The article discusses three women - Anastasia Pollard, Jane Newton, and Sara Carrillo - who each eat the same meal every day. Pollard has toast and coffee every morning alone in her kitchen. Newton eats a daily lunch of rice, vegetables, and tofu. Carrillo maintains her childhood breakfast of coffee, milk, and toast with raspberry jam no matter where she lives. The women find benefits like routine, self-care, and mindfulness from their consistent daily meals.

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How creating wildlife crossings can help reindeer, bears – and even crabs
Level: Intermediate
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‘There is a pleasure to it’: the simple joy of eating the same meal every day
Level: Intermediate
1
2
Warmer
a. Share your answers to these questions.
What did you have for breakfast this morning?
Where did you eat it and at what time?
What did / will you have for lunch?
Why did you decide to eat these things?
Key words
a. Find words in the article that match the definitions below. The paragraph numbers are given
to help you.
1. not do something even though others do it (para 2)
2. the fact that something consists of different things, usually in a way that makes it interesting
or enjoyable (para 2)
3. a condition that makes it easier to do something and helps you to avoid wasting time
(para 3)
4. a mixture of flour, water, fat, etc. that is baked to make bread or pastry
(para 6)
5. the separate foods or liquids that you use in making a particular meal (para 11)
6. a feeling of happiness, enjoyment, or satisfaction (para 11)
7. food that makes you feel full and satisfied (para 12)
8. taking a break and clearing your mind to feel better (para 13)
9. things that need to be done (para 13)
10. change something so that you can deal with a new situation (para 15)
b. Use some of the key words above to complete these sentences.
1. Many people enjoy the pleasures and of living in a city centre.
2. She gets great from spending time in her garden.
3. He was always tired in the evening after the of running the company.
4. The French market stand has a great of different cheeses.
5. Mix all the together and put them in a cake tin.

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How creating wildlife crossings can help reindeer, bears – and even crabs
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Level: Intermediate
‘There is a pleasure to it’: the simple joy of eating the same meal every day
People who find relief, and even
mindfulness, in eating the same
dish over and over
Celina Ribeiro
Thu 29 Apr 2021
Every morning, while it is still dark, Anastasia
Pollard is woken up by her dogs. She lets them
out and immediately makes herself a coffee
and toasts her home-made wholemeal seeded
bread. She adds only butter. Honey if she’s sick.
Jam if she’s feeling “greedy”. She has done this
every day for years and years and years.
The portrait artist is one of many people around
the world who resists a food culture which sees
variety as being good and important.
For some it is the convenience, or not needing
to decide. For others, it is about connection
and memories.
“There’s a psychological association with
morning, with getting up, with balancing myself
for the day ahead,” she says. “I always do that …
I know some people go to the shower first –
but no. I have to have my toast and coffee
absolutely first thing.”
Pollard bakes her bread weekly. Baking your
own bread, she says, feels like self-care.
“I make the dough the night before,” she says.
“It’s a process. I have to be very organised
about it. I don’t feel as fed with someone’s
bread as with my bread.”
The coffee has to be Lavazza. Pollard developed
a love for it while living in Italy. Though she’s
been in the UK for a long time now, “it connects
me with the time I spent in Italy.”
Pollard does not have her breakfast with her
young son and her husband. The meal is time
alone. “I like getting up while it’s still dark. I like
how it gently gets lighter and lighter … I really
love sitting in the kitchen with the quiet and
looking at the garden with my coffee and my
toast. I love having this little time to myself.”
‘Three things in a bowl’
Curriculum coordinator Jane Newton, who lives
in Sydney, decided eight years ago to eat a
three part lunch every day.
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2
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“Protein, something green, and some carbs*
to get me through the day,” she says. “I didn’t
research it much. I just said: “I’m going to put
these three things in a bowl. “
Her daily lunch consists of a microwavable rice
bowl, green vegetables (broccolini usually), and
tofu. It used to be tinned tuna before she went
vegetarian a few years ago: “Although it’s the
same basic three ingredients every day, there
is a pleasure to it.
Newton does not enjoy cooking. She enjoys
eating out. She says that having a substantial
lunch in the middle of the day, she can be more
imaginative in other meals.
Although she eats at her desk while working, the
few minutes she takes to put her dish together –
always at midday – has become a time to reset,
a time without demands or decisions.
‘It is good to be on autopilot’
“A lot has changed in my life,” says medical
researcher Sara Carrillo. Over the years she
has lived in Spain, the UK, Sydney and now
Melbourne. But her breakfast has remained
constant. Every day she has coffee with milk
and two slices of toast with butter and raspberry
jam: “That is the one thing I keep the same.”
Carrillo had to adapt her breakfast when she
moved between countries. The jam had to
change between the UK and Australia. The
butter and bread had to change, too. It is now
a wholemeal pane di casa: “Everything in this
country is sourdough, and I don’t like it.”
Carrillo says that when growing up in Spain, her
mother would rush her through breakfast. Now
she takes it slower – but there’s still a connection
to history. When her mother was growing up after
the war, it was natural that everyone would eat
the same meals day in, day out: “All this variety
that we have now is quite new.”
With this endless choice, having the same
breakfast each morning is, for Carrillo, about
waking up slowly.
“It’s almost like a meditation, really. Having that
extra time to yourself without having to think
about anything. “Sometimes it’s good to be
on autopilot.”
*carbs – short for carbohydrates
© Guardian News and Media 2021
First published in The Guardian, 29/04/2021
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Level: Intermediate
‘There is a pleasure to it’: the simple joy of eating the same meal every day
4
3 Find the information
a. Find information in the article to write under each of the categories in the box.
Names of the
three women
Anastasia Jane Sara
Where they live
Their jobs / professions
The meal
Where and when they
eat it
What the meal
consists of
Variations on the meal
Changes they have
made to their meal
and reasons for
these changes
The benefits they get
from eating the same
meal every day
Language – expressions and phrases
a. Match the basic forms of these multi-word phrases from the article to their meanings.
1. first thing
2. develop a love for (something)
3. eat out
4. remain constant
5. day in, day out
a. every day for a long time, especially in a way that is boring or unpleasant
b. not change; stay the same
c. find out gradually how much you like something
d. early in the morning, directly after you get up
e. have a meal in a restaurant or cafe

