Twenty food questions, from where famous dishes really come from to the science of taste, each with three answers and the story behind the right one. Play them as a quiz, or read the list with the answers marked.
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The same questions as the quiz, right answer highlighted and the fact under it. Print the page for a quiz night: the print layout keeps the questions and answers only. The Food topic in Lock&Learn holds 127 facts in all.
Which food can last thousands of years?
Honey can stay good for thousands of years. Its low moisture and high acidity keep bacteria from growing, so sealed honey resists spoiling. Pots found in ancient Egyptian tombs are often cited as still preserved.
Source: Smithsonian
Which is the real berry, banana or strawberry?
Bananas are berries but strawberries aren't. Botanically, a berry grows from one flower with one ovary: bananas qualify, strawberries don't.
Source: Britannica
What colour were the first carrots?
Carrots were originally purple. Orange carrots were popularized by Dutch growers in the 17th century; before that, most were purple, white or yellow.
Source: Britannica
What's really in your sushi's green paste?
Your 'wasabi' is almost certainly dyed horseradish. Real wasabi is expensive and loses its punch within minutes of grating, so most restaurants serve horseradish, mustard and green dye.
Source: The Washington Post
Is white chocolate really chocolate?
White chocolate contains no cocoa solids. It's made from cocoa butter, milk and sugar. The parts of the bean that give chocolate its colour and flavour are missing.
Source: FDA definition
Why do apples bob in water?
Apples float because part of them is air. Air trapped between an apple's cells makes it less dense than water, which is why apple-bobbing works and ripe apples don't sink.
Source: Food science
What are peanuts, botanically speaking?
Peanuts aren't nuts, they're legumes. Peanuts grow underground in pods, making them cousins of beans and lentils, not almonds or walnuts.
Source: Britannica
How do farmers test if cranberries are good?
Ripe cranberries bounce like rubber balls. Air chambers inside make fresh cranberries bounce. Growers have used 'bounce tests' to sort them for over a century.
Source: Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association
How long does one pineapple take to grow?
A pineapple takes about two years to grow. Each plant produces just one fruit at a time, and it needs 18-24 months to reach your fruit bowl.
Source: Britannica
What sense actually detects chili heat?
Spicy isn't a taste, it's pain. Capsaicin triggers the same nerve receptors that detect heat and pain, which is why 'hot' food feels hot.
Source: Nature
What's the most shoplifted food on Earth?
Cheese is the most stolen food in the world. Studies of retail crime found around 4% of cheese ends up stolen, much of it resold on black markets.
Source: Centre for Retail Research
Which spice costs more than silver by weight, after saffron?
Vanilla is the world's second-most expensive spice. Each vanilla orchid flower must be hand-pollinated within hours of opening, one reason real vanilla costs so much.
Source: Britannica
Who invented the popsicle?
The popsicle was invented by an 11-year-old, by accident. In 1905, Frank Epperson left a cup of soda with a stirring stick outside overnight. It froze, and he patented 'the Epsicle' years later.
Source: Smithsonian
What was the first food grown and eaten in orbit?
Astronauts ate their first space-grown lettuce in 2015. NASA's Veggie experiment on the space station grew red romaine lettuce that the crew harvested and tasted in August 2015, the first crop they were cleared to eat in orbit.
Source: NASA
How much of a watermelon is actually water?
Watermelon is about 92% water. It's one of the most hydrating foods you can eat, and botanically, it's a berry too.
Source: USDA
Which everyday vegetables are secretly the same plant?
Cabbage, broccoli and kale are all one species. Cabbage, broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts are all Brassica oleracea, bred from a single wild plant to swell different parts: leaves, buds or stems.
Source: Kew Royal Botanic Gardens
What does a seared steak share with an ancient bog mummy?
The reaction that browns a steak also tans bog bodies. The Maillard reaction that browns seared meat and toast is the same chemistry that darkens and preserves the skin of ancient bodies pulled from peat bogs.
Source: Wikipedia
Which food for a billion people can paralyse you if mishandled?
A staple root can cause paralysis if it's prepared wrong. Cassava feeds a billion people, but raw or badly processed roots carry compounds that release cyanide and can trigger a paralysing illness called konzo.
Source: Wikipedia
Why did ancient cultures soak their corn in lime?
Soaking corn in lime unlocks a vitamin trapped inside. Ancient Mesoamericans soaked maize in lime to free its niacin. Cultures that later ate corn without this step often fell ill with pellagra.
Source: Wikipedia
Where else besides your mouth can you 'taste'?
You have bitter taste receptors in your lungs. The same receptors that taste bitterness sit in your airways too. When triggered, they relax the airways, perhaps to help flush out an infection.
Source: Wikipedia
This page has 20, each with three answers and the fact that settles it. They are the first 20 of the 127 facts in the Food topic of Lock&Learn, which holds the rest.
Yes. Read them out, print the page (the right answers are marked) or play the quiz on a shared screen. Each question has one right answer and two plausible wrong ones, and the fact under it gives you something to say after the reveal. Please do not republish the questions elsewhere.
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