History of Food Trivia

1. The Ancient Romans generally ate three meals, of which "cena" was the most important. What kind of meal was it?

From Quiz When in Rome, Eat as the Romans Did

Answer: dinner

For the Ancient Romans, the day started with "ientaculum", the equivalent of breakfast. This was taken at daybreak. A small lunch, "prandium", was eaten before noon. The "cena" was the main meal of the day, eaten late in the day. Ordinary Romans might have eaten a small late supper called "vesperna", as their cena was small and eaten quickly. More wealthy citizens, who did not have to work, ate a bigger cena starting from late afternoon, well into the evening with overlap with the vesperna that the ordinary folks ate. The cena for the wealthy was a grandiose social affair lasting several hours. It would be eaten in the dining room called the "triclinium". The tables were low, with couches on three sides. The fourth side was left for servants to serve the dishes. The triclinium itself was expensively and expansively decorated. It was a place to display wealth and status. Some of the wealthiest homes had a second, smaller dining room for other more basic meals. Meals showed the divide between the ordinary Romans and the wealthy. The less wealthy ate bread for breakfast, sometimes softened with wine. Cheese and olives were added if possible. Bread was important to the Romans, and was given away free of charge to unemployed people as was the entrance fee to gladiatorial contests - hence the expression "bread and circuses". Wealthy Romans supplemented their bread with meat, fish and/or vegetables. At lunch times the divide was apparent. The less wealthy ate vegetables, a thin porridge, or cheese with bread, and then continued to work. The wealthy ate bread, salad, olives, cheese, fruit and nuts, plus any leftover meat or fish from the day before. They then had a two-hour siesta. For cena, the less wealthy ate porridge and vegetables and fish, meat, and olives only on occasion when/if they could afford it. This question was swallowed whole by Phoenix Rising's 1nn1.

From Quiz Eat, Drink and Be Merry

Answer: Advent

Advent was a time of fasting, and even today is observed with fasting by some communities such as Eastern Orthodox communities. More recent traditions include Advent calendars, with some European towns featuring these in prominent places such as town halls and church buildings. Lent is the period leading up to Easter and is also a period of fasting, beginning with Ash Wednesday.

From Quiz Amusing or Interesting Food Facts

Answer: They would turn into Indians

Corn, or maize as it is also known, was first domesticated in Mexico thousands of years ago, and, by 2,500 BC, had spread throughout the Americas from there. Spanish explorers, conquerors and traders who made their mark on these two continents from the 1500s on, took the seeds of this new food product back to Europe with them, and introduced it there. Oddly enough though, the Spanish were slow to accept corn and corn flour, and this was for two main reasons. The first was, as it was such a religious nation, the Spanish people believed that corn flour could not be substituted for wheat flour in the manufacture of Holy Communion bread. Because of the belief of transubstantiation, they were convinced that only wheat could be transformed into the body of Christ. The other reason, which should give you a chuckle, is that many Spaniards also believed that, by eating corn, they would be turned into Indians. Did you know that when corn was first cultivated, the plants only produced one cob per plant, and that this cob was only about one inch long? Imagine trying to nibble on that. Over the many centuries that followed, the very clever indigenous people of the Americas managed to artificially select and grow better and better plants so that, by today, we have those glorious crops of very tall maize with several lovely cobs of corn on each plant. Oh yum, there's nothing more delicious than roasted hot corn on the cob, covered in butter, salt and pepper. Hang the diet.

From Quiz A Brief History Of Greek Cuisine

Answer: Wrote the first cookbook

Archestratos lived in Syracuse, a Greek colony on Sicily. In addition to the cookbook, he is remembered for his humorous poem "Life of Luxury" suggesting where to find the tastiest food. Several philosophers of the time considered "Life of Luxury" a corrupting influence on readers.

From Quiz What's That in This Old U.S. Cookbook?

