Happy Historical Holiday Dish Trivia Quiz

Answer: Purple

When the Mexican immigration to the Philippines occurred in the 1560s, the local population was strongly encouraged to attend Catholic Mass. After the service, vendors sold the rice treats, brought over by the Mexicans, called puto bumbong. The tradition has continued through the centuries and the recipe remains relatively unchanged. Purple rice is steamed in bamboo tubes and then removed and topped with butter and sugary coconut.

It is often then folded into banana leaves and served warm. Puto bumbong can be eaten all year, but is especially prized during the holiday season during the Misa de Gallo, or "Rooster's Mass", that occurs nine days before Christmas.

Answer: Lye

According to Norwegians, a group of Vikings, around the year 1000, hung out their fishing catch of cod on birch trees to dry. Unfortunately, a battle broke out and it was a lengthy period of time before they returned to find the fish had fallen out of the trees and been preserved in puddles of water and birch ash, which acted as lye.

They rinsed the food off and proceeded to cook and eat it. Centuries later, lutefisk is still served similarly! Cod, caught in the winter months preceding Christmas, is dried. Days before the holiday meal it is soaked in water, then a bath of water and lye, then water again.

This last bath is what relieves the fish of its caustic property from the lye. Finally it is steamed or baked and served for Christmas dinner with various sides.

Answer: False

Even though the Christmas pudding is also called plum pudding, there are actually no fresh plums in it at all. It is made up of a series of dried fruits and spices which are stirred together with eggs and suet. The pudding finds its roots in the Middle Ages when meat was mixed with ingredients and packed into animal intestines to store for lengthy periods of time.

By the Victorian era, the recipe called for dried fruits as opposed to meats but the method of cooking by steaming remained the same. Families still follow traditions such as stirring the ingredients together weeks before Christmas, adding coins to the batter to be found in a slice for luck, and pouring flaming brandy over the pudding.

After storage, even up to a year, the dessert is unwrapped, briefly steamed again, and then served for the holidays.

Answer: Boiling

The Venezuelans proudly point out that hallacas are not only a delicious holiday dish but are a continuing example of the multicultural heritage that gives the country its history. The rich meat stuffing with its touches of almonds or olives gets it start from the Spaniards while the various spices hearken from the African continent. Finally, the corn dough and leaves are found locally in Venezuela and have a timeline dating back hundreds of centuries. Even the cooking method of boiling results from the fact that, during colonial times, slaves were given holiday leftovers and wrapped the food in leaves and boiled them to eat later in their own celebrations. Families continue to prepare for, and cook, this dish during Christmas and almost everyone has their own secret additions for the recipe.

Answer: Kentucky Fried Chicken

Kentucky Fried Chicken, or KFC, is based out of Louisville, Kentucky and specializes in fast food fried chicken and trimmings. It has restaurants around the world including many locations in Japan. In the winter of 1974, KFC created a slogan and marketing campaign there called "Kentucky Is For Christmas".

The idea caught on and became a huge success. Decades later, lines at the KFC restaurants in Japan on December 25 often stretch out the doors. People can make reservations months ahead of time to be sure they get their share of the fried dish. Sides are also served, including cake and champagne!

Answer: Cheese

Hanukkah and the serving of pancakes dates back to the early 1300s when an Italian rabbi named Kalonymus ben Kalonymus called for a ricotta cheese pancake to be served at a Purim feast. This was said to honor a Jewish heroine named Judith who served salty cheese to a conquering general around 600 BC.

The salt made him thirsty so she plied him with wine until he was drunk. She then chopped off his head and the Hebrews were saved. The ricotta cheese was in her honor while the oil in which the pancakes were fried symbolized the Jewish miracle of the oil that burned for eight days.

By the 1800s the latke was introduced to Eastern Europe where the potato, a plentiful and cheap food source, took the place of cheese. The tradition continues hundreds of years later. Grated potatoes and onions are fried in oil and topped with things like sour cream or sugar before being served for Hanukkah.

Answer: Family togetherness

Tangyuan, so the story goes, got its start in the Han Dynasty around 100 BC when a maid in the emperor's palace made these little desserts to please the ruler and be allowed to go home to visit her family. For thousands of years since, the rice flour balls have been formed, often stuffed, and boiled. Northern China tends to make their version more savory and uses meat and vegetable stuffing while serving it in a clear broth.

The lands in the southern area of the country fill it with sweets such as sugar, fruit, or bean paste and place it in a gingery sweet sauce. Through time, tangyuan has come to be served colored or filled with more of a variety of materials. Regardless of the color or taste, however, the round balls nestled together in the bowl represent the closeness of a family.

The young maid would be proud!

Answer: Quebec

The meat pie came over to Canada, and specifically Quebec, from French immigrants in the mid 1600s. A flaky pastry is filled with meats such as pork, veal, or beef. Because the dish's popularity has spread, areas of Canada near the ocean will utilize salmon or fish while the interior party of the country may substitute wild game. No matter what meat, the spices are generally made up of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg.

This delicious and filling pastry is served at reveillon, a French traditional meal served after midnight Mass and breaking the holiday fast.

Answer: In the bathtub

Carp, a freshwater fish, was introduced to Eastern Europe in the mid 1300s by monks returning from the Orient. The monasteries raised the inexpensive fish in large ponds and, because it was not considered meat, people could eat it during religious fasting. Over the centuries, the fish became one of the star ingredients for the Czech Christmas Eve feast.

It is served as a fried entree as well as in a soup. The fish itself is purchased at a market several days prior to the holiday and is traditionally kept in the family bathtub until time to kill it for the meal.

A scale from this fish is often kept as a good luck token for the upcoming year.

Answer: Log

In the years between 800 BC and 43 AD, the Celtic Brits and others in Europe celebrated the end of December and its accompanying longer days and ending of true winter. They would burn a huge log, covered with holly or ivy, to symbolize the end of the year and the start of a new one.

As the centuries passed fireplaces got smaller and there was not the space to burn giant tree trunks. By 1600 the log became represented as a baked good utilizing sponge cake. By the 1800s chefs in Paris, France had taken it to new levels and were adding marzipan and candy decorations as well as inventive fillings.

The buche de noel, no matter how simple or elaborate, continues to be an integral part of the French holiday tradition.