Adapted from The Guardian Feb 2015 By Julian Baggini

Use the word given in capitals at the end of some of the lines to form a word that fits
in the gap in the same line. There is an example at the beginning (0).

I’m in Lisbon listening to some live fado, the Portuguese folk music that (0)expresses (0) EXPRESSION
the sorrows and yearnings of ordinary people. Among these songs of love and loss is a hymn
to the joys of Pastéis de Belém, the original version of the most traditional cake in Portugal,
the pastel de nata, or custard tart. “Served with cinnamon or just as it is,” sings the lyricist
Leonel Moura, “This beautiful (1) ________ has no equal in the world.” (1) DELICATE

It’s hard to imagine the British custard tart inspiring such passion. You can find the
Portuguese version across the UK of course, but I wondered if we had a (2) ________ home- (2) WORTH
grown opponent. I couldn’t find any in my local independents. Not even Greggs, the biggest
baker in the country, stocks the British custard tart.

In Portugal, pastéis are found on every street corner. Their home, however, is the
(3) ________ in Lisbon’s Belém district, which bears the name of the tart immortalised in the (3) BAKE
fado song. Pastéis de Belém, a family-owned business, has been making the tarts since 1837
and serves up to 50,000 a day in peak season. These are reputed to be the world’s best. They
are distinguished from other pastéis de nata by their slightly salty and extremely crisp puff
pastry – partly from being baked at 400C – and the custard, made only with milk, not cream,
which is less sweet. “Here in Portugal, almost every (4) ___________ cake we have was (4) TRADITION
invented by a monk,” manager Miguel Clarinha tells me. One such brother, from the
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Belém, sold the recipe for their tarts after the monasteries were
closed by the state in 1834. The buyer started making the cakes and they haven’t stopped
baking since.

Lisboa Patisserie in west London, which opened in 1995 and claims to be the first
Portuguese pastelaria in London, is just one of the (5) ________ bakeries that helped (5) SEVEN
popularise pastéis de nata in Britain. There are now many fine UK examples, but those at
Portuguese Taste, a modest stall in Bristol’s St Nicholas’s Market, are declared superior to
those in Belém by many expats. Owner and cook Maria Papanca’s pastry is light and crisp
and her filling beautifully smooth. She also has a secret, which “is the way you make the
cream – this I don’t tell anybody”. Yet, (6) ________, she achieves her excellent results using (6) SURPRISE
supermarket puff pastry, the only way to make production practical in her small market
space.

In this custard tart fight, the British are taking a pasting. Yet ours have survived
through the ages, too. According to the EU’s inventory of national foods, they (7) ________ (7) ORIGIN
in East Anglia and versions were made as early as medieval times. British tarts use the less
flavoursome short-crust pastry, which doesn’t provide as much textural contrast with the
smooth custard. They are also topped with nutmeg, which (8) ________ to bring the custard (8) FAILURE
alive as Portugal’s cinnamon does. Worse, they are now almost all mass-produced with palm
oil-based pastry.

Chef Marcus Wareing has gone some way to reviving the English classic, with a
recipe for an egg-enriched pastry, (9) ________ to a French pâte sucrée. But the best I’ve (9) SIMILARITY
had are made by Laura Hart in her bakery under the arches at Bristol Temple Meads station.
She too has her secrets but her basic formula is not complicated. She uses a puff pastry, with
a cinnamon dusting rolled in at the end. Unlike a traditional English tart, cooked gently, hers
are blasted at 200C, making the custard boil. The result is a wonderfully smooth, (10) _____ (10) CREAM
filling with a slightly burned top similar to the Portuguese varieties, and a good crisp case.

So who would win a custard tart fight? If it were a team sport, the Portuguese would
thrash us. But in a one-on-one, I’d back Laura Hart to defeat all-comers. This is one contest,
however, you’d be well (11) __________ to judge for yourself. (11) ADVICE
 Bakery Debate
You are a board member of Bev’s Bakery and have been summoned to attend
an urgent meeting regarding the latest controversy surrounding the custard tart
debate. Read the memo below and, using your personality card on the next
page as your motivation, debate what you think should be done.

Memo BEV’S BAKERY

To: Board Members
From: Ivan Ishoo
Date: 04/01/18
Re: Custard Tarts

Dear Board Members,

As you may all know from the media, there is an ongoing campaign by a consumer
organization relating to our decision to stock pastéis de nata but not the traditional custard tart.
Their campaign, accusing us of being unpatriotic by stocking the Portuguese version of the humble
custard tart has been a surprising success on their part and has led to many of our customers
boycotting our outlets. This has started to affect our revenues, although at rather a low level.
However, even though the effect, at the present time, is minimal, the long-term results, if the
campaign were to gain momentum, could be disastrous in such a crowded market.
As such, I would like to discuss the pros and cons of bringing back the British custard tart to
our outlets and whether or not this would be feasible in today’s economic climate. We also need to
discuss just who should make them and how. Clearly people seem to prefer the Portuguese version
more but research suggests this is because of the more natural taste intrinsic to the recipe. This
raises the question of quality and customer awareness. The market is changing along with the tastes
of our customers. Would we be fighting a losing battle if we were to up our game and begin to
produce high-end custard tarts? The ball is in your court.
I look forward to seeing you all at next week’s little gathering.
Warmest regards
Ivan Ishoo

Connect each of the words on the right with its definition on the left.

1. ongoing a. to have available

2. to stock b. to improve one’s performance

3. humble c. to reject, avoid or impose an embargo

4. to boycott d. essential

5. outlet e. possible to do

6. feasible f. currently happening or continuing

7. intrinsic g. point of sale to the public, branch

8. to up one’s game h. modest

 Custard Tart Debate: Personality Cards
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. You think that the
company should listen to its customers
and bring back the British custard tart. In
fact, you have a secret family recipe that
uses cinnamon instead of nutmeg that
your Portuguese friends love. You would
really like the company to use this recipe.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. You are from a
Portuguese family with an important tart
factory in Lisbon that exports directly to
Bev’s Bakery. You think the British version
is disappointing and far too inferior to sell
in the company’s outlets. Besides, you are
making a lot of money in the family
business at the moment.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. You see no problem
with stocking both types of custard tart. In
fact, you love these tarts so much that you
have one of each for breakfast every
morning. However, the most important
thing to you is the continuing success of
the company and its profits.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. You think that the use
of palm oil in the mass production of food
is a disgrace and needs to be eradicated
from the modern food processing
industry. You are fine with the company
bringing back the British custard tart as
long as it doesn’t use palm oil.
CHOOSE ONE OF THE PERSONALITY CARDS ABOVE AND THEN USE THIS AS
YOUR MOTIVATION DURING THE ROLE-PLAY.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. When you were a
child, you ate too many custard tarts at a
birthday party and were really, really sick
for a whole day. You have never been able
to stand custard tarts ever since that day.
Even the Portuguese version is disgusting
to you. You prefer not to sell any variety.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. On a recent trip to
Portugal you ate way too many pastéis de
nata and were very sick. You can’t even
look at a picture of one without feeling ill.
You prefer the British version as it isn’t so
heavy on the stomach. Besides, you are
very patriotic and believe it is the duty of
the company to uphold British traditions.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have only been with the
company for a short time. However,
unknown to everybody else in the
company, you are a secret member of the
consumer group that has been protesting
against the exclusion of the British custard
tart from the company’s outlets. You have
been paid by this group to help bring back
the British custard tart to the high street.
You are a leading shareholder in Bev’s
Bakery and have been with the company
from the beginning. You are also a vegan
and think that both tarts can be produced
using substitutes for egg. In fact, you are
a leading member of The Vegan Institute,
a national association, and regularly
campaign for the promotion of a vegan
diet. You are very vocal on this point.
 Answers
I’m in Lisbon listening to some live fado, the Portuguese folk music that (0)expresses (0) EXPRESSION
the sorrows and yearnings of ordinary people. Among these songs of love and loss is a hymn
to the joys of Pastéis de Belém, the original version of the most traditional cake in Portugal,
the pastel de nata, or custard tart. “Served with cinnamon or just as it is,” sings the lyricist
Leonel Moura, “This beautiful (1) delicacy has no equal in the world.” (1) DELICATE

It’s hard to imagine the British custard tart inspiring such passion. You can find the
Portuguese version across the UK of course, but I wondered if we had a (2) worthy home- (2) WORTH
grown opponent. I couldn’t find any in my local independents. Not even Greggs, the biggest
baker in the country, stocks the British custard tart.

In Portugal, pastéis are found on every street corner. Their home, however, is the
(3)bakery/baker’s in Lisbon’s Belém district, which bears the name of the tart immortalised (3) BAKE
in the fado song. Pastéis de Belém, a family-owned business, has been making the tarts since
1837 and serves up to 50,000 a day in peak season. These are reputed to be the world’s
best. They are distinguished from other pastéis de nata by their slightly salty and extremely
crisp puff pastry – partly from being baked at 400C – and the custard, made only with milk,
not cream, which is less sweet. “Here in Portugal, almost every (4) traditional cake we have (4) TRADITION
was invented by a monk,” manager Miguel Clarinha tells me. One such brother, from the
Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Belém, sold the recipe for their tarts after the monasteries were
closed by the state in 1834. The buyer started making the cakes and they haven’t stopped
baking since.

Lisboa Patisserie in west London, which opened in 1995 and claims to be the first
Portuguese pastelaria in London, is just one of the (5) several bakeries that helped (5) SEVEN
popularise pastéis de nata in Britain. There are now many fine UK examples, but those at
Portuguese Taste, a modest stall in Bristol’s St Nicholas’s Market, are declared superior to
those in Belém by many expats. Owner and cook Maria Papanca’s pastry is light and crisp
and her filling beautifully smooth. She also has a secret, which “is the way you make the
cream – this I don’t tell anybody”. Yet, (6) surprisingly, she achieves her excellent results (6) SURPRISE
using supermarket puff pastry, the only way to make production practical in her small
market space.

In this custard tart fight, the British are taking a pasting. Yet ours have survived
through the ages, too. According to the EU’s inventory of national foods, they (7) originated (7) ORIGIN
in East Anglia and versions were made as early as medieval times. British tarts use the less
flavoursome short-crust pastry, which doesn’t provide as much textural contrast with the
smooth custard. They are also topped with nutmeg, which (8) fails to bring the custard alive (8) FAILURE
as Portugal’s cinnamon does. Worse, they are now almost all mass-produced with palm oil-
based pastry.

Chef Marcus Wareing has gone some way to reviving the English classic, with a
recipe for an egg-enriched pastry, (9) similar to a French pâte sucrée. But the best I’ve had (9) SIMILARITY
are made by Laura Hart in her bakery under the arches at Bristol Temple Meads station. She
too has her secrets but her basic formula is not complicated. She uses a puff pastry, with a
cinnamon dusting rolled in at the end. Unlike a traditional English tart, cooked gently, hers
are blasted at 200C, making the custard boil. The result is a wonderfully smooth, (10)creamy (10) CREAM
filling with a slightly burned top similar to the Portuguese varieties, and a good crisp case.

So who would win a custard tart fight? If it were a team sport, the Portuguese would
thrash us. But in a one-on-one, I’d back Laura Hart to defeat all-comers. This is one contest,
(11) ADVICE
however, you’d be well (11) advised to judge for yourself.