Answer: blueberries

Whortleberries are various berries of the Vaccinium genus. The word itself goes back to berries across the pond, but American cookbook writers applied it to our Vaccinium species, any of the blueberries that grow here. The 1859 "Dictionary of Americanisms" has an entry: "Blue-berry. (Vacinium tenellum.) A fruit resembling the whortleberry in appearance and taste." Blueberries weren't cultivated in the early 19th century, so the average cook would be purchasing or picking wild ones, something reasonably close to the little ones sold as wild blueberries today. Or if you live where you can pick wild ones, even better and more fun!

From Quiz Cooking on the Hearth: No Microwave, No Stove

Answer: a horizontal bar affixed to the chimney wall, that held pots and swung away from the fire when wanted

A crane was a horizontal bar that reached from one chimney wall out over the fire. You could swing it into the room to safely hang or inspect a heavy pot, without ever needing to lean over the flames. In general, it made life much easier for the hearth-cook, and allowed her to use the heat of the flames while she was also making coals to cook on the hearth.

From Quiz Lincoln - President, Emancipator..Foodie?

Answer: Cornbread

A corn dodger is usually of an oblong shape and is made from cornmeal, pork fat, salt, and boiling water. They have a crisp crust with a soft, moist interior. In later years, John Wayne would use them for target practice in 'True Grit'!

From Quiz Food Innovator

Answer: John and Will Kellogg

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943) and his brother Will Keith Kellogg (1860-1951) accidentally left some cooked wheat unattended. When they tried to salvage the material, it became flakes which they then toasted. The Kelloggs made flakes of several different grains. Dr. Kellogg operated the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, and believed in a strict, bland, vegetarian diet in order to combat illness and immoral urges.

From Quiz That's Not Mrs Beaton! - Medieval English Cookery

Answer: Garlic

"Pill garlec and cast it in a pot with water and oile and seeþ it, do þerto safroun, salt, and powdour fort and dresse it forth hool". Aquapatys was a dish, served hot, consisting of cloves or bulbs of garlic that had been first boiled and then simmered in a mixture of water and oil and which was then seasoned using saffron, salt and pepper before being served. Ignoring the fact that Aquapatys makes an appearance in a cook book written for the King of England, the use of saffron in this dish demonstrates quite clearly that Aquapatys was something that would only ever be encountered in a wealthy household.

From Quiz Don't Eat That!

Answer: Beans

Pythagoras (570-495 BC) is best remembered for his theorem that states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. He wrote about a lot of other things as well, and some of his ideas were pretty strange. A persistent story says that he warned his followers not to eat beans. Why he did this is a matter of debate; the most obvious reason is that beans cause many people to become flatulent. But other sources relate that the reason for the ban is that beans resemble human fetuses, or that Pythagoras believed beans contained the souls of people waiting to be reincarnated. The story was well-known in Roman times, since the historian Aulus Gellius (125-180 AD) said that the story was nonsense, and that Pythagoras chowed down on plenty of beans; according to Gellius, the ban was actually against eating testicles, which would seem to make more sense, but the bean theory seems to enjoy the widest acceptance.

From Quiz Wrong Way

Answer: Roquefort

The fungus "penicillium roqueforti" is responsible for Roquefort cheese which is created and matured only in the limestone caves of Roquefort, near Toulouse, France as a "protected designation of origin" product. The legend says that a peasant boy was having his lunch of bread and ewe cheese in the cool shade of a cave when he saw a beautiful girl and rushed to meet her, leaving his lunch behind. When he returned to the cave many days later, the cheese was moldy and had a sharp, smoky taste. Interestingly, long before Alexander Fleming invented penicillin, the peasants of the Roquefort area, used the cheese on wounds to avoid infection and gangrene.

From Quiz Salt: Can't live without it, or can we?

Answer: Salary

The English word "salary" is derived from the fact that Roman soldiers were paid in salt, or sometimes given money to buy salt, a valuable commodity during Roman times, particularly for the common man. The word "soldier" also comes from the French word for salt "sel". It also gave rise to the expression "worth one's salt", which means that someone is a good employee. Interestingly, the word salacious means obscene, even slightly pornographic, which we sometimes refer to as "salty".

