In Praise of Fast Food - IELTS Reading Answers

Ideally, candidates appearing for the IELTS exam should allocate approximately 20 minutes to complete a passage such as ‘In Praise of Fast Food’ in the IELTS Academic Reading section. Thus, they must regularly complete IELTS reading practice tests to become proficient. 

In this blog, we show you how to monitor your performance with the passage, In Praise of Fast Food, along with the answer explanations and locations. By utilizing this, you can gain the ability to observe and analyze your accuracy and timing, ultimately developing significantly improved study habits.

Passage for In Praise of Fast Food IELTS Reading Answers

Go through the passage for ‘In Praise of Fast Food’ Reading Answers given below and be prepared to solve similar IELTS Reading topics for General and Academic for the reading section.

In Praise of Fast Food

Questions for In Praise of Fast Food Reading Answers 

The IELTS Academic Reading passage, In Praise of Fast Food IELTS Reading Answers, consists of 14 questions, which showcase three different IELTS Reading question types. They are:

• IELTS Reading Diagram Completion (Q. 27–29)
• IELTS Reading Sentence Completion (Q. 30–34)
• IELTS Reading Multiple Choice Questions (Q. 35–40)

Questions 27-29

27 ………………………………….. = mass, produced bread.

28 ………………………………….. = traditionally produced bread

29 ………………………………….. enhanced by synthetic products

Questions 30-34 

30 The writer does not believe that a ……………………. philosophy of food production is superior to an industrialized philosophy of food production.

31 In the past, the majority of fresh, natural food ……………………. and could not be relied on.

32 Most people’s intake consisted largely of.. ………………….., which required a great deal of preparation.

33 The ……………………. of food was unrecognizable once it had gone through the various processes of making it edible.

34 For the ancient Greeks, a ……………………. full of food was preferable to a garden full of fruit.

Questions 35-40

35 What does the writer say about peasants?

A They had a better diet than most people living in cities.

B They were largely self-sufficient.

C Much of what they produced went to a landowner.

D They created imaginative soup and flatbread dishes.

36 Lasagna is an example of a dish

A Invented by peasants.

B Created for wealthy city-dwellers.

C That was only truly popular in northern Italy.

D That tastes like dishes from several other countries.

37 Which of the following is NOT an important factor mentioned in the eighth and ninth paragraphs?

A The development of take-away food as an option

B The arduous nature of food preparation before mass-production

C The global benefits of industrialized food production

D The range of advantages that industrialized food production had

38 What is the important point the writer wishes to make in the tenth paragraph?

A There are disadvantages to modem food production as well as advantages.

B People need to have a balanced diet.

C People everywhere now have a huge range of food to choose from.

D Demand for food that is traditionally produced exploits the people that produce it.

39 The writer mentions chocolate, pasta, and canned tomatoes in the same paragraph because

A The industrialized version has advantages over the natural version.

B They are all products associated with a sophisticated lifestyle.

C They are all products that have suffered from over-commercialization.

D They are the most popular examples of industrial foods.

40 What is the overall point that the writer makes in the reading passage?

A People should learn the history of the food they consume.

B Modem industrial food is generally superior to raw and natural food.

C Criticism of industrial food production is largely misplaced.

D People should be more grateful for the range of foods they can now choose from.

Answers and Explanations of In Praise of Fast Food IELTS Reading Passage

Check out the 'In Praise of Fast Food' answer key with explanations and locations to assess your improvement and achieve a high IELTS band score.

27 Answer: steel roller mill

Question type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 1

Answer explanation: The first paragraph illustrates that the media and a multitude of cookbook writers would have us believe that modern, fast, processed food is a disaster and that it is a mark of sophistication to bemoan the steel roller mill and sliced white bread while yearning for stone-ground flour and a brick oven. These lines indicate that the media writers would have made the public believe that food is a disaster and are marks of sophistication to express discontent (bemoan) the steel roller mill that produced mass bread. Hence, the answer is a steel roller mill.

