Food and drink trivia questions and answers
30 food and drink trivia questions with the answers and a fact for each: dishes and where they come from, ingredients, desserts, kitchen terms and a few things to raise a glass to. Read them as a quiz for yourself, use them for a pub quiz round, or press the button and play a Food round live with everyone answering on their own phone.
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The 30 food and drink quiz questions
- 1
Which spirit is made from the blue agave plant?
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BTequila
By law it can only be called tequila if it's made in certain parts of Mexico, mostly the state of Jalisco. The plant takes about seven years to mature.
- 2
The name of which pasta means 'little worms' in Italian?
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BVermicelli
Spaghetti means 'little strings', linguine 'little tongues' and farfalle 'butterflies'.
- 3
Which cheese is traditionally used on a Margherita pizza?
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AMozzarella
Legend says it was made for Queen Margherita in 1889, its tomato, mozzarella and basil matching the Italian flag.
- 4
Tacos, tortillas and guacamole come from which country's cuisine?
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BMexico
The word guacamole comes from the Aztec language Nahuatl: 'ahuacatl' for avocado and 'molli' for sauce.
- 5
Tabasco sauce is made in which US state?
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BLouisiana
It's been made by the McIlhenny family on Avery Island since 1868. The peppers are aged in oak barrels for up to three years.
- 6
A crème brûlée is topped with a crisp layer of what?
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DCaramelised sugar
The name means 'burnt cream'. The sugar is torched into a sheet of glass, which is what gives you the satisfying crack with the spoon.
- 7Desserts
Which cheese goes into a traditional tiramisu?
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BMascarpone
Tiramisù means 'pick me up' — the espresso does the lifting.
- 8
Which nut is used to make marzipan?
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BAlmond
Ground almonds plus sugar — that's essentially it.
- 9
Which spice gives curry powder its yellow colour?
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BTurmeric
Turmeric is a root, a close relative of ginger. Its colour is so strong it's used as a food dye in mustard and cheese.
- 10
The Hawaiian pizza, topped with ham and pineapple, was invented in which country?
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BCanada
Greek-born Sam Panopoulos created it in Ontario in 1962 and named it after the brand of tinned pineapple. Iceland's president once joked that he'd ban it.
- 11
Which crunchy Italian treat takes its name from the words for 'twice baked'?
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CBiscotti
They're baked once as a log, sliced, then baked again to dry out, which is why they keep for months and are made for dunking in coffee or sweet wine.
- 12
Raisins are made by drying which fruit?
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DGrapes
Dried plums are prunes. It takes roughly four pounds of grapes to make one pound of raisins.
- 13Cuisine
The margherita pizza's toppings represent what?
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BThe Italian flag
Tomato, mozzarella and basil — named for Queen Margherita in 1889.
- 14
Moussaka, a baked dish of aubergine and minced meat, is a national favourite of which country?
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CGreece
The creamy bechamel topping was added in the 1920s by chef Nikolaos Tselementes, who wanted to give Greek cooking a French polish.
- 15Drinks
What is the base spirit of a mojito?
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BWhite rum
Cuba's gift: rum, lime, mint, sugar, soda.
- 16
Kimchi, a spicy dish of fermented vegetables, comes from which country?
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DSouth Korea
It's usually made with napa cabbage and chilli. Koreans say 'kimchi' rather than 'cheese' when posing for photos.
- 17
Which fruit is the main ingredient in guacamole?
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BAvocado
The name comes from the Aztec 'ahuacamolli' — literally 'avocado sauce'.
- 18
Which fast-food chain is known for its 'Golden Arches'?
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AMcDonald's
The arches began as a piece of architecture — two yellow arches holding up the roof of a 1953 restaurant in Arizona — before becoming the logo.
- 19
Which nut is a traditional ingredient of pesto?
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DPine nut
Classic pesto alla genovese is basil, pine nuts, garlic, Parmesan, pecorino and olive oil, pounded in a mortar — 'pestare' means to crush.
- 20
Which ingredient makes bread dough rise?
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CYeast
Yeast is a living fungus. It feeds on the sugars in the dough and gives off carbon dioxide, which is what puffs up the loaf.
- 21Cheers
A magnum of champagne holds the equivalent of how many standard bottles?
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ATwo
Two bottles. A jeroboam is four. Cheers!
- 22
Paella is a traditional rice dish from which country?
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DSpain
It comes from Valencia, and the word is simply the name of the wide, shallow pan it's cooked in.
- 23
Sangria, a punch of red wine and chopped fruit, comes from which country?
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CSpain
The name comes from 'sangre', the Spanish for blood, after its colour. Under EU rules a drink can only be labelled sangria if it's made in Spain or Portugal.
- 24
Which Italian dish is made of flat sheets of pasta layered with sauce and cheese?
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CLasagne
The name is usually traced back to a Greek and Latin word for a cooking pot; it referred to the dish before it referred to the food.
- 25Ingredients
What is the most expensive spice in the world by weight?
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BSaffron
It takes around 150 crocus flowers to make a single gram.
- 26Terms
Pasta cooked 'al dente' is…?
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BFirm to the bite
Literally 'to the tooth' in Italian.
- 27
Which cheese is the main ingredient of a traditional Greek salad?
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BFeta
Feta must be made in Greece from sheep's milk, or a mix with goat's, to use the name in the EU. The word comes from the Italian for 'slice'.
- 28
Tofu is made from which bean?
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BSoybean
Soy milk is curdled and pressed, much like making cheese. Tofu has been eaten in China for around 2,000 years.
- 29Botany
Botanically speaking, which of these is a berry?
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BBanana
Strawberries aren't berries; bananas are. Botany is chaos.
- 30
Sushi originally comes from which country?
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AJapan
It began as a way of preserving fish in fermented rice; for centuries the rice was thrown away and only the fish eaten.
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Food and drink quiz FAQ
Can I use these food and drink trivia questions for my own quiz night?
That is what the page is for. Read them out at a pub quiz, paste them into a work quiz or a family quiz night, and keep the answers hidden until the table has committed. If you would rather not keep score by hand, the button on this page runs a Food round on everyone's phones.
Are the answers on the page?
Yes. Every question has a "Show the answer" toggle with the right option and a one-line fact, so you can quiz yourself first or read straight through with the answers open.
How do I play a Food quiz round live?
Press "Play a Food round". It opens the host page with the Food category already picked. The room shows a join code, everyone else opens huddlequiz.com/join on their phone and types it, and ten questions later there is a winner on the board. No accounts and nothing to install.
Will the live game ask the same questions?
Some of them. The game draws at random from a bigger Food pool, of which this page is a sample, so a live round mixes questions you have read here with ones you have not.
How hard are they?
Mixed. They are written for adults and teenagers at pub-quiz level, so a table of four should get most of them between them and argue about the rest.