From Quiz I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing!

Answer: 1972

Legend has it that the first contest was held on July 4, 1916 at Nathan's Famous stand on Coney Island by four immigrants to settle an argument about who was the most patriotic. There is no proof of that contest and no other proof exists of any contest at Nathan's Famous prior to 1972.

From Quiz Potato or Potatoe?

Answer: The Andes

Inhabitants of the Altiplano (southern Peru and northern Bolivia) already cultivated potatoes from 8000 to 5000 BCE. Nowadays there are about 4,000 different types of potatoes. Beside potatoes the conquistadors also brought pineapples, papaya, peanuts, tomatoes, cacao, paprika, avocados and vanilla from the New World. Imagine how limited our diet would be without all those ingredients.

From Quiz Food in ancient Greece and Rome

Answer: Sparta

Spartans were known for their simple and basic tastes that suited the military stereotype of their society. "Black broth" (melas zomos) was a stew made up of boiled pork, salt, vinegar, and blood. A visitor to Sparta tasted the stew and remarked, "Now I know why Spartans do not fear death".

From Quiz Dark Matter

Answer: It could be used as payment for wages and rents

There were home bakers and professional bakers as far back as the dark ages. Bread could be plentiful or scarce depending on the season or health of the crops. It carried its own value and could be used in place of coins.

From Quiz Henry's Medieval Banquet

Answer: To have plenty of food available to eat.

During a time when people are generally malnourished and gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins, the most important aspect of the Christmas Day feast is to make sure there is plenty of food available to eat. My Earl will invite all people who live at Warwick to come to his manor on Christmas Day. There really isn't a specific menu that is only used at Christmas; most of the time it is the same food we always eat - just more of it. What is considered important is not what is prepared, but how it is prepared, how much is there, and the act of sharing a meal and eating together. I know Cook will have some of my favorite foods, though! She always does!

From Quiz Lady Rowena Invites You...

Answer: Five

At that time, King Edward III was reaching the end of his fifty year reign in England, and he had made several Laws designed to prevent extravagance among the people. One of these measures was the Law which set out specific numbers and composition of dishes to be served at meals. A typical five course meal for a Lord and Lady could include such now exotic ingredients as swan and peacock among the more mundane chicken, pheasant, pork, and venison.

From Quiz Eaten Out of House and Home

Answer: A four-pint tankard of strong sherry

In 1400, Falstaff's time, a "pottle" was a half-gallon (2 quart or 1.9 liter) measure or a tankard that would hold that amount. Falstaff is drinking a lot in one serving! Over time, "pottle" became an obsolete measurement, while pints, quarts, and gallons remained common measurements in English-speaking countries. In some parts of New Zealand, a "pottle" is a small plastic carton that might hold strawberries, whitebait, or anything that will fit, but it is not a measurement. The wine that Falstaff called "sack" or "sherris sack" was sherry, named for its place of origin, Jerez de la Frontera and surrounding areas in Spain. Sherry, shipped out of the port of Cadiz, was a popular import to England when trade was lively between the two nations. In Shakespeare's time, in 1587, as the Spanish Armada was getting ready to sail against England, Sir Francis Drake famously stole 2,900 butts of sack from Cadiz harbor.

From Quiz A History of Fat People

Answer: Tapeworm

During the 1920s, UK and US women were confronted with a new weight loss solution, which came in the form of sanitized jars of tapeworms. Advertised specifically as a dieting aid, these parasites were hailed as the way forward, with one advertisement going so far as to claim "No diet, no baths, no exercise. Fat- the enemy that is shortening your life - Banished! How? With sanitized tapeworms - jar-packed!" However what was at the time hailed to be the perfect dieting solution was eventually discovered to be extremely harmful to one's health. Indeed those who did ingest these parasitic little critters soon began to exhibit some very unpleasant and potentially serious symptoms, including weakness, nausea, diarrhoea, fever, cysts and seizures, Needless to say, the tapeworm diet was far more likely to shorten one's life, rather than prolong it.

