-Are people in your country becoming more or less interested in preparing food and eating cake?
-Eating too much cake can make people fat. Why do people have a tendency to eat cake to celebrate things?
-What are some traditional foods in your country that have changed a lot in recent years?
-What do people tend to give as gifts in your culture， other than food?
-Does food have a special place in your culture?
Special Cakes Sample Answer
There are so many kinds of cakes that I could talk about a range of different varieties. However， in my opinion， the cake that would be most interesting for an overseas person to talk about would be an Australian Pavlova Cake. This is a very traditional cake that is also unique to the country. However， perhaps not uniquely Australian because I understand that New Zealanders and people on other South Pacific islands would also consider this to be one of their traditional cakes.
The reason why I believe that this cake is different from an overseas perspective is because it has a special kind of filling that you do not so often find in European or American cakes. This filling is called the meringue and it is actually beaten egg white that has been baked. For this reason， the Pavlova Cake has a very unique flavour that， for me， has a tangy-sweet sensation. It is almost a kind of marshmallow taste and， while you often find this sort of filling accompanying panna cotta in a dessert in fine restaurants， it is not so common to have this in an ordinary family dessert， or in cakes from other countries.
The meringue， which is the main body of this cake， as well as the filling， is a round shape with a crispy， caramel brown crust. It then has a soft， marshmallow-like inside. On top of this， New Zealanders use cream to decorate the cake， but here in Australia we sometimes replace the cream with ice cream or other sorbets. We then put tropical fruits or local berries on the top of the dessert， to compliment the sweet flavour of the meringue and ice cream.
I was going to say the Pavlov has been used at Christmas time and on special occasions. However， I have just become aware that， a short time ago， I have been eating this more in summer as a cool， light dessert in the middle of the heat. For this reason， I would say the Pavlov is now a little less traditional in the sense that I might be more likely to eat it in the warm months rather than at special occasions.
In terms of why it is liked by Australians， I would have said that for many people it is part of what we have traditionally eaten. We grew up with Pavlova Cake for special occasions and this is the way that we have celebrated as children and as adults. The other reason is that this cake appeals to our love of ice cream and lighter desserts. People in the city that I live in， Sydney， have always liked good quality ice cream which you can see by the popularity of Gelato and other such dessert venues.
