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Food & Drink

42 questions in this category

Q: What is added to wine to make Port?
A: Brandy

Q: Which food crop is attacked by the Colorado Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata)?
A: Potato

Q: What is the name of the clarified butter used in South Asian cooking?
A: Ghee

Q: Although now regulated by the EU and given a GI (Geographic Indicative Status), the illegal moonshine made in Ireland was know as what?
A: Poitín (also spelled Poteen)

Q: Black Velvet is a beer cocktail made out which two ingredients?
A: Guinness and champagne

Q: What cut of meat is used for Ossobuco alla Milanese?
A: Veal shanks

Q: Which small and pear-shaped fragrant citrus fruit native to Southeast Asia is used to flavour Early Grey tea?
A: Bergamot orange

Q: What's the name of the apple brandy traditionally made in Lower Normandy?
A: Calvados

Q: Demerara sugar is named after a river in which country?
A: Guyana

Q: What term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law (Sharia)?
A: Halal

Q: Slivovitz is made from what?
A: Damson plums

Q: Orange pekoe (or pecco) is a grade of what?
A: Tea

Q: Which food derives its name from the fact that it used to be cooked or baked twice?
A: Biscuit (from the French bis-cuit)

Q: What very popular food item was invented by Alexander Grant in Edinburgh in 1799 and promoted as aiding digestion as it contained bicarbonate of soda? (A variety covered with chocolate was described by writer Bill Bryson as a 'British masterpiece'.)
A: The digestive biscuit

Q: Which vegetable would you be eating if you ordered 'aloo' in an Indian restaurant?
A: Potato

Q: Which animal is the emblem of Bacardi rum?
A: Bat

Q: For curry lovers: what is Bombay duck?
A: A fish (Harpadon nehereus)

Q: Which common condiment has a name derived from the Malay word for 'sauce' or 'fish sauce'? Now it has one main ingredient to flavour it, but it used to be made with anchovies, mushrooms, walnuts, lobsters and even bananas.
A: Ketchup

Q: 'Shaken, not stirred'. Why do many connoisseurs believe shaking Martinis is a mistake?
A: Because it 'bruises' the gin

Q: What is 'Wild Turkey'?
A: A brand of Bourbon

Q: Who uses the slogan 'The champagne of beers'?
A: Miller

Q: When did the 'Cuba Libre' originate?
A: Just after the Spanish-American war (1900s)

Q: Why were sherry, port and vermouth originally fortified by the addition of brandy?
A: To help preserve them for transportation

Q: Where did the 'Fábrica de Cerveza de San Miguel' first open in 1890?
A: In Manila, The Philippines

Q: Give two synonyms for 'cencibel', the most common varietal in Valdepeñas.
A: Tempranillo and Tinto Fino

Q: If a distilled drink is 80 proof (US), what is its alcohol by volume?
A: 40%

Q: What are Crémant in France, Cap Classique in South Africa, Spumante in Italy, or Sekt in Germany?
A: Sparkling wines

Q: What is wrapped in bacon to make the dish "Angels on Horseback"?
A: An oyster

Q: What is added to gin to make a "pink gin"?
A: Angostura bitters

Q: What is Russian for 'little water'?
A: Vodka

Q: Where is Tabasco sauce made?
A: Avery Island, Louisiana, USA

Q: Which word, commonly used in English and other languages, is the Tamil word for 'sauce'?
A: Curry (Kari)

Q: What is a screwdriver cocktail made with?
A: Vodka and orange juice

Q: Who said during World War I, "Drink is doing us more damage than all the German submarines put together"?
A: Lloyd George
With thanks to Colin Hurst for correcting this question

Q: If a dish is a la Florentine, which ingredient is it assumed to have?
A: Spinach

Q: If, in a bar, you were given a Mickey Finn, what would you have?
A: A drugged drink

Q: What does VSOP on a brandy bottle stand for?
A: Very Superior Old Pale
With thanks to Shelley for correcting the answer to this question

Q: What is the purple ink to stamp meat normally made of ?
A: The skins of dark grapes

Q: Which restaurant chain owner said 'We're not in the hamburger business, we're in showbusiness'?
A: Ray Kroc, owner of MacDonald's

Q: What spirit is added to brandy to make a sidecar?
A: Cointreau or Triple Sec

Q: Who said, "One more drink and I'll be under the host"?
A: Dorothy Parker

Q: What's the name of the pan in which you make a Paella?
A: Paella, not 'paellera' which would in theory be a woman who makes paella. The full name of the dish is 'arroz a la paella', i.e. rice made in a paella.

We're a long way from the United States but Triskel is on Calle San Vicente Ferrer 3 (metro Tribunal) and holds its quizzes on Mondays at 10 pm. The quiz is usually on holiday over Christmas and New Year, Easter Monday, and mid-July to the beginning of September, but the bar is still open.

Questions compiled by Luis de Avendaño. Additional questions provided by Alex Carter, Antony Reid, Peter Moore, Antonio Vázquez, Declan Forde, Steve Owen and Clive Mendes. Please send corrections and amendments to These questions have all been used at the Moore's Irish Pub quiz (formerly O'Donnell's) and at Triskel. New questions are added at irregular intervals. However, if 42 food questions are not enough, we recommend you check TriviaBug.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica, The World Almanac and Book of Facts, Whitaker's Almanac, The Compact Edition of The Oxford English Dictionary, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Collins Gem Fact File, Diccionario Enciclopédico Espasa 1 and Wikipedia. Web hosting by pair Networks. This page layout was last updated on Monday, December 21^st, 2009 @ 11:40pm CET (Europe/Madrid).

Website designed and maintained by Luis de Avendaño and conforms to level Triple-A of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and to Section 508 standards. This website was first published on January 1^st, 1999 at www.avendano.org/quiz.