Food Facts for Fun Trivia Quiz

Answer: Passenger Pigeon

Flocks would darken the sky for miles at a time. One flock was estimated to have been a mile wide and 240 miles in length. One estimate put the number at 9 billion at the beginning of the eighteenth century. What in the world happened to them? They went the way of the buffalo. Man struck yet again.

They were hunted with guns and nets and during migrations, some towns lived on them for weeks at a time and farmers fed to them to their pigs. The last wild bird was killed in Ohio in 1900 and the last captive passenger pigeon died in 1914.

It could be said that man never understands when it is time to stop with the destruction.

Answer: A & P

A & P began as the Great American Tea Company in New York City. The company began in 1859 by buying tea in bulk from China and Japan and by buying in this fashion, they were able to sell retail at about 1/3 less than the competition. In 1861 they opened their first store on the corner of Broadway and Grand Streets in New York City.

They changed their name to the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company and by 1876 had become the nation's first major grocery chain. Up until 1973 it remained the largest chain.

Answer: Sugar

Sugar was very highly prized and would go on to replace honey as the main sweetener. In 1191, during the Third Crusade, Richard the Lionhearted defeated the Muslim leader, Saladin. As a peace offering Saladin offered Richard a new treat made of snow brought from the mountains of Lebanon flavored with fruit. Saladin called it "charbet".

When introduced to Italy, it became "sorbetto" and in France it became "sorbet". The Fourth Crusade brought the Damson plum from Damascus in 1204 and they also brought back lemons and rice.

The Fifth Crusade brought back crescent rolls. The Crusaders did a a lot of eating along with the fighting.

Answer: Cherries Jubilee

On June 22, 1897, Queen Victoria celebrated her week long Diamond Jubilee that commemorated her 60 years on the throne of England. This flaming dessert was concocted with cherries, sugar and brandy then served over ice cream. It was created by Auguste Escoffier, chef at London's Carleton House.

Answer: King Ranch

The King Ranch is in southern Texas and was originally purchased by Richard King in 1853 with acreage of 15,500. King added more and more acreage and by the time of his death in 1885 the acreage was 1.25 million. Now, the King Ranch contains about 825,000 acres or 13,000 square miles----bigger than the State of Rhode Island.

The Parker Ranch in Hawaii is one of the biggest ranches in the US, just not THE biggest. And the other two are made up.

Answer: 24 to 26 hours

The hen begins a new egg only about 30 minutes after laying the last egg. The average hen can lay from 250 to 300 eggs per year. In 1945, the average per year was about 151. The increase is due to better housing, breeding and nutrition. And only one year is about the useful life of an egg hen (I should think they'd earned their retirement.)

Answer: Fig

It has a sugar content of 55% with 100% being pure sugar. The fig trade is ancient and goes back to at least 6000 B.C. It was a staple in the diets of Egyptians, Romans and Greeks. There were even smugglers of figs. "Showing of the fig" -- showing your thumb is an obscene gesture in some Mediterranean countries.

The fig was brought to America by Franciscan monks in 1770. It took until 1900 for figs to be successfully grown in California. And there you have all you wanted to know about figs but were afraid to ask. Bananas are the most popular fruit in America but it is the mango that tops the list for the amount eaten every day.

They have been cultivated in India for over 4,000 years and are known as the "apple of the tropics." The mango is a relative of the cashew and pistachio nuts.

Answer: Avocado

In 1833 the avocado showed up in southern Florida brought by a horticulturist by the name of Henry Perrine who grew them on his property south of Miami. South Florida is the only place in the U.S. where the West Indian variety can be grown because they are tropical.

In 1871, R.B Ord starting the planting of the Mexican avocados in California near Santa Barbara. The state still grows this variety.

Answer: Niacin Deficiency

Pellagra's symptoms included dementia, diarrhea and dermatitis. It was found to not be a problem in Central America or Mexico. But why not? They finally figured it out. The reason these countries didn't have pellagra was because of their high use of corn masa flour and tortillas. Because of lime processing, masa flour is rich in niacin.

The corn that was a staple of the poor south was not.

Answer: Beer

Humans have been drinking beer for a long, long time. The oldest recipe ever found was a 6,000 year old formula for beer written on a cuneiform tablet. The recipe was part of a poem that was devoted to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer. Beer has been regulated by man for thousands of years.

The oldest recorded laws of any kind can be found in the Code of Hammurabi that was written in Babylonia in 1750 B.C. In this code were regulations regarding the selling of beer. As an a example, beer houses were banned from watering down their beer and if they did, the penalty was death.