From Quiz Where Does Your Food Come From?

Answer: cheese sauce on toast

Although it was originally called 'Welsh rabbit' the rarebit is anything but a rabbit, as it is made with cheese. Recipes vary greatly, but in general it is a melted cheese sauce served hot on top of toast. Very much a matter of personal taste, some recipes include a little beer or mustard, or (my favourite) Worcestershire sauce. A 'buck rarebit' is the same but with the addition of a poached egg on top. Cheddar cheese is normally used. It is a very old British recipe, but the exact origin of the name is uncertain.

From Quiz History of Medieval Food and Drink

Answer: Maslin bread

Maslin bread was made with rye and barley, producing a very heavy dark bread. After a particularly poor harvest when the grains were scarce, the peasants would add peas, beans and on occasions even acorns to make the bread more nourishing.

From Quiz World Records Big Food

Answer: Belgium

This was a monster egg made by the Guylian Chocolate Company during Easter. The egg was over 27 foot tall and weighed in at a hefty 4299 pounds.

From Quiz History of Victorian Food and Drink

Answer: Beer

For Victorians earning higher wages, bacon was also included as part of their everyday diet.

From Quiz Hostess Twinkie History

Answer: 1930

Twinkies were first made by The Continental Baking Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. Continental also made "Wonder Bread" and had a snack line called Hostess. There are some citations that the Twinkie was invented in 1933, but the Hostess website says 1930.

From Quiz It Wasn't All Bad - A history of British Food

Answer: Dormice dipped in honey and sprinkled with poppy seeds

Although the poor would have subsisted on a diet of mostly rough whole grain loaves and Puls, a sort of cereal porridge, the wealthier Romans introduced many delicacies and opulence into their cooking. Written descriptions of this are cited in Petronius' 'Satyricon' and 'De Re Coquinana'.

From Quiz Fad Diets throughout History

Answer: Alcohol

Even in 1087, England's royalty was conscious about their appearance. William the Conqueror was no different, and had packed on the pounds in his later years. Apparently, he was having trouble riding a horse without injuring the poor beast, and the final straw occurred when France's King Phillip told him that he looked pregnant. William believed if he gave up food in favor of drinking nothing but alcohol he would eventually wake up one day and be thin. This story might be apocryphal. What we do know is that William, who was still significantly overweight, died after falling from his horse. History does not mention that he was tipsy at the time. Apparently, he was so large the clergy could barely fit his body into the stone sarcophagus.

From Quiz Gastronomic Migrations

Answer: China

Almost 2,500 years ago, trade between Japan and the Asian continent began. People from both Korea and China passed on ingredients and food preparation techniques to the Japanese, and somewhere around the end of the first millennium C.E. tofu arrived in Japan. It has been one of the most important sources of protein for Japanese people, especially for those living inland and for Buddhists who adhere to a vegetarian diet. In 1782 a cookbook featuring 100 tofu recipes was released in Japan, and it was so popular that the next year a second volume containing a further 138 dishes followed.

From Quiz American Food History #2: Spanish Influence

Answer: Spanish soldiers and priests

Some time before the English and other Europeans began to arrive in the New World, the Spanish were exploring and settling in what is now Florida and the Southwest. There is even evidence of a brief mission presence in the Chesapeake Bay area dating back to the late 1500's. As a matter of fact, some English settlers were startled to find Indians with a knowledge of the Spanish language when they came ashore in the early 1600's. Spanish civilians were less likely to leave the comforts of home in large numbers due to the relative absence of religious persecution compared to the rest of Europe. That is as long as you were a Roman Catholic. Realizing that Spanish sailors generally went home in their ships, and that the English were the ones most prone to "transporting" their criminals and convicts, the first cooks and therefore the first European food influences in North America were compliments of the Spanish soldiers and priests.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:46 AM

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