28 Answer: brick oven

Question type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 1

Answer explanation: In paragraph 1, it is stated that the media and a multitude of cookbook writers would have us believe that modern, fast, processed food is a disaster and that it is a mark of sophistication to bemoan the steel roller mill and sliced white bread while yearning for stone-ground flour and a brick oven. According to the diagram, it is a brick oven that traditionally produced bread. Hence, the answer is the brick oven.

29 Answer: flavoring

Question type: Diagram Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 1, last line

Answer explanation: The last line of paragraph 1 states that instead of technology, what these Luddites abhor is commercial sauces and any synthetic aid to flavoring our food. These lines indicate that other than using technology, these Luddites hate commercial sauces and other synthetic aid for flavoring food. So, the picture here is flavoring, which is enhanced by synthetic products. Thus, the answer is flavoring.

30 Answer: rural

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 2,line 2

Answer explanation: In the 2nd line of paragraph 2, the writer states that as a historian, he cannot accept the notion that the sunny, rural days of yesterday are in such contrast to the grey industrial present. These lines indicate that the writer does not believe that the sunny, rural days of the past are in such contrast to the grey industrial present, that is the rural philosophy of food production is superior to an industrialized philosophy of food production. Hence, the answer is rural.

31 Answer: tasted bad

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 3, line 2

Answer explanation: The writer mentions in the 2nd line of the 3rd paragraph that for the ancestors, what was natural frequently tasted bad, that is the majority of fresh, natural food tasted bad and couldn’t be relied on in the past. Hence, the answer is tasted bad.

32 Answer: grains

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 3,line 5

Answer explanation: The 5th line of the 3rd paragraph state that Grains, which supplied 50 to 90 percent of the calories in most societies, had to be threshed, ground, and cooked to be fit for consumption. These lines suggest that most people’s intake consisted largely of grains, which had to be threshed, grounded, and cooked to perfection for consumption. Thus, the answer is Grains.

33 Answer: original form

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 4,

Answer explanation: Paragraph 4 states that so to make food tasty, safe, digestible, and healthy, our forebears bred, ground, soaked, leached, curdled, fermented, and cooked naturally occurring plants and animals until they were nothing at all like their original form. We can understand from these lines that the original form of food is unrecognizable once it goes through the various stages of making that specific food edible. Thus, the answer is the original form.

34 Answer: storehouse

Question type: Sentence Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 5, last line

Answer explanation: The last line of the 5th paragraph states that Happiness was not a verdant garden abounding in fresh fruits, but a securely locked storehouse jammed with preserved, processed foods. These lines indicate that for the ancient Greeks, a storehouse full of food was more preferable and precious than a garden full of fruit. Thus, the answer is storehouse.

35 Answer: C

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 6

Answer explanation: In paragraph 6, the writer has mentioned that Very few of our ancestors working the land were independent peasants baking their bread and salting down their pigs. Most were burdened with heavy taxes and rent, often paid directly by the food they produced. We can deduce from these lines that although the peasants baked their bread, they had to pay it to the landowners as they were burdened with heavy taxes and rent. Thus, the answer is C.

36 Answer: B

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 7

Answer explanation: We find a reference for lasagna in paragraph 7, which states that the dishes we call ethnic and assume to be of peasant origin were invented for the urban, or at least urbane, aristocrats who collected the surplus. This is as true of the lasagna of northern Italy. These lines indicate that lasagna is an example of a dish that was created for wealthy city dwellers. Hence, the answer is B.

37 Answer: A

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 8 & 9

Answer explanation: In paragraphs 8 and 9, the writer has mentioned the struggles of people preparing home-cooked meals with much difficulty. In Mexico, most women had to kneel for 5 hours at the grindstone to prepare the dough. However, in the 9th paragraph, it is revealed that Italians embraced the factory-made pasta, followed by the Japanese adopting the factory-made bread. As supermarkets appeared in Eastern Europe, people rejoiced at the convenience of ready-made goods. Culinary modernism had proved what was wanted: food that was processed, preservable, industrial, novel, and fast, the food of the elite at a price everyone could afford. As a result, the development of take-away food as an option was not an important factor mentioned in these paragraphs. Thus, the answer is A.

