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Question

Compare how the two writers convey their attitudes towards food and the people they are visiting.

In your answer you could:

• compare their different attitudes
• compare the methods they use to convey their attitudes
• support your ideas with references to both texts

Both of the texts are about food. The first one is from a cookery book written in 1855. It is by Alexis Soyer and is in first person and it uses quite old-fashioned language. He is describing how he goes to St Giles and teaches an old lady to make coffee. The food in the extract includes muffins and crumpets which are piled up in a pyramid. He seems to be happy about the food and wants to have the best things. He describes in detail how he makes the coffee. It seems like a list of instructions.

In contrast, the second piece is a modern review of a restaurant. It is in first person and it uses some more detailed language that lets the reader know what it is like to be there. The writer is with her friend and they go for a walk around the garden before they have dinner. The writer thinks that food tastes better if you can see where it is growing. She seems happy to be in the restaurant and trusts the waiter. She lets the waiter choose what she should eat, which shows she is comfortable with the waiter.

Feedback - basic

This answer is limited because:

• it has no direct quotations from the text to support it
• it focuses first on one text and then the other without making specific comparisons
• it summarises bits of the texts and begins to discuss the writers’ attitudes but doesn’t analyse the writers’ methods

However, it does:

• Use the phrases ‘both’ and ‘in contrast’ to show simple similarities and differences between the texts.
• Refer directly to the extracts and selects some details from each. However, these are paraphrased rather than directly quoted.
• Begins to examine the writers’ attitudes to food and people.