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Level: Intermediate
‘There is a pleasure to it’: the simple joy of eating the same meal every day
5
6
Discussion
a. Discuss these questions.
• What is your morning routine / how do you start most days?
• How would your life be better if you ate the same thing for lunch every day?
• When during the day do you try to make time for yourself? How do you do this?
In your own words
a. Write the ingredients for these two meals that you could eat every day for a year:
Breakfast
Lunch
b. Find and circle them in the article to read them again in context and to check your answers.
c. Use them to talk about the article.
d. Now use each one to talk about your own life.

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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
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Level: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
‘There is a pleasure to it’: the simple joy of eating the same meal every day
3. Find the information
a. Students find information in the article to
complete the box. They should start with the
three women’s surnames.
Key: (suggested answers)
1. Warmer
a. Students share their answers to these questions
which serve to introduce the topic of the article.
2. Key words
a. Students find words in the article that match the
definitions and write them on the lines provided.
Then they should find and highlight them in the
article to read them in context.
Key:
1. resist
2. variety
3. convenience
4. dough
5. ingredients
6. pleasure
7. substantial
8. reset
9. demands
10. adapt
b. Before reading the article carefully, students
use some of the key words to fill the gaps in the
sentences to ensure that they understand and
know how the words are used in other contexts.
Key:
1. conveniences
2. pleasure
3. demands
4. variety
5. ingredients
Article summary: How eating the same
things every day can benefit your life
Time: 90 minutes, plus extra time
for presentations
Skills: Reading, Speaking, Writing
Language focus: Vocabulary
Materials needed: One copy of the
worksheet per student
Names of
the three
women
Anastasia
Pollard
Jane Newton Sara Carrillo
Where they
live
In the UK Sydney, Australia Melbourne,
Australia
Their jobs /
professions
Portrait artist Curriculum
coordinator
Medical
researcher
The meal Breakfast Lunch Breakfast
Where and
when they
eat it
In her kitchen,
looking at the
garden as it
gets light. Early
morning while
it’s still dark
and alone (not
with her family)
At her desk
while working
(not specified)
What
the meal
consists of
Lavazza
coffee, toasted
home-made
wholemeal
seeded bead
with butter
Protein, greens,
and carbs.
Always the same
three things:
Microwavable
rice bowl, green
vegetables, and tofu
Coffee with
milk and two
slices of toast
with butter and
raspberry jam.
The toast is
made from a
wholemeal
pane di casa
Variations
on the meal
Honey if
she’s sick, or
jam if she’s
feeling ‘greedy’
She sometimes varies
the green vegetable.
(not specified)
Changes
they have
made
to their
meal and
reasons
for these
changes
She makes
her own
bread weekly
She used to include
tuna before she
turned vegetarian
a few years ago
She has had to
change jams
depending on
the country she
was living in.
Also the type
of butter and
bread has had
to change too
The benefits
they get from
eating the
same meal
every day
It helps
balances her
for the day
ahead. She
gets a pleasure
out of baking
and eating her
own bread.
The coffee
connects her
with her time
in Italy.
She doesn’t enjoy
cooking so the
simplicity of eating
and preparing the
same things every
day suits her and
gives her time
to reset’.
Her substantial but
simple meal helps
her make decisions
later in the day and
allows her to be more
imaginative in her
other meals.
It allows her
to wake up
slowly, she
says it’s like
a meditation
as it gives her
extra time to
herself in which
she doesn’t
have to think
about anything
or make
decisions.
She can be
on ‘autopilot’.

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Published by Macmillan Education Ltd. © Macmillan Education Limited, 2021.
Home >> Adults >> General English >> NEWS LESSONS
Level: Intermediate – Teacher’s notes
‘There is a pleasure to it’: the simple joy of eating the same meal every day
4. Language – expressions and phrases
a. Students match the basic forms of multi-word
phrases with their meanings.
Key:
1d, 2c, 3e, 4b, 5a
b. Next, they find them in the article to both read them
in context and to help check their answers.
c. They use them in sentences about the article.
d. Then they use them to talk about something relevant
to their own lives.
5. Discussion
a. Students discuss the questions that are directly
related to the topic of the article as well as to their
own work or home lives.
6. In your own words
a. Students work either on their own, with a partner or
in small groups.
They should come up with meals that fulfil the categories,
and that they could imagine eating every single day for
a year.
Have students share and talk about their suggestions and
allow the group to vote for their favourite combinations.
If your class is open to the idea, you can ask them to
experiment and eat the same breakfast or lunch every
day for a week. Then, have a class discussion about
the experience.