James Beard Trivia Quiz

Answer: on May 5, 1903 in Portland Oregon

Beard was born and raised in Oregon. His mother owned a hotel in Portland and the family had a beach house in Gear Hart. He attended Reed College in Oregon and all his life promoted Pacific Northwest fish and produce.

Answer: an opera singer

Beard had a good baritone voice but failed at breaking into opera. Still he enjoyed opera and attended operas often.

Answer: Hors D'oeuvre, Inc.

"Hors D'oeuvre and Canapés" (1940) was James Beard's first book, based on his experiences with his catering company, Hors D'oeuvre, Inc. It remains a classic cocktail party planning guide.

Answer: served as a US army cryptographer and then as a USS manager

James Beard did not expect to serve in World War II. He was 39, overweight and gay but was drafted anyway. He served first as a US Army cryptographer and then ran canteens for the United Seaman's Service. He set up canteens in Brazil, Puerto Rico, the South of France and Panama.

Answer: chicken livers, cranberries, kiwi fruit

Beard hated chicken livers, but wrote about them in some of his books because of his large New York audience. He disliked cranberries and thought of them as an enemy of fine wine. He thought the Kiwi fruit was both tasteless and over used. Beard loved lard, beets, mayonnaise, mutton, pickles of all types, peaches and liked to cook with bourbon (he drank Scotch).

He would sometimes praise and sometimes damn iceberg lettuce and cottage cheese.

Answer: The James Beard Cookbook

"The James Cookbook" (1959) was a favorite book of Julia Child, Jeff Smith and many others. The book remains a 'must have' for any serious beginning chef.

Answer: 40

"Chicken and 40 cloves of garlic" was well known in the culinary world and associated with James Beard, who probably based it on a dish from Alsace. Beard would often adapt recipes he tried during his frequent travels to American ingredients and equipment. His books were full of French, German, Italian, English, South American, and Asian dishes adapted to use American ingredients.

Answer: Argosy

Many of Beard's magazine articles were re-printed in "Beard on Food" (1974) and the "Armchair James Beard" (1999). "Argosy" was a men's adventure magazine that ceased publishing in 1978. It had a nearly all male readership and gave Beard a very different audience than his ladies' magazines.

Answer: pineapple

The huge black and white pineapple wallpaper became a James Beard trademark. Today the James Beard Foundation uses the pineapple as the symbol of James Beard and his style of cooking. Modern editions of his cookbooks often have pineapples interwoven with the text. Interestingly Beard did not cook extensively with pineapple, preferring it served simply with Jamaican dark rum.

Answer: Windows on the World ( on top of the World Trade Center)

James Beard consulted on the menu and layout, shortly before his death in 1985, on what would become Windows on the World that was destroyed during the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. Beard consulted and endorsed many food and beverage brands in addition to restaurants. Among the many brands he endorsed were Omaha Steaks, Corning Ware, Campari, National Bohemian Beer, Birdseye Frozen Vegetables, and Adolph's Meat Tenderizer.