80 Fun Facts About World Food

Poutine, the dish of fries, cheese curds and hot gravy, was created in the late 1950s in which country?

It came out of the Centre-du-Québec region and was mocked for years; in 2007 a CBC poll ranked it among the greatest Canadian inventions.

Which savoury pudding of sheep's heart, liver and lungs is the centrepiece of a Burns supper?

The supper falls on or near 25 January, Robert Burns's birthday. Since 1971 the real thing has been illegal to import into the US because of a ban on food containing sheep lung.

In which city is chicken tikka masala, hailed in 2001 as 'a true British national dish', thought to have been invented?

The usual credit goes to Ali Ahmed Aslam of the Shish Mahal restaurant, who supposedly added a tomato-cream sauce for a customer who found his chicken too dry.

The croissant is descended from the kipferl, a crescent pastry from which country?

An Austrian officer, August Zang, opened a Viennese bakery in Paris in 1838 or 1839, and the French laminated-dough version grew from there.

The word ketchup most likely comes from Hokkien Chinese words for the brine of what?

The first tomato ketchup recipe did not appear until 1812, when James Mease published one in America.

From the 1600s, ketchup in Britain was made mainly from which ingredient?

Mushroom ketchup is still sold in the UK; the tomato version is an American invention of the early 1800s.

Pavlova, the meringue dessert, is claimed as a national dish by Australia and which other country?

A recipe for "Strawberries Pavlova" ran in the New Zealand Herald as early as 11 November 1911, which the Kiwis consider decisive.

In 2022 UNESCO listed which country's borscht-cooking culture as heritage in need of urgent safeguarding?

The listing came shortly after the Russian invasion. The soup's name predates the beetroot: it originally referred to a soup of pickled hogweed.

Injera, the spongy sour flatbread of Ethiopia and Eritrea, is traditionally made from which grain?

The bread doubles as plate and cutlery: stews are ladled onto it and diners tear off pieces to scoop them up.

Ceviche joined UNESCO's heritage list in December 2023 as a traditional dish of which country?

Peru had already declared it national heritage and gave it its own holiday, National Ceviche Day on 28 June.

Kimjang, the communal autumn making of which fermented dish, was recognised by UNESCO in 2013?

There are more than 180 recognised varieties, and in 2008 a bacteria-free version was engineered so astronaut Yi So-yeon could take it into space.

The red, white and green of a pizza Margherita are popularly said to represent what?

The legend has the pizza made for Queen Margherita of Savoy on 10 June 1889, though historians note similar pizzas existed decades earlier.

Which Neapolitan pizzaiolo is credited by legend with creating the pizza Margherita in 1889?

The Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned it. Lombardi, by contrast, is the man usually credited with opening America's first pizzeria in New York.

In the strictest Neapolitan tradition there are only two true pizzas: the Margherita and which other?

The marinara has no cheese at all, just tomato, garlic, oregano and oil. Neapolitan pizza has been an EU traditional speciality guaranteed since 2010.

The name of the dessert tiramisu translates from Italian as what?

The lift comes from espresso-soaked savoiardi biscuits layered with mascarpone and dusted with cocoa.

In which city was tiramisu reportedly invented at Ado Campeol's restaurant Le Beccherie in 1969?

His wife Alba di Pillo and pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto get the credit; the restaurant is still there.

The Turkish word döner, as in döner kebab, comes from a verb meaning what?

The meat cooks on a vertical rotisserie; the sandwich version we know today was popularised by Turkish immigrants in 1970s West Berlin.

Currywurst was invented in 1949 by Herta Heuwer, who sold it from a stand in which city?

She got the ketchup (or possibly Worcestershire sauce) and curry powder from British soldiers. Germany now eats an estimated 800 million currywursts a year.

Which country's Cheese Union promoted fondue as a national dish in the 1930s?

The union was a cartel trying to sell more cheese; it later pitched fondue to Americans at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

What is the name of the communal pot in which fondue is served?

It sits over a small portable stove so the cheese and wine mixture stays liquid throughout the meal.

Pho, the broth-and-rice-noodle soup usually made with beef, comes from which country?

One theory ties the name to the French pot-au-feu, since beef became common there under French rule; refugees carried the soup around the world after 1975.

Residents of which northern city are credited as the first to create pho, in the early 1900s?

It reached Hanoi soon after and became a street food there before spreading south.

The friendly "Jollof wars" over the best jollof rice are fought mainly between Nigeria and which country?

The dish itself is named for the Wolof people of Senegal, whose Jolof Empire ruled the region from about the 12th century.

"Paella" is the Valencian word for what?

The dish grew up around Valencia's Albufera lagoon in the mid-1800s and is one of the region's identifying symbols.

Which of these belongs in a traditional paella valenciana, according to Valencian cooks?

The classic version uses rabbit, chicken, duck, snails and beans; seafood, in the words of purists, is absolutely out of the question.

What is the single defining component of sushi?

The dish evolved from narezushi, fish fermented in rice for preservation; the rice was originally thrown away and only later became the point.

Nigiri sushi, seafood on hand-pressed rice, was invented around 1824 by which Edo-period cook?

It was fast food for Edo's workers, sold from stalls; the pieces were far larger than the modern two-bite version.

Which country produces around 90% of the world's saffron?

Premium saffron regularly sells for more than US$5,000 a kilogram, which makes it the most expensive spice by weight.

Roughly how many crocus flowers does it take to produce one kilogram of saffron?

Each flower yields just three crimson threads, all picked by hand, which is the whole reason for the price.

Which pungent 'king of fruits' is banned from hotels and public transport in Singapore?

The smell can linger for days. Thailand was the world's top exporter as of 2018.

Casu martzu, a Sardinian sheep-milk cheese outlawed across the EU, is famous for containing what?

The name means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian; enthusiasts eat it maggots and all.

Iceland's hákarl is fermented for months because which animal's fresh flesh is poisonous?

The raw meat is loaded with urea and trimethylamine oxide. Anthony Bourdain called the finished product the single worst thing he had ever eaten.

In 2006 several airlines banned surströmming, Sweden's fermented herring, because the cans might do what?

The fish has been eaten since at least the 16th century and is traditionally opened outdoors, for obvious reasons; each year's batch is released on the third Thursday of August.

Fugu, the Japanese pufferfish delicacy, is dangerous because it carries which poison?

Only chefs with three or more years of training may prepare it, and one Tokyo chef claims the Emperor has never been allowed to eat it.

Balut, a popular street food in the Philippines, is what?

The egg is usually incubated for two to three weeks first and eaten straight from the shell; it is also common in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Vegemite, the dark Australian spread, is made from the leftover extract of what?

Chemist Cyril Callister developed it in Melbourne in 1922 and it went on sale in October 1923 as an Australian rival to Britain's Marmite.

Bunny chow, a fast food from Durban, South Africa, is curry served inside what?

No rabbit is involved: it grew up among Durban's Indian South African community, and "chow" is just slang for food.

Under Austrian law, a dish sold as Wiener schnitzel must be made from which meat?

The pork version must be labelled "Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein"; the breaded, pan-fried cutlet is one of Austria's national dishes.

Along with Chardonnay and Meunier, which dark-skinned grape is used to make almost all Champagne?

Early cellar workers wore iron masks against spontaneously bursting bottles, and no, Dom Pérignon did not invent the bubbles.

Roquefort, the first cheese given France's AOC protection, is made from which animal's milk?

EU law says only cheese aged in the natural Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon may use the name.

The Mexican preparation mole takes its name from an Aztec-language word meaning simply what?

Mole poblano from Puebla is the famous one; a single recipe can run to 20 or 30 ingredients, and chocolate was a later addition rather than a pre-Hispanic staple.

Feijoada, the national food of the largest country in South America, is a slow-cooked stew built on what?

In Brazil it is usually black beans with salted pork and beef, served with rice, farofa and orange slices to help digestion.

Which slow-cooked Indonesian meat dish topped CNN's 2011 poll of the world's 50 best foods?

It comes from the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, and if cooked dry enough it keeps for up to four weeks without refrigeration.

Which Indonesian dish came second in CNN's 2011 poll of the world's most delicious foods?

It is fried rice with sweet kecap manis, regarded as a national dish of Indonesia; some 35,000 people voted.

Koshary, Egypt's national dish, piles rice, lentils, chickpeas and fried onions on top of what?

The mix of macaroni and lentils looks like a modern mash-up, but the article traces a lentil-and-grain ancestor back to ancient Egypt.

Ackee, half of Jamaica's national dish ackee and saltfish, is what kind of food?

Parts of it are toxic before the pod opens naturally, which is why fresh ackee faces import restrictions in the United States.

Which Beijing restaurant, established in 1864, became famous for its hung-oