TOEFL essay samples: Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants

English as a Second Language Preparation for and help with the TOEFL® Test and
#1

Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

I will begin my essay with one latin dictum. It has been said:”De gustibus non est disputandem”, which means that taste is beyond debate. I think that people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants for many different reasons and it’s impossible to define in general which way is true. In the following part of this essay I will list some advantages and disadvantages of both possibilities. In the end I’ll expose my opinion.

Food stands and restaurants offer an easy access to food. They are appropriate for business people which time is insuffcient. For example, if you are an employee in a big company and you have only 30 minutes break, it’s impossible for you to prepare food in home. In this case, it’s necessity to visit any restaurant. Another advantage of restaurants is their atmosphere. For instance, they are appropriate for official business meeting or for special occasions. If you want to propose marriage, for example, one luxurious restaurant is a good place to do this.

However, I think that process which is related to preparing of food is more interesting than eating in restaurants. In my opinion, process of food preparing is an art. Just like the painter, cook creates a work of art. He mixes many different kinds of foods to produce one delicious meal. Some people rest while they preparing food. Some psychologists believe that process of food preparing conduct to reducing stress symptoms. It’s known with name “cooking therapy”. I will outline other advantages of food preparing at home. First, in many cases, food, which is prepared in home, is cheaper than food in restaurants. Also, atmosphere in restaurants and food stands is noisy. If you want to have dinner in calmly atmosphere, home made food is a right way!

To summarize, if you have insufficient time or you want to lend variety in your life – restaurants and food stands are right way for you. However, If you want to relax or learn more about different types of foods and how different meals are produced, home-preparing food is for you. Moreover, in most cases food prepared in home is cheaper than food which is offered in restaurants or food stands. Therefore, in different cases I prefer to eat at different places. Sometimes I eat at home; sometimes I eat at restaurant or food stand.

TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between a professor and a student discussing a possibility

#2

Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

(I PLEAD YOU SIR, PLEASE CORRECT MY MISTAKES AND GRADE MY ESSAY :roll: ).

Some people like to eat out at food stands and restaurants. While others like to prepare food at home. Often it depends on the kind of lifestyle people have. Those with very busy jobs outside the house don’t always have time to cook. They like the convenience of eating out. Overall, though, it is cheaper and healthier to eat at home.

While eating in restaurants is fast, the money you spend can add up. When I have dinner at restaurant with a friend, the bill is usually over twenty dollars. I can buy a lot of groceries with that muchy of money. Even luch at a fast-food stand usually cost five to six dollars for one person. That’s enough to feed the whole family at home.

Eating at home is better for you, too. Meals at restaurants are often high in fat and calories, and they serve big plates of food- much more food than you need to eat at one meal. If you cook food at home, you have more control over the ingredients.You can use margarine instead of butter on your potatoes, or not put so much cheese on top of your pizza. At home you can control your portion size. You can serves yourself as little as you want. In a restaurant, you may eat a full plate of food " because you paid for it"

It’s true that eating out is convenient. You don’t have to shop, or cook, or clean up. However, real home cooking doesn’t have to take a lot of time. There are lots of simple meals that don’t take long to make. In fact, they’re faster than eating out, especially if you think of the time you spend driving to a restaurant, parking, waiting for a table, waiting for service, and driving home.

Both eating at restaurants and cooking at home can be satisfying. Both can taste good and be enjoyed with family and friends. I prefer cooking at home because of the money and health issues, but people will make the choice that fits therie lifestyle best.
:smiley:

#3

Generally not bad, but never inform the reader what are you going to write about. This is not a conspectus. Just start writing and present your opinion.

My score: 4

#4

Is that right? Where did you get this idea from?

#5

I have done several books for TOEFL preparation. There was explained that it’s not generally good to tell the reader what are you going to write like he has done: “… I will list some advantages and disadvantages of both possibilities. In the end I’ll expose my opinion. " Such writing is not always well tolerated. It’s much better just to start writing and of course in the beginning to state what to do you choose to write. This type style is not good: " Now I’ll tell yo this…etc ; Then I’ll start talking about that…etc…”

Hope you got my idea.

#6

Yesterday while having dinner at a restaurant, I have asked myself that when was the last time I had dinner at home was. As a child, I always liked food prepared by my mom. She used to prepare tasty, hygienic & wide variety of food. 25 years down the line, today I became so busy in my life that it has been almost a week since I had dinner at home. Even though I like the home made food, certain factors of my life have forced me to take food outside most of the times.
Today the entire world has become a global village. Being a management professional of a multinational company that has more than 200 offices across the world, I have to travel very frequently. Whenever I go out of station or abroad, I have no other choice but to depend on the restaurants over there to fill my appetite.
Preparing food at home is certainly time consuming. We have to spend time to buy vegetables, to cut them, to cook food & to clean the vessels. It will take about 2 hrs a day to prepare food at home. Even though I would love to spend those 2 hrs and prepare it for myself, my busy schedules hardly give me that much time of leisure in a day. On the other hand it will take not more than 30 min to reach , place an order and have food in a restaurant.
Restaurants generally offer wide variety of cuisine from which we can select as we like. Whereas at home I had to settle down with whatever the cuisine is prepared for that day. I hardly have any choice here.
On the outset, it appears to most of us that homemade food is more cost effective than a restaurant food. However, as the saying goes “A MINUTE SAVED IS A PENNY SAVED”, in today’s world TIME is at least as valuable as money. By taking the time required to prepare home food into consideration, I feel that OUT SIDE FOOD is in fact cheaper than HOMEMADE FOOD.

Although an avid lover of homemade food, very often I have been forced by my busy life style to consume food outside. Now I am accustomed to it. After all I am eating to live but not living to eat.