A Taste of Tercentenary Trivia Quiz

Answer: Floating Island

The third part of the 1726 book, "Gulliver's Travels", told of Laputa, a floating island in the sky visited by Lemuel Gulliver. Jonathan Swift made mention of fricassee and ragout in his 1729 satirical essay, "A Modest Proposal". It said "I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child, well nursed, is at a year old, a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout." An 18th century fricassee was meat or veal stewed and accompanied by a sauce. A ragout was again a stewed meat dish but highly seasoned.

A Floating Island (Ile Flottante) is soft and very easily digestible after a large meal. It is simply made by mixing egg whites with sugar and vanilla, then softly poaching. This is then placed in a sea of creamy vanilla custard and served ice cold. Modern varieties are served with a drizzle of caramel. The classic French dessert often saw itself on British fine dining tables of the 18th century to finish off a rich and decadent meal. Other alternatives of this dish are known as "oeufs a la neige" which translates as "eggs in snow".

Answer: Tea

William Pitt the Younger was British prime minister twice, firstly between 1783 to 1801, and then 1804 until his death in 1806. He introduced the Commutation Act in 1784 which marked a turning point in the British tea trade. Just before the Act came to fruition, the British were obtaining seven million lbs in weight each year illegally, compared to just five million purchased through legal import.

Tea was a very expensive commodity and the monopoly of imports by the East India Company and high taxation kept the prices hiked up. People were not able to buy tea any cheaper so they resorted to illegal means, including large scale smuggling. The high taxation on tea also led to the events of the Boston Tea Party. Such was the scale of illegal trade that servants of the rich in their large country houses were drying and re-selling used tea for their own profit. This is possibly where the Cockney slang "tea leaf" (thief) originated. The Commutation Act brought smuggling to a stop almost overnight by reducing taxes from 119 percent to just 12.5.

Answer: Banoffee pie

A flummery was a soft dessert pudding of the 17th to 19th century, usually made with soaked oatmeal, cream, and orange juice or rosewater for flavour. Collops were slices of meat served during the 18th century. Also eaten in the 18th century was black butter; a fruit conserve, made by boiling cider apples over a low heat until a thick pulp and then adding sugar, lemon, spices and liquorice. Banoffee Pie was not invented until 1971.

Jane Austen made reference to many food recipes in her letters and novels. In 1798, she wrote to her sister Cassandra, "I always take care to provide such things as please my own appetite, which I consider as the chief merit in housekeeping". Recipes that she recorded included pigeon pie, cold souse (brawn), pease soup, pickled cucumber, Bath Olivers, New College pudding (steamed pudding) and marmalade, all of which were suitable for dining in a clergyman's household. If she had met Mr Darcy at Netherfield Ball, they may have enjoyed a reel before drinking a glass of negus (mulled wine) while taking a turn around the room.

Answer: Hindoostane Coffee House

Curry had already been introduced to British cuisine by the time Sake Dean Mahomed opened the Hindoostane Coffee House. The eatery was located in George Street near Portman Square in London with a target clientele of British people returning home from India, as well as Indian aristocracy visiting England. An excerpt from the London Times newspaper on 27th March, 1811, read "Mahomed, East-Indian, informs the nobility and gentry, he has fitted up the above house, neatly and elegantly, for the entertainment of Indian gentlemen, where they may enjoy the hookah, with real chilam tobacco, and Indian dishes, in the highest perfection, and allowed by the greatest epicures to be unequalled to any curries ever made in England with choice wines, and every accommodation". An article in the The Epicure's Almanack wrote "All the dishes were dressed with curry powder, rice, cayenne and the best spices of Arabia". Unfortunately, Mahomed became bankrupt in 1812 and had to close the restaurant down.

His legacy lived on as curry is one of Britain's favourite food and in close contention to the nation's favourite dish, fish and chips. Between 2012 to 2015, there were approximately 9,500 Indian restaurants in the UK with the most popular dish being Chicken Tikka Masala.

Answer: Christmas pudding

Eton mess, trifle and knickerbocker glory are all cold deserts, but Christmas pudding is the only steamed pudding out of the choices listed. The first reference to steamed pudding was made in "The English Huswife", written by Gervase Markham and published in 1615. The pudding mixture used to be sealed in a piece of animal intestine or stomach but then muslin cloth became available in England from the latter part of the 17th century. Suet was added from the start of the 18th century which led to the introduction of British classics, spotted dick, Christmas pudding, treacle pudding, jam roly-poly and steak and kidney pudding.

The excerpt from Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol" described Mrs Cratchit's attempt at making a steamed suet Christmas pudding. She would have made a thick mixture using flour, suet, bread crumbs, sugar, dried fruit, eggs, milk and spices, then put this in a sealed muslin cloth and placed in boiling water in a copper pot for five to six hours. Once completed, Mrs Cratchit proudly took the pudding through to the their table in front of the fire, the rounded dessert ablaze with ignited brandy and dressed with a sprig of holly on top. "Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs Cratchit since their marriage".

