Reading 7th form 1st term

Cookies from Around the World

Cookies (or biscuits, as the Brits call them) are everyone's favourite snack. Usually made from the simple base of flour, sugar and oil, cookies are customized and made absolutely delicious by adding chocolate chips, nuts or raisins.

They can be found everywhere – prepacked at a local supermarket, homemade, in a local bakery, bought at a vending machine or brought in by someone at school or work. With such immense cookie diversity, it is hard to pick your favorite, and each country has its own special cookie tradition!

A Brief History of Cookies

It is believed that cookies originate from Persia. Once sugar became commonly used in the region in the 7th century, Persians found a way to mix it with other available ingredients and bake it.

When the Muslim forces began their conquest of Spain in the 8th century, they also spread the idea of cookies. Some centuries later, cookies were a part of the regular diet in the whole of Europe among all levels of society – including kings and queens as well as peasants.

Because of their delicious taste and caloric value, cookies became a travel companion of many people who began to explore other parts of the world. Made from nuts, sugar and water, a cookie called jumble was among the first ones to become known on every continent.

The American word "cookie" derives from the Dutch language and their word "koekje", meaning "little cake". The Americans adopted it through the Dutch settlement of America in the 1600s.

І. Decide if the sentences are true or false.

1. You can find cookies everywhere.

2. In ancient times cookies were called “jumblings”.

3. Cookies are made of simple products.

4. It is easy to pick your favourite cookies.

5. Persians used to bake cookies of available ingredients.

6. The name “cookie” derives from “little cake”.

7. The recipe of cookies is American.

II. Choose the correct answers.

1. Who says “biscuits”, but not “cookies”.

2. What ingredients are absent in the recipe of cookies:

3. What country are cookies originated from:

4. Why do people take cookies during travelling:

5. What can’t you add to the cookies:

Chocolate chips

Flowers

Nuts