Discuss the answers to these questions with your groupmates.

1. Besides hot dogs, what are other popular foods in the US?

2. What are some popular foods in your country?

3. Are hot dogs healthy for you? Why or why not?

4. What are some healthy foods? What are some foods that are not so healthy?

#12 Chewing Gum

We think of chewing gum as a modern American invention. But this is only party true. For thousands of years people have chewed gum resin, a juice collected from trees. In Mexico, for example, Indians have long chewed chicle, the gum resin from the sapodilla tree.

In 1850 Mexico and the United States fought a war over Texas. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana led the Mexican soldiers. When Mexico lost the war, Santa Ana had to leave his country. He went to live in New York and he took with him a large amount of chicle.

An American inventor, Thomas Adams, bought some chicle from Santa Ana. He wanted to make the chicle into rubber but his plan failed. Adams then decided that chicle was better as something to chew. In 1871 he made and sold the first gum balls. These gum balls were a great success.

Then, in the 1890s, a man named William Wrigley first made chewing gum as we know it today. William Wtigley had little education or money, but he had an idea. He made gum into flat sticks and added special flavors. Today, Wrigley’s Spearmint gum and Juicy Fruit gum are among the most popular chewing gums in America.

How did modern chewing gum spread from the United States to other countries” During World War I and World War II, the U.S. Army found that chewing gum kept soldiers from getting thirsty. So American soldiers were given chewing gum each day. The soldiers who fought in Europe often gave gum to the people they met. Gum became as popular as it was in the United States. Today, of course, chewing gum can be found around the world.

# 13 The Cranberry

The cranberry is a North American fruit that grows on a bush. The cranberry is small, round, red, and very bitter. American Indians used the berries for food and medicine. When settles first came from England in the 1600s, they liked these berries, too. The settlers had never seen the berries before. They decided to call them “crane berries, ” because birds cranes ate them.

The cranberry bush does not grow everywhere in the United States. In fact, it grows in only five states: Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. These states have the special conditions that the cranberry bush needs.

Cranberries ripen when the weather starts to become cold. We se cranberries in the stores in the fall. Many people eat cranberries as part of the feast of Thanksgiving in November.

Sometimes cranberries are cooked and made into a sauce or a jelly. Cranberries taste less bitter after they are cooked.

Cranberry growers separate the best cranberries from all the rest. It’s had to recognize the best cranberries just by looking. So cranberry growers use a special method, which was developed by accident by a man named John Webb.

One day, as John Webb was taking a container of berries down some steps, he spilled the berries. While he was picking them up he noticed something interesting. The bad berries has stayed on the top steps, and the best berries had bounced down all the way to the bottom. Today, cranberry growers use a seven-step test to separate berries. The best cranberries are the ones that bounce down seven steps!

#14 The Hamburger.

Read the text and answer the questions.

The hamburger has no connection to ham. It got its name from the German town of Hamburg, which was famous for its ground steak. German immigrants to the United States introduced the “hamburger steak.”

At the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, hamburger steaks were served on buns for the first time. Hamburgers on buns were convenient and tasted good. This became the usual way of eating hamburgers.

How did the hamburger become the most popular, most typical American food? The introduction of the bun is an important part of the answer. Another important part is McDonald’s, the fast-food restaurant.

The first McDonald’s was opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1949. Hamburgers were the main item on its menu. People liked the restaurant’s fast service. By the 1960s there were many McDonald’s restaurants. McDonald’s was a part of nearly every community in the United States. There were also other fast-food restaurants that sold hamburgers. McDonald’s alone sold millions of hamburgers a year.

Today, of course, there are McDonald’s restaurants around the world. The food they serve is considered typically American. And, although McDonald’s has expanded its menu, the main item on that menu is – as always – the hamburger.

You probably think that the hamburger is a typical American food. Americans often have a

hamburger for a quick lunch or snack. But do you know that the favorite American “fast food”

actually comes from many different countries?

…..The hamburger is made of beef, not ham. So, the “American” hamburger is a truly international meal! The idea of chopping meat into very small pieces comes from Turkey. The name hamburger comes from the town of Hamburg in Germany.

…..The pickle, or pickled cucumber, comes from Eastern Europe. It is popular in Poland and Russia.

…..The word ketchup comes from China. “Ke-tsiap” is the Chinese name for a sauce made of pickled fish and spices. The first recipe for tomato ketchup is in a 1792 American cookbook.

….. Mayonnaise, sometimes called “mayo” is a yellow-white sauce made of eggs, oil, and lemon juice. It comes from the Spanish island of Minorca, but its name is French.

Mayonnaise is also used as a dressing for salads.

…..The bun is a kind of bread. It comes from an English recipe, and the sesame seeds on top

come from the Middle East.