Allusionist 141. Food Quiz

MP3 • APPLE PODCASTS • RSS • SPOTIFY • GOOGLE • TRANSCRIPT

Quiz time! Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway of Home Cooking podcast join to deliver questions about food etymology, as well as what are the two words that make a dance track, and whether 'za' is an acceptable abbreviation for 'pizza'.

Play along and keep track of your score using the interactive scoresheet further down this post.

For some diverting etymological fun, try the other Quizlusionists; hear about the etymology of meat, noon meat, green meat - and names for fake meats - in F’ood; and learn more about the etymology of vagina in Under the Covers part 2. And listen to Hrishi’s several previous appearances on the Allusionist.

YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
karoshi

karoshi, noun (in Japan): death caused by overwork. Origin: Japanese, from ‘ka’ excess, ‘rō’ labour, ‘shi’ death.

CREDITS:

• Samin Nosrat‘s Salt Fat Acid Heat is available in book and Netflix series forms.

• As well as his several podcasts including Song Exploder, Hrishikesh Hirway has a new newsletter Accept Cookies, about creativity, culture and cookies. Sign up at hrishikesh.bulletin.com.

• This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman.

• The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com, listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch, and hear more of his composition on the science podcast for kids Maddie’s Sound Explorers.

• Find the show at twitter.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, twitter.com/helenzaltzman and instagram.com/allusionistshow.

• The Allusionist is an independent podcast. If you’re able and inclined to support the show, head over to patreon.com/allusionist.

Back in a fortnight with a new episode - HZ.

Food quiz playalong answer sheet:

QUESTION 1:

Aperitif derives from the Latin verb ‘aperire’ meaning ‘to open’, because in France, historically aperitifs are drinks you take at the start of a meal to encourage you to open your:

SAVOURY ROUND

QUESTION 2:

‘Calamari’ etymologically means:

QUESTION 3:

Which of the following ingredients was 1920s slang for an attractive girl?

QUESTION 4:

Which ingredient means, etymologically, ‘spear leek’?

QUESTION 5:

Carpaccio - the dish of thinly pounded raw meat - is named for the painter Vittore Carpaccio because his paintings featured a lot of:

QUESTION 6:

There was an Old English word ‘nonmete’, meaning ‘noon meat’. It meant:

QUESTION 7:

Which nut’s name etymologically means ‘foreign nut’?

SWEET ROUND

QUESTION 8:

‘Dessert’ came to the English language in the 1600s from the French word ‘desservir’, meaning what?

QUESTION 9:

‘Mousse’ derives from a French word meaning:

QUESTION 10:

Snickers bars were launched by Mars in 1930 and named after the Mars family’s favourite:

QUESTION 11:

I’m guessing you say ‘French toast’ for bread soaked in eggy liquid then fried. The dish has been around for at least 2000 years, and has a lot of names - not just French toast but also Spanish toast, German toast, Bombay toast and nun’s toast. But which of the following is NOT really one of the names French toast is also known by? 

QUESTION 12:

Which ingredient shares etymology with the word ‘vagina’?

QUESTION 13:

The phrase ‘top banana’ came about as slang for:

QUESTION 14:

In some of the earliest known recipes for meringues, in English cookbooks from the 1600s, meringues are called:

BONUS QUESTION:

What does ‘pets’ mean in French?

What did you score?