Eat Your Vegetables! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Queen Anne's Lace

Queen Anne's Lace has leaves very similar to the garden carrot and has a white tap root that both smells and tastes like a carrot. It is not a naturally occurring plant as are wildflowers. Carrots were originally grown in the mideast in the 7th century and came in many color varieties from red to purple to black.

It was the Dutch who bred the orange carrot but it took the French to give it the long shape.

Answer: Mexico

Mexicans eat about 400 pounds of corn per person each year. Just think about those tortillas that they love! Americans eat about 140 pounds a year while in India, they only eat about 15 pounds per person per year. Livestock love corn too. Over half of the United States corn harvested goes to animal feed.

Answer: potato

Hint: "see"? Eyes of potatoes? Any help? The Incas ate potatoes for thousands of years. The Spaniards brought potatoes back from exploratory voyages in the 1500s and it is said that potatoes washed ashore in Ireland from wrecked ships (some say the Spanish Armada) The lowly potato was a gift from God for the Irish as their land was so poor but the potato flourished and could even be harvested with bare hands.

It took a man by the name of Antoine-Augustin Parmentier to convince the French that they had been missing a wonderful vegetable for far too long. Antoine had been a prisoner of the Prussians during the Seven Years War and had eaten them with no ill effects.

In fact it was his favorite vegetable.

Answer: Potatoes and Lettuce

Here the lowly potato comes again---at Number One! Americans eat about 145 pounds per person per year (I probably eat more). Worldwide the potato is the 4th best source of food following wheat, rice and corn. 35% of potatoes sold are frozen and only 26% fresh. Does this mean we don't like peeling potatoes?

And now for Number Two: Lettuce! We eat about 30 pounds a year which is 5 times the amount we ate 100 years ago. It is one of the few vegetables that must be eaten fresh. You can't stew it, boil it, can it or freeze it. What is America's favorite type of lettuce? You guessed it right....iceberg lettuce.

Answer: Spinach

When Popeye introduced spinach in the comic strip "Thimble Theater" in 1929, sales of spinach rose by a third. Kids rated it as third of their favorite foods following turkey and ice cream. Can you imagine? I guess they wanted to be like Popeye who said "I'm strong to the finish, 'cause I eats me spinach." The spinach growers loved Popeye and even erected a statue of him in Crystal City, Texas in 1937.

Answer: False

Oh yes they did. Okra, black-eyed peas, water melon and even peanuts came with them. How did they do it? Some say they hid the seeds in their hair and planted them in the West Indies in the latter 1600s. Nothing better than fried okra!

Answer: Asparagus

Was that a good clue? I believe people learn by success and not failure.

Under the right conditions, spears can grow up to ten inches in one day! Asparagus pickers are really kept busy during the short 6 or 7 week harvesting period. The asparagus is a perennial plant and will grow spears for 14 or 15 years. The larger the diameter of a spear, the higher the quality is supposed to be. I belong to the Asparagus Lovers of America!

Answer: Onion

Onions go back to at least Egyptian times and they found their way to Rome where they were called "unio", a Latin word meaning large pearl. As language progressed it became "oinyon".

Answer: Yes

The inside of a cucumber can be be 20 degrees cooler than the outside air. Cucumbers are about 95% water and have very little nutritional value. They were grown over 10,000 years ago and came to the Americas with Columbus. One strange thing about cucumbers: If you are allergic to pollen or aspirin, cucumbers can cause your mouth to itch.

Answer: Squash and Pumpkins

I knew you'd get this one! Both are members of the genus Cucurbita and are natives of North America. The winter squash such as the butternut, hubbard, acorn and spaghetti are hard and they store well. The Indians introduced them to the colonists and they came in very handy during the long, cold winters.