38 Answer: D

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 10, line 4

Answer explanation: The writer has mentioned in the 4th line of paragraph 10 that If we do not understand that most people had no choice but to devote their lives to growing and cooking food, we are incapable of comprehending that modern food allows us unparalleled choices. If we urge the farmer to stay at his olive press and the housewife to remain at her stove, all so that we may eat traditionally pressed olive oil and home-cooked meals, we are assuming the mantle of the aristocrats of old. These lines indicate that demand for food that is traditionally produced exploits the people who produce it. Thus, the answer is D.

39 Answer: A

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 11, line 2

Answer explanation: We can find the reference for chocolate, pasta, and canned tomatoes in the 2nd line of the 11th paragraph, “Certainly no one with a grindstone will ever produce chocolate as sophisticated as that produced by 72 hours in a conching machine. And let us not forget that the current popularity of Italian food owes much to two convenience foods that even purists love, factory pasta and canned tomatoes. The writer has mentioned these products because there are disadvantages to modern production as well as advantages. Thus, the answer is W.

40 Answer: C

Question type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 1 – 13

Answer explanation: When we go through reading passage 3, we understand that the overall perspective of the writer is that criticism of Industrial food production is largely misplaced. Thus, the answer is C.

How to Solve the Question Types in the In Praise of Fast Food IELTS Reading Passage?

Here are some IELTS exam preparation tips for band score of 8+ to help you prepare for the ‘In Praise of Fast Food IELTS Reading Answers’ and improve your reading skills.

Diagram Completion

In Diagram Completion, you fill in gaps in a diagram based on information from the passage. Answers may be words or phrases directly from the text.

Tips for Diagram Completion:

• Read Instructions Carefully: Note word limits for each gap.
• Identify Keywords: Highlight important terms in the diagram and locate them in the passage.
• Skim and Scan: Skim the passage for overall ideas and scan for specific details related to the diagram.
• Use Context Clues: Read surrounding text for context to find the precise words or phrases needed.
• Check Grammar and Spelling: Ensure answers are grammatically correct and accurately spelled.

Sentence Completion:

Sentence Completion is a type of IELTS reading question that requires you to fill in a gap in a sentence with a word or phrase from the passage.

To answer these questions, you can use the following strategies:

• Read Instructions Carefully: Pay attention to the word limit for each answer.
• Identify Keywords: Highlight key terms in the sentences to find related information in the passage.
• Skim the Passage: Get an overview of the text to understand the main ideas and context.
• Look for Synonyms: Be prepared to find synonyms or paraphrases in the passage that fit the sentences.
• Check Your Answers: Ensure that your completed sentences make sense and fit grammatically.

Multiple Choice Questions:

You will be given a reading passage followed by several questions based on the information in the paragraph in multiple choice questions. Your task is to understand the question and compare it to the paragraph to select the best solution from the available possibilities.

• Before reading the passage, read the question and select the keywords. Check the keyword possibilities if the question statement is short on information.
• Then, using the keywords, read the passage to find the relevant information.
• To select the correct option, carefully read the relevant words and match them with each option.
• You will find several options with keywords that do not correspond to the information.
• Try opting for the elimination method mostly.
• Find the best option by matching the meaning rather than just the keywords.

In conclusion, practicing individual passages such as In Praise of Fast Food IELTS Reading Answers from IELTS Reading recent actual tests and practice tests is crucial. These resources can enhance your reading speed, quickly spot areas of weakness, and efficiently address various comprehension questions. As a result, regular practice with these tests helps you steadily reach your target results.

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