Answer: Almond biscuits

The earliest recipe for ratafia biscuits was recorded in 1818 in the William Kitchiner book, "The Cook's Oracle". It included the text, "Take eight ounces of apricot-kernels, or, if they cannot be had, bitter-almonds will do as well, blanch them and beat them very fine with a little orange-flower water, mix them with the whites of three eggs well beaten, put to them two pounds of single refin'd sugar finely beaten and sifted; work all together, and t'will be like a paste; then lay it in little round bits on tin-plates flour'd, let them in the oven that is not too hot, and they will puff up, and be soon baked".

Over 45 years later, the great British food writer, Isabella Mary Beeton, published her "Book of Household Management" which included ratafia and other recipes such as carrot jam, pie with tench and eels, eggs a la tripe, and marrow dumplings. She also gave advice on how to alleviate croup, clean butter churns and described the role of the domestic servant.

Another popular biscuit of the time were Bath Olivers, with over a million sold at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The next forty years saw the introduction of more British favourites; Garibaldi (1861) and the cream cracker (1885). The digestive was invented in 1892. It's such a shame that we had to wait nearly another century for the Hobnob!

Answer: Penny lick

Ice cream was first served in England at a banquet inside Windsor Castle in 1671, but it was so exotic that it was only served on the royal table while the guests looked on. Affluent people caught on and built ice houses on their estates and the sweet treat soon extended to becoming more available to the working classes. Street vendors began selling ice cream from bicycle and cart.

During her 63 year reign, Queen Victoria saw many changes to British food and the way people ate, including the introduction of silver service and fine dining etiquette. She would have been horrified if she saw street urchins queuing outside ice cream vendors trying to buy a penny lick. At the cost of a penny, the vendor would put a very small serving of ice cream in a glass bowl. The glass was thickened so it appeared there was more ice cream than was actually served. One lick and it was gone! The glass would then be passed back to the vendor where it was sometimes wiped clean for the next person. This unhygienic practice contributed towards the spreading of many diseases. Penny licks were banned in 1899 but people had to wait another five years before the ice cream cone was invented and introduced at the St. Louis World's fair.

Answer: Curried brains

Churchill is well remembered for his wartime speeches, but he can also lay claim to the quote, "It is well to remember that the stomach governs the world". He was served throughout the war, at Downing Street and Chartwell, by cook Georgina Landemare. It was her way of contributing towards the war effort, and she had extensive knowledge in cooking as her husband was chef at the Ritz Hotel in London. Churchill's love of food is well documented and his favourite dishes were Stilton cheese, roast beef and Yorkshire pud, and black cherry jam for breakfast. He disliked sauerkraut, corned beef, marmalade, pickled onions and black pudding.

In 1958, Georgina Landemare published a book, "Churchill's Cookbook", which included some of his favourite wartime recipes. These included Boodles orange fool, jugged hare, tournedos, creme doria, and mousse de jambon froid (cold ham mousse). He also enjoyed Indian curry and this would have included Cervelles Connaught; lamb brains cooked in a spicy sauce.

Answer: Smash

The 1970s brought the blandness of browns and creams to British fashion, furniture and food. The introduction of ready-meals had taken off and more houses were being equipped with colour televisions, and by 1971, approximately 69 percent of the population owned a fridge. This meant they could easily store pre-packaged food from manufacturers including Vesta, Findus, Wall's and Bird's Eye.

Cadbury's were already an established confectioner but they introduced their instant mashed potato product in the 1960s. Smash became popular during the 1970s with the introduction of the "Smash martian" advert, a lovable group of aliens who laughed at the stupid humans as they prepared potatoes the hard way instead of using instant granules and hot water. In 2015, the Independent newspaper voted it the 3rd best advert of all time, followed closely in front by Compare the Meerkats and the Cadbury's Gorilla ad.

Answer: Bacon sarnie

John Montagu was credited with inventing the sandwich in the 1700s and it has been a favourite now for approximately 300 years. Waking up to the smell of frying bacon gives off similar endorphins as eating chocolate or falling in love. Fresh rashers melting the butter smeared between two slices of bread, and not forgetting a dollop of brown sauce or tomato ketchup. A perfect breakfast staple to start off our day.

John Glenn was the first American to eat in space, and in 1962, he was able to squirt apple sauce from a tube directly into his mouth in zero gravity. Pouches containing scrambled eggs and turkey in gravy soon followed and tortilla replaced the need for bread. Normal bread could not be used as the crumbs could float and clog up vital equipment. Herbs and spices are added to many servings as food tastes more bland in space. NASA has carried out an experiment called Veg-01 to grow lettuce in space from seed. This was successful and the first harvest was reaped in 2015.

It was two years in the making, but experimental chef Heston Blumenthal eventually put Britain on the intergalactic food map by creating....a space-age bacon sarnie! He had already met the British astronaut, Tim Peake, as well as working in partnership with the European Space Agency to follow their strict guidelines for preparing space food. Blumenthal's idea behind creating the food was to stimulate the tastebuds with memories of home comforts, 250 miles above the Earth. Also on the menu in pre-packaged containers were truffle and beef stew, red Thai curry with rice, and key lime pie; all of these were some of the astronaut's favourite food.