Hebrew in the Kitchen Trivia Quiz

Answer: The fridge

Brrr, it's cold inside my fridge first thing in the morning! The Hebrew word for refrigerator comes from the word 'kar' which means 'cold'. The fridge, therefore, is an appliance which keeps things cold. Opening the fridge always reminds me of a scene from "The Cosby Show" where Theo is rummaging around in there for too long so Cliff tells his son that he'll take a picture of the inside of the fridge and paste it outside the door.

Answer: Milk

I've always been told that it's best to drink a glass of milk every morning to stay healthy and to have nice hair. Since I do, there might be something to it... maybe. 'Chalav' with a fricative 'ch' is the Hebrew word for milk. The Land of Israel was described as 'eretz zavat chalav u-devash' - a land flowing with milk and honey. Having been there, it's certainly beautiful, but, nowhere did I see rivers of either of the aforementioned liquids.

Answer: Jam

Yum, raspberry jam is my favourite, though not as much as I like dulce de leche, though that's because of my Argentinian ancestry. As much as Israelis are stereotyped as liking hummus, it's not generally thought of as a breakfast food. It's also often eaten with pita rather than with regular bread. So, 'ribah' is jam and a common staple in the Israeli army is known by an acronym, lamar - 'lechem, ribah and margarina' meaning 'bread, jam, and margarine'. I'd omit the margarine, personally.

Answer: kapit

Seeing no clean spoons in the drawer, I washed one from the sink, a 'kapit'! When the 'kumkum', or kettle, had boiled, I stirred in one 'kapit' of 'sukar', or sugar, into her tea. I did not need a 'mazleg' (fork) nor a 'sakin' (knife) for this task (though I have used a knife in the past to stir when I didn't have a choice).

Many Israelis would not know what a 'tarvad' is though it did appear on a children's television show once, an episode of "Parpar Nechmad". It's a spatula!

Answer: Raisins and nuts

Raisins and nuts, or 'tzimukim ve-egozim', is a nice healthy option for kids to eat when out, and it's really easy to pack. In Israel, it's really not wise to pack chocolate... it's more likely to melt than be eaten.

Answer: Beitzim

I crack my 'beitzim' open and mix them together with vegetables, because you can't have a 'chavitah' (omelet) without cracking some eggs. The singular of 'beitzim' is 'beitzah', and it's written in Hebrew the same way as 'bitzhah' which means swamp (both are written bet, yod, tzadi, hey).

When writing without diacritical marks in Hebrew, it's very important to understand the context of what you're reading in order to not make any mistakes.

Answer: A bowl

'Ke'arrot' (the plural of ke'arra') come in all shapes and sizes. You might use one for soup or rice, you might use a bigger one to mix a casserole or soak French toast. I have a nice set of flexible mixing bowls, so I grab a 'ke'arra' and use it to beat the eggs for the 'chavitah'.

Hebrew, being an ancient language that was revived, was missing a lot of modern words. Thus, the name for 'chopsticks' in Hebrew is the same as what one would use in English as they were not mentioned in the Bible, the source for all things Hebrew.

Answer: Oven

'Tanur' is an oven, and it comes from the root of the word 'nur' which means 'flame'. Ancient ovens used fire to heat their contents, therefore, a 'tanur' is a fire-powered apparatus. It can be used to describe the oven in the kitchen, but also a furnace for warming your house or a kiln to fire ceramics.

In the Bible, 'tanur' appears in Lamentations 5:10 where it says: "Our skin is as hot as an **oven** because of the burning of famine."

Answer: tzalachat

I have many things on my shelves, but the only thing I can actually plate food on is a plate, or 'tzalachat'. A 'kos', or cup, would probably be ideal for 'mayim', or water, or maybe 'mitz', juice. A 'tapuz' might be found on the 'tzalachat' because it's an orange. A glass of 'leben' in a 'kos' might be good on the side as it's something like buttermilk or Russian kefir.

While 'tzalachat' might look long transliterated, it's actually only four letters in Hebrew.

Answer: kiyor

All the dirty dishes go into the 'kiyor'. That's the word for 'sink' in Hebrew. If I throw them on the 'ritzpah', they're likely to break, because that's the floor. I also wouldn't want to throw them in the 'pach' unless they were actually broken, as that's the garbage bin. Finally, putting them back on the 'shulchan' is a bit counter-intuitive because that's the table. So, we're not getting them clean at all.