The Proof is in the Pudding Trivia Quiz

Answer: Middle English 'poding'

According to the Longer Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'pudding' comes from the Middle English 'poding' or 'puddyng' and is of unknown origin. It was first applied to mixtures of meat, suet, oatmeal and seasoning stuffed into the stomach or entrails of an animal and cooked to be stored, as with black pudding, white pudding or haggis today. It was not linked to the idea of a sweet dessert until at least the 16th century.

Old English 'pudd' means a ditch or furrow and became modern English 'puddle'.
Low German 'puddeln' means to splash about in water.
Latin 'pudere' means 'to be ashamed'.

Answer: Oysters

Strange as it seems today, cheap and plentiful oysters were very much the food of the poor in Victorian times. In 'The Pickwick Papers', Dickens has his character Sam Weller remark: "It's a very remarkable circumstance, sir, that poverty and oysters seems to go together."

Mushrooms were added to steak and kidney pies, but they were not widely cultivated until the end of the nineteenth century and so would actually have been the more expensive and less available ingredient.

Answer: Yorkshire Pudding

Puffed up and golden, glistening with the juices and fat from the meat, a proper Yorkshire Pudding is a thing of beauty and was traditionally served before the meat and vegetables in order to blunt appetites and make the meat go further. Now it's usually served alongside the roast as part of the trimmings, although my father-in-law always liked to save his Yorkshire (cooked with marg, not meat juices) to have with custard as a dessert.

After all, it's basically the same recipe as a pancake.

Answer: Pig's blood

It's said that you can eat every bit of a pig except the squeal and black puddings are the ultimate in this 'waste not, want not' mindset. Combining pig's blood with barley, oatmeal, diced fat, onion and seasoning, produces a tasty and relatively easy way of storing something which would otherwise go off very quickly.

Thanks to the rise in interest in traditional British foods, black pudding is widely available, but has always been most popular in the Midlands and the Northwest.

Answer: James Joyce

White pudding is similar to black pudding, but does not contain blood and is less widely available. It is a mixture of pork meat and suet, chopped parsley and a cereal filler formed into a large sausage shape.

Answer: Lungs

The word lights has been used as a synonym for lungs since at least 1200, although it tends to refer to the lungs of animals such as sheep, bullocks and pigs which are usually used as animal food. Lungs are known as lights from their relative lightness for their size.

Answer: Haggis

'Address to a Haggis' by the Scottish poet Robert Burns is always recited at Burns Night suppers, held on Burns' Night: January 25th. The haggis is carried in on a silver salver at the start of the meal, accompanied by a rousing bagpipe tune. Once the poem has been recited, the haggis is ceremonially cut and washed down with more than a drop or two of whisky.

Lorne sausage is a square sausage very popular in Scotland in which the meat is tightly packed together as it has no casing to keep it in place.

Black bun is a type of very dense fruit cake which is wrapped in pastry. Also traditionally Scottish, it is usually eaten as part of Hogmanay (New Year) celebrations.

Answer: Dock

Docks are one of the first wild plants most British children are taught to recognise as they are used to help reduce the pain of stinging nettles. The bistort and the dock are, however, from completely different families.

The World Dock Pudding Championship is held annually in the village of Mytholmroyd, West Yorkshire, England.

Answer: Pease pudding

Pease pudding is a traditional accompaniment for ham, bacon or boiled beef and is most often eaten in the North East of England and the Midlands. As well as being eaten hot, cold, leftover pease pudding can also be fried.

Mushy peas are one of the traditional accompaniments for fish and chips. They are made from lightly crushed green marrowfat peas.

Answer: Eliza Acton

Eliza Acton (1799 - 1860) has been described as, "The best writer of recipes in the English language," by modern British cookery writer Delia Smith. Her best selling cookery book, 'Modern Cookery' was widely admired for its step by step instructions and practical tone.

All the other answers are British or American cookery writers of the 20th century.