Trivia Thursday: 20 questions on food

Welcome to Trivia Thursday, Expat Living’s weekly 20-question quiz where you get the chance to test out your grey matter! Or how about challenging a friend or family member to see who gets the most questions right? Each week, we’ll put together a new quiz, covering trivia topics relating to pop culture, geography, history, language and more.

Once you’ve tackled the 20 questions, scroll down to see the answers and find out how you scored. Good luck!

This week’s topic: FOOD

#1 What does nasi goreng mean in English?

#2 Prunes and bacon go together to form which popular starter dish or hors d’oeuvres?

#3 What is widely considered to be the most expensive spice in the world?

#4 Which country is famous for goulash?

#5 What’s the reason for the strawberry not technically being considered a berry?

#6 What vegetable would you find in the Greek dish spanakopita?

#7 What is the scale (measured in “units”) used to measure the heat/spiciness of chillies or peppers? 

#8 Which fruit, named after the Malay word for “thorn”, has been described as smelling like Limburger cheese (among other things!)?

#9 Which popular snack is named after an 18th-century British earl?

#10 The first item ever to be heated in a microwave was: an egg, a cup of tea, or popcorn? 

#11 What is the main ingredient in kaya, the jam that is widely eaten (on toast) in Singapore? 

#12 Which country does the pickled vegetable dish of kimchi come from?

#13 A common kitchen activity involving which food can cause the chemical irritant known as syn-propanethial-S-oxide to stimulate a person’s lachrymal glands?

#14 What food item is the most ordered in the US: pizza, fried chicken or cheeseburgers?

#15 What type of meat would you find in a cottage pie?

#16 Which two bordering countries claim that they invented French fries?

#17 Clarified butter is better known as which ingredient in Indian cooking?

#18 What is known as the “fifth taste”, after sweetness, saltiness, sourness and bitterness?

#19 The superfood berry açai is native to which country?

#20 What is the technical name for the white part of the egg?

All the answers (no cheating!)

#1 Fried rice
#2 Devils on Horseback
#3 Saffron
#4 Hungary
#5 It’s seeds are on the outside rather than the inside
#6 Spinach
#7 Scoville
#8 Durian
#9 Sandwich
#10 Popcorn
#11 Coconut
#12 Korea
#13 Onions (the activity described is chopping them)
#14 Fried chicken
#15 Beef
#16 France and Belgium
#17 Ghee
#18 Umami
#19 Brazil
#20 Albumen

Want to see last week’s Trivia Thursday quiz? Click here.

Shamus Sillar

While he has worked as a magazine editor since 2003, Shamus also has a PhD in Roman History (useful!) and is a published author. He writes mostly on travel but also covers food, history, sport, trivia and more, across Expat Living’s publications and websites in Singapore and Hong Kong.