Dog, Plant, Bird, or French Pastry? Quiz

Answer: Dog

The Bouvier des Flandres is a large herding dog from Belgium with a thick curly coat (usually black or brown, though there are lighter variants). It was originally used for herding sheep and cattle, but is also used as a guard dog and police dog. US President Ronald Reagan had a pet Bouvier called Lucky; a Bouvier called Gretel was also featured on 'ER' as the pet dog of Dr Romano (who had one of the odder deaths in the series when a helicopter fell on him).

A Bouvier called Nic, considered to be the sire of the modern breed, was trained as a trench dog in the First World War.

Answer: Plant

Acanthus is a genus of flowering plants that grow in warm and tropical areas, such as the Mediterranean. One species, acanthus mollis, is known as 'bear's breeches' and 'oyster plant', and is characterised by white and purple flowers and toothed, spiny leaves, which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

It is an invasive species in western Europe and parts of Oceania and the Americas. The leaves of another species, acanthus ebracteatus, are used to make herbal tea in Thailand.

Answer: Bird

The garganey is a dabbling duck (i.e. a duck that sticks its head in the water and its tail in the air while feeding on the surface), mainly native to the Paleoarctic region of north Africa and a large portion of Eurasia. Its breeding habitat is grassland near marshes and steppe lakes, and it migrates to Oceania, Bangladesh, India and southern Africa during winter. Garganeys have brown and black plumage, and the males are characterised by white crescent-shaped markings on their faces.

Answer: French pastry

A gibassier is a galette, a flat pastry cake, that comes from Provence and is made with olive oil. It has a twisted shape and contains holes, and is flavoured with anise, orange flower water and candied orange peel. It uses olive oil instead of butter as olive oil is more plentiful in Provence, and keeps the gibassier moist for longer.

A similar pastry, the pompe à l'huile, is consumed at Christmas as one of the thirteen desserts representing Jesus and the Apostles.

Answer: Bird

The ortolan, or ortolan bunting, is not a French pastry - but it is consumed in France. A tiny bird with a greenish-grey plumage, it is cooked and eaten whole, and diners traditionally cover their heads with napkins; this may be to allow the diner to spit out the bones without being seen, though some believe that the napkin is used to hide the diner from G-d's eyes, because of the sheer decadence of the act. Barrels filled with pickled and spiced ortolans would be exported from Cyprus in the early 20th century.

In the 2000s, after pressure from the European Union, the French government began to crack down on the killing and eating of ortolans in an effort to increase numbers.

Answer: Dog

'Barbe' is French for 'beard' and fittingly, the barbet gets its name from its hairy face. It is a medium-sized French water dog with a curly, shaggy coat that is usually grey, black, reddish-brown or gold, and bears a few similarities to the Irish water spaniel and the German poodle.

It dates back to the 16th century and was originally used to hunt waterfowl, and possibly to retrieve arrows as well. A rare breed, its thick coat needs a lot of care.

Answer: French pastry

A kouign-amann is a Breton pastry or 'kouign' made with laminated dough, which consists of multiple thin layers of dough separated by butter ('amann') and folded repeatedly (think croissants). The butter helps to expand the dough. It was originally made with bread dough, layered with butter and sugar, and is baked slowly until the sugar has caramelised.

The kouignette is a smaller variant that can be shaped like a cupcake or muffin.

Answer: Plant

If you've been to Hawai'i, you'll probably be familiar with the plumeria (aka frangipani or melia), although these flowers are not native to the islands; they're actually originally from Mexico and were introduced to Hawai'i by the German botanist Dr William Hillebrand.

They have flowers with five chunky petals, in colours from hot pink to white, and grow in warm climates. There are multiple varieties in the Plumeria Gardens on Maui and the flowers are often used to make lei. In parts of southeast Asia, plumeria are considered to be sacred, and the white plumeria alba is the national flower of Laos.

Answer: Dog

The Grand Bleu de Gascogne is a big French scenthound, with the characteristic floppy ears and big sad eyes. It shares ancestors with the St Hubert hound (which would later become the bloodhound) and has a mottled black and white coat with a bluish tinge, and black ears.

As its name suggests, it comes from the Gascony region and dates back to the 14th century; it was used as a hunting dog, hunting bears, wild boar and wolves, and worked in packs. It was introduced to the US in the 18th century.

Answer: Plant

Mignonette is a name for plants in the genus Reseda, a genus of sweet-smelling herbaceous plants. The flowers are arranged in a spike and can be orange, yellow, white or green, and the leaves grow around the stem in a spiral. Mignonette can be used in potpourri or perfume; Victorians living in cities grew it so that its sweet smell would counter the stench of the city air, while the Romans used it as a sedative. One variant, Reseda luteola, was also used as a yellow dye, hence its nickname of 'dyer's weed'.

Answer: French pastry

The canelé is a pastry from Bordeaux that is flavoured with rum and vanilla, shaped like a creme caramel (it is traditionally made using a fluted mould greased with beeswax or butter) and filled with custard. It also has a caramelised crust. It is thought to have started as a type of eggy bread called canaule, before an unknown chef added vanilla and rum to the recipe in the 20th century. Singaporean-Indonesian YouTuber and baker Cheryll Cassia Walla has popularised canelé variants with a matcha filling, as well as chocolate canelés and red velvet canelés with cream cheese filling, in Singapore.

Answer: Bird

The serin is a finch of the genus Serinus, with yellow plumage; some species are entirely yellow, while others have a mixture of feathers (usually yellow and brown). Many Serinus subspecies are indigenous to the Levant or eastern and southern Africa, although the European serin can also be found in southern and central Europe.

The name 'serin' is thought to come from the Latin 'citrinus', meaning 'lemon-coloured'. They live on seeds and buds, with the odd insect.