GT Writing Task 2 / Essay Sample # 214
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
The rise of convenience foods has helped people keep up with the speed of the modern lifestyle.
What are the advantages of this trend? Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantage?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
Model Answer:
The emergence of tertiary processed foods has become quite handy for modern citizens to adapt themselves to the hectic pace of life. Although this trend confers some benefits, drawbacks related to it are also very severe. In this writer’s opinion, the disadvantages it has far outstrip its advantages.
Convenience foods offer several benefits. To commence with, these processed foods save kitchen time for modern people. Most convenience foods, in simple words, take hardly less than a few minutes to be cooked and served. Apart from this, they are very often prepared before being consumed and can be eaten at any time, quickly and easily by heating or thawing the food. What is more, they are cheap, have almost no leftover, and do not produce dirty dishes, which is very convenient as a whole. In this modern lifestyle, thus, relying on convenience foods has provided people with some much-needed respite.
Despite some definite advantages, tertiary processed foods have severe health issues. They very often include an unhealthy amount of added sugar, salt, and trans fat. These ingredients make the food we consume taste better, but results in serious health problems such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity to mention but a few. Besides, most of these processed foods lack proper nutrients. Consequently, they do not help boost the body’s immunity to disease. On top of that, regular intake of convenience food promotes ageing and kidney damage as they include genetically engineered ingredients and phosphates.
In conclusion, convenience foods confer both advantages and disadvantage. However, considering the health complexities they create, modern people should rely less on such foods and prepare more healthy and nutrient-rich foods for themselves and their family.