like so special to me as well and I love Japanese cuisine because I started to know about this dish when once I started watching like anime and everything where I went through a lot of cuisines like a lot of Japanese cuisine especially where I have seen a lot of dishes like um you know like a lot of pancake desserts or variety of curries and everything um but the main thing that sparks me was the sushi thing the sushi and because it has a lot of varieties like in veg or non-veg but so easy to make it just takes five to ten minutes
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