Elemental Foods Trivia Quiz

Answer: banana

Despite using the element sodium twice in the question, bananas are a fruit known for their high potassium content (the element just below sodium on the periodic table of elements).

Bananas have been bred and cultivated for thousands of years by humans. They have been bred to be tasty and easy for human consumption, but there are also very few strains left. Most bananas we eat are clones of each other. If a strain is susceptible to a disease, the number of available bananas could diminish very quickly.

Answer: cinnamon

The spice cinnamon is actually the bark of a cinnamon tree. The distinctive flavour comes from a chemical compound called cinnamaldehyde, which is made up of mostly carbon and hydrogen, with a single oxygen attached at the end (the aldehyde group).

Answer: broccoli

Broccoli is a healthy vegetable that can be prepared for many different dishes (or just eaten raw).

Broccoli is an example of old fashioned genetic engineering by humans. Instead of cutting and inserting genes in a lab, humans engineered broccoli though breeding and cultivation. While we may have different names for the vegetables we eat, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and many more are all actually the same species, just with different traits expressed or repressed. This is similar to the way humans created different breeds of dogs.

Answer: oregano

Oregano is native to the land around the Mediterranean Sea, but today is popular worldwide. Its leaves are dried and crushed before being used in sauces or to flavour meat. There is no single chemical compound responsible for the oregano flavour, but varying quantities of the many compounds involved give oreganos from different places different characteristics.

Answer: corn

Corn is a plant native to the Americas, and has grown to become one of the most produced foods in the world. Most people think of delicious corn on the cob, but humans have created other strains for other purposes. Corn is cheap and high energy, making it great for feeding livestock.

It is also being used to create bio fuels as a replacement for fossil fuels. Humans have been breeding and cultivating corn for centuries. This genetic modification trend has continued into modern times, with corn being subject to many gene splicing trials.

Answer: cashew

Yes, the question may not be totally correct. Colloquially, people call cashews a nut, even though they technically are not. The "nut" is actually a fruit that contains a number of irritants for humans, until they are roasted. Cashews also come with an apple-like fruit that is quite tasty, but too fragile to export.

Cashews are native to Brazil, but were transported by Europeans to India, and now cashew trees are found all over south Asia and even Africa.

Answer: yam

Yams are a tuber similar to a potato, native to Africa and Asia, and are not actually that common in grocery stores. English speakers in North America might be thinking of a sweet, orange plant that can be turned into tasty fries. These are actually sweet potatos, which are native to the Americas.

Despite using the symbols to spell the word "yam", neither of these plants have any yttrium or americium in them.

Answer: kiwi

The proper name for this food is "kiwi fruit" (I suppose to distinguish between it and the New Zealand flightless bird). Kiwifruit are originally from China, but are now grown on most continents. They are a power fruit, loaded with good stuff like vitamins and lots of potassium.

Answer: onion

The food that makes you cry when you cut it (don't feel bad; onions cannot feel pain). This is the onion's natural defense, using naturally available sulphur (from amino acids) to create noxious chemicals to deter critters from eating it. Unfortunately for the onion, humans are too large to be deterred, and onions are too tasty to ignore.

Answer: capers

Capers are small, dark green plants. The capers we eat are actually flower buds that have been harvested and pickled. They can be very expensive, and are used as a garnish. Capers are most known for Mediterranean dishes, in particular Italian ones, but can also be found in Asia.

Answer: bok choy

Bok choy is native to China, and due to translation inconsistencies, has a few different names. Bok Choy is a leafy plant full of nutrients, perfect for all kinds of delicious dishes. It works well in stir fries, salads, and everything in between.

Answer: raisin

Raisins: seemingly everyone's least favourite cookie ingredient. Raisins are actually grapes that have been dried out ("raisin" is the French word for "grape"). Grapes (and thus raisins) are grown all over the world. California, though, is known as the raisin capital. Also, don't feed raisins to your pet dog. They can cause kidney failure.

Answer: rutabaga

Like many common names, "rutabaga" is not universal. Most confusingly, some places instead use the word "turnip", which also means different plants in different places. Rutabagas have large bulbous roots filled with starch (like a potato, but it is not a tuber).

They are originally from northern Europe, with the Swedish name "rotabagge" (root bag) becoming "rutabaga" when appropriated by English speakers.

Answer: almonds

Almonds are a tasty nut (actually a drupe) with a unique flavour. The unique almond scent/flavour is due to the presence of cyanide (yes, the deadly poison that spies are supposed to use to avoid capture). Most almonds prepared for human consumption do not have enough cyanide to cause harm, unless eaten in excess (upwards of 1000 within 24 hours).

There are certain kinds of almonds (bitter almonds) with higher cyanide levels that are more dangerous, especially for children. All this being said, you should still eat almonds (if you are not allergic), because the health benefits far outweigh the risks.

Answer: asparagus

Asparagus is another staple vegetable that has been cultivated by humans for thousands of years. The most common form is green asparagus, but some parts of Europe grow white asparagus. It is known as the vegetable that makes urine smell funny. This is because asparagus contains asparagusic acid, which our bodies break down into suphur compounds and then remove via urine. Asparagus is often cooked, whether steamed, boiled, or baked. From personal experience, pickled asparagus makes an excellent garnish for caesar cocktails.