A Literary Dinner Party Trivia Game | Specific Subjects & Themes

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In which seminal maritime-themed novel does a character named Queequeg enjoy a bowl of soup "made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazelnuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt"?

Answer: Moby-Dick

Being mostly set at sea, Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851) does not emphasize food as other famous novels do. In fact, the only meals described in detail in the story take place before the crew board the ship. In Chapter XV of the novel, Ishmael, the first-person narrator, and his shipmate, Polynesian harpooner Queequeg, eat a delicious bowl of clam chowder at the Spouter Inn in Nantucket the night before leaving for their fateful voyage on the Pequod. The chapter is titled after the thick seafood soup that is especially popular in New England, though it probably originated on shipboard - where it was thickened with hardtack, as in the novel, rather than milk, cream or potatoes.

All the other novels listed have a maritime theme, though none of them features a character by the name of Queequeg.

2. One of the most famous dinners in literary history dates back from the 1st century AD. Who was the Roman author who wrote about Trimalchio's feast, during which "dormice seasoned with honey and poppy-seed" and "stuffed capons and sows' bellies, and in the middle, a hare equipped with wings to resemble Pegasus" (as well as other rather outlandish delicacies) were served to the guests?

Answer: Petronius

"The Dinner of Trimalchio" is the central episode of the "Satyricon", a work of fiction attributed to the Roman courtier Gaius Petronius, also known as "arbiter elegantiarium" (judge of elegance), who lived during the reign of Nero (45-68 AD). The lengthy episode comprises Chapters 26-78 of this very innovative work, one of the earliest examples of the novel genre. The episode was enormously influential in its representation of the excesses of a nouveau riche (Trimalchio is a former slave who has become enormously wealthy through shady means), and inspired the description of Gatsby's showy dinner parties in Francis Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby". Though some sections of the "Satyricon" have been lost, 141 sections of consecutive narrative have been preserved; the original text was probably thousands of pages long.

The remaining options are all great Roman writers, though they lived earlier (Cicero and Virgil) or slightly later (Tacitus) than Petronius, and also specialized in different genres.

3. "An exquisite scent of olives and oil and juice rose from the great brown dish as Marthe, with a little flourish, took the cover off. The cook had spent three days over that dish and she must take great care, Mrs. Ramsay thought..." In which rather slow-moving 20th-century novel would you find this mouth-watering description?

Answer: To the Lighthouse

On the Internet you will be able to find many recipes for the classic southern French stew known as "boeuf en daube", the dish described as the centrepiece of the dinner party at the end of Part I of Virginia Woolf's "To the Lighthouse" (1927). The story, divided into three parts (the second of which bridges the ten-year gap between the events), is set in the Ramsay family's summer home on the isle of Skye. The novel contains very little dialogue and almost no action, being instead based on the thoughts and observations of its characters, especially Mrs Ramsay, the lady of the house - who, as shown in the dinner party scene, is a bit of a perfectionist.

While all the remaining options are novels by women authors, none of them was written in the 20th century.

4. "There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavour, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of bone upon the dish), they hadn't ate it all particular, were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows!" Which iconic 19th-century novel features this heartwarming dinner scene?

Answer: A Christmas Carol

In the third stave (chapter) of Charles Dickens' evergreen "A Christmas Carol" (1843), the Ghost of Christmas Present (a green-clad giant who represents generosity, prosperity and good will) takes Christmas-hating miser Ebenezer Scrooge to the house of his put-upon, impoverished clerk, Bob Cratchit. Together they watch the family sit down to a dinner whose centrepiece, a roast goose, is barely enough to feed a family of seven.

The Cratchits, however, enjoy the feast thoroughly, and the warmth of their bond shines through in the scene - made more poignant by the realization that the family's youngest child, Tiny Tim, may not be long for this world, unless the course of events changes.

5. "'It is a hole as big as thy head,' said the woman fretfully. But she filled it, none the less, with good, steaming vegetable curry, clapped a dried cake atop, and a morsel of clarified butter on the cake, dabbed a lump of sour tamarind conserve at the side; and Kim looked at the load lovingly." Which Nobel Prize-winning author wrote the novel "Kim", which includes this tantalizing description of an exotic meal?

Answer: Rudyard Kipling

"Kim" (1901) is the last of the four novels written by English author Rudyard Kipling, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature a few years later, in 1907. It is the story of Kimball O'Hara, the orphaned son of poor Irish parents who lives a vagabond life in late 19th-century India (where Kipling was born), thoroughly immersed in the local culture in spite of his European heritage. He befriends an old Tibetan lama and becomes his disciple, setting out with him on a spiritual journey; in the scene quoted above, Kim is buying food for the lama from a street vendor. The many food descriptions of in the book bear witness to Kipling's love of Indian food, which contrasts with his often controversial attitude towards the native population.

All the other writers listed as wrong answers won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the first half of the 20th century.

6. The protagonist of this monumental early 20th-century novel, which chronicles a day in his life, is introduced as someone who "ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liver slices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencod's roes."

Answer: Ulysses

For many of you, this will definitely be something NOT to try for your next dinner party! Organ meats, however, are commonly eaten in many parts of the world, and form the basis of many tasty dishes. This passage appears at the beginning of Episode 4 ("Calypso") of James Joyce's "Ulysses", a challenging work of fiction that contains numerous references to food and drink. The novel - famous, among other things, for Joyce's innovative use of the stream-of-consciousness technique - was published in 1921. Leopold Bloom, an advertising agent of Jewish descent, is the protagonist of the novel, which is set on 16 June 1904, each chapter paralleling an episode in Homer's "Odyssey". Food plays a prominent role in "Ulysses", with a whole chapter, "Lestrygonians" (Episode 8), revolving around eating and digestion.

All the other novels were published in the first three decades of the 20th century; none of them, however, takes place during one single day.

7. "In a twinkling the table was laid. There was hot soup, cold meats, a blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, and half a ripe cheese: good plain food, as good as the Shire could show, and homelike enough to dispel the last of Sam's misgivings (already much relieved by the excellence of the beer)." In which highly influential fantasy tale would you find a group of four friends sitting down to such an appetizing meal?

Answer: The Lord of the Rings

J.R.R. Tolkien's unforgettable creations, the hairy-footed, cheerful hobbits, enjoy good food and drink above all things. Therefore, it is not surprising that the author's masterpiece, "The Lord of the Rings" (1954-55), abounds with descriptions of meals, from the most frugal to the most sumptuous. This passage is taken from "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony", the ninth chapter of "The Fellowship of the Ring". After many hair-raising adventures, the four hobbits - Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin - finally reach the village of Bree, and partake of a well-deserved meal at the titular inn - where other suspenseful events await them.

All the remaining options are popular 20th-century fantasy novels, though none of them features a character named Sam or a place named The Shire.

8. "But it was upon the table that the cheeses appeared in greatest profusion. Here, by the side of the pound-rolls of butter lying on white-beet leaves, spread a gigantic Cantal cheese, cloven here and there as by an axe; then came a golden-hued Cheshire, and next a Gruy�re, resembling a wheel fallen from some barbarian chariot..." This passage belongs to a longer episode, known as "The Cheese Symphony", in "The Belly of Paris", a novel by which great 19th-century French author - known for his involvement in the Dreyfus affair?

Answer: �mile Zola

Cheese lovers will swoon while reading this famous passage from �mile Zola's "Le Ventre de Paris" (1873), the third novel in his 20-volume cycle "Les Rougon-Macquart". The novel, famous for its intensely sensory descriptions of various foods, is set in the huge fresh food market of Les Halles, the titular "belly of Paris", which was sadly demolished in 1971 to make way for a shopping mall. The protagonist of the novel, Florent, is a political prisoner who gets a job as a fish inspector at the market after his escape from prison. The above quote is taken from the most recent translation of the novel, by American writer Mark Kurlansky (2009). Zola's "J'accuse...!", an open letter to the French president F�lix Faure, published in 1898 and concerning the wrongful conviction of army officer Alfred Dreyfus, caused a stir in France and abroad, causing the writer to flee to England to avoid being imprisoned for libel.

The remaining choices are all major 19th-century French authors, but only one of them (Flaubert) was a novelist, and he was already dead at the time of the Dreyfus affair.

9. Southern food at its finest! In which beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel would you come across a table "loaded with enough food to bury the family: hunks of salt pork, tomatoes, beans, even scuppernongs. Atticus grinned when he found a jar of pickled pigs' knuckles"?

Answer: To Kill a Mockingbird

Like other novels set in the American South, Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1960) features a lot of food, whose simple comfort contrasts with the dark undercurrents of racism and intolerance running through the fictional town of Maycomb. The name Atticus obviously refers to the novel's main character, lawyer Atticus Finch, the father of first-person narrator Scout. The lavish spread described in the passage is sent to Atticus the morning after Tom Robinson's trial as a gesture of appreciation for defending Tom (accused of raping a white woman) without being paid for it. Scuppernongs are a variety of large muscadine grapes native to the southeastern US; they are the state fruit of North Carolina.

All the remaining three options won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, though "The Grapes of Wrath" is not set in the American South.

10. "Dickon made the stimulating discovery that in the wood in the park outside the garden where Mary had first found him piping to the wild creatures there was a deep little hollow where you could build a sort of tiny oven with stones and roast potatoes and eggs in it. Roasted eggs were a previously unknown luxury and very hot potatoes with salt and fresh butter in them were fit for a woodland king-besides being deliciously satisfying." In which classic children's novel would two of the main characters enjoy such a simple yet tasty meal?

Answer: The Secret Garden

In Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" (1911), food becomes a symbol of Mary Lennox's transformation from a sickly, selfish child to a healthy, giving one. Indeed, it is the garden itself that seems to nourish Mary and her cousin Colin (who is suffering from a mysterious illness), giving them a sense of purpose and offering many opportunities for appetite-forming physical exercise. Of the many feasts described in the book, the one in the above passage combines the discovery of nature with the simple joys of food shared in friendship. With his affinity for wild animals and open, generous nature, Dickon, the 12-year-old brother of Mary's maid Martha, is instrumental to the young girl's change - which in turn leads to Colin's recovery.

The remaining options are all considered classics of children's literature, though there are no Marys or Dickons among their main characters.

Source: Author LadyNym

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor MotherGoose before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

A Literary Dinner Party Trivia Quiz

Food plays a very important role in many famous literary works. Here are some ideas for your next dinner party, courtesy of a number of authors from different backgrounds.

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