Aussie Tucker Part 2 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tim Tams

ANZAC biscuits, Melting Moments and Granitas are all popular Aussie biscuits but the Tim Tam is the one that can be used as a straw. A Tim Tam consists of two malt-based biscuits sandwiched with a cream filling and coated in chocolate. They come in a variety of flavours. A popular way to eat them is via the following procedure, known as the Tim Tam Slam!

1. Bite off one of the corners
2. Bite off the diagonally opposite corner
3. Dunk one end of the biscuit in a hot drink such as tea or coffee
4. Suck the liquid up through the biscuit.

After that, the trick is to slam the biscuit in your mouth before it disintegrates and drops back into your hot drink. This can happen a lot quicker than you think!

The Tim Tam was named after an American racehorse of the same name that won the Kentucky Derby in 1958.

Answer: Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay Bugs are small and delicious lobsters. Their proper name is the Bay Lobster but they are more commonly known as Moreton Bay Bugs, whether they come from Moreton Bay or not. They can be found all around the northern half of Australia, from northern New South Wales to Shark Bay in Western Australia. They are typically one of the more expensive items on a restaurant menu.

Byron Bay is in New South Wales, Wineglass Bay is in Tasmania and Lucky Bay is in Western Australia.

Answer: Chiko

Chiko Rolls are very similar to the Chinese spring roll but much bigger. They were invented in 1951 by Frank McEncroe, a Victorian, and were initially named Chicken Rolls, despite having no chicken in them. According to the Chiko Roll website, the principal ingredients are beef (4%), cabbage, carrot, celery, onion, green beans, wheat flour, soy, cooked barley, water, and canola oil.

They are delicious but are not a healthy food, being 25% fat. They come in a bag - no plate or cutlery required - because they were designed to be eaten as fast food at football matches.

Answer: a type of sea perch (fish)

A barramundi is a native Australian fish commonly found along the northern coast and inland rivers in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, as well as south-east Asia. It is a type of sea perch and overseas it is known by a variety of other names, including Asian sea bass or the Giant sea perch.

However, it is mostly known as barramundi in Australia since market researchers found that the Australian consumer reacted positively to this name. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word (from the Gangulu people of Queensland) meaning "large scaled river fish".

It is a very popular item on restaurant menus in Australia. The name is also incorrectly applied to a number of other fish species.

Answer: fairy bread

Fairy bread is standard fare at a children's party in Australia. It consists of a single slice of buttered white bread sprinkled with "hundreds and thousands" and typically cut into four triangles. Hundreds and thousands are very small, multi-coloured balls of sugar candy.

Their name alludes to the fact that they are so small and numerous, they are not able to be counted. In other parts of the world they are known as nonpareils, sprinkles or jimmies.

Answer: Milo

Milo is a granulated flavouring for milk made by Nestle. It was invented in New South Wales, Australia, in 1934. Milo is a chocolate-flavoured product made of skim milk powder, cocoa and malt barley. Not only is it delicious but it is somewhat nutritious too as it contains six vitamins (B2, B3, B6, B12, C & D) and three minerals (calcium, iron & phosphorus). One of the challenges of being an Australian child was to see just how big of a teaspoonful you could lift out of the tin when your mother said you could only put ONE in your milk. (My record is three tablespoons heaped onto one teaspoon).

Milo was named after a legendary ancient Greek athlete, Milo of Croton. The advertising slogan was, "It's marvellous what a difference Milo makes", the name and the slogan implying that Milo gave one strength.

In the days of my youth, when corporal punishment was allowed in schools, one of my teachers kept a big stick in his room which he called Milo because, of course, "it's marvellous what a difference Milo makes" to classroom discipline. Thankfully I never tasted that particular brand of Milo.

Interestingly, Milo, Ovaltine, Nesquik and Sustagen are all made by Nestle.

Answer: Cherry Ripe

The Cherry Ripe is Australia's oldest AND best-selling chocolate bar (according to the Food and Beverage Industry newsletter). It was invented in 1924 by MacRobertson's Confectionary and is now made by Cadbury since Cadbury took over MacRobertson's in 1967. It consists of a soft filling of cherries and coconut, coated with dark chocolate. Definitely my favourite!

Crunchies and Violet Crumbles are chocolate-coated honeycomb bars, while Bounties have a soft, moist coconut filling surrounded by chocolate.

Answer: Fantales

Fantales were chewy caramel toffees coated in chocolate made by Allen's, a Melbourne-based confectionary company. Their gimmick was movie trivia printed on the wrappers so no wonder that they were particularly popular with movie-goers. Unfortunately due to a significant decline in popularity over the years, they were discontinued in June 2023.

Not long after Fantales were discontinued, Allens also discontinued Jaffas, orange-flavoured chocolate balls with a red candy coating. They were also popular with movie-goers, not for eating, but for rolling down the aisles of the cinemas. When I was young, kids (particularly boys) would roll them down the sloping wooden floors where they made a splendid racket. Personally, I thought it was a dreadful waste of good lollies (candy).

Answer: frog

Freddo Frogs are small chocolate bars made in the shape of a cartoon frog. They were created 1930 by Harry Melbourne, an employee of MacRobertson's Confectionery, in Victoria. They are now made by Cadbury, which took over MacRobertson's in 1967. The company originally considered a mouse theme but Harry Melbourne felt that women and children might be afraid of mice and this would put them off the product. Personally, I think that mice are more appealing than frogs, but to each his own.

Freddo was named after Harry Melbourne's friend at MacRobertson's and because the name was alliterative with frog.

Freddo Frogs are usually made of plain chocolate. There are three basic varieties - milk chocolate, white chocolate and half milk/half white chocolate. From time to time, limited editions have been made with additions such as rice crispies or fillings such as strawberry and peppermint.

Answer: Sao

The Sao in Sao crackers is widely believed to stand for Salvation Army Officer. Sao crackers were made by Arnotts Biscuits and were allegedly named after Arthur Arnott, who was a Salvation Army Officer. However, according to Ross Arnott, author of the book, "The Story of Arnott's Famous Biscuits" (1993), the cracker was named after a boat. (Incidentally, Ross Arnott was the person who named the Tim Tam, which he named after a famous American racehorse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1958).

All the biscuits named are made by Arnotts. Sao are plain flaky crackers, Cheds are cheese-flavoured crackers, and Jatz are plain crackers similar to Ritz. Nice (pronounced niece) biscuits were named after the city in France. They are a plain sweet biscuit sprinkled with sugar.

I once had an exchange student who picked up a packet of Arnott's Nice biscuits, gave me a puzzled look and asked, "Why would anyone advertise these biscuits as 'are not nice'?" You are probably thinking that English must have been her second language but, sadly, it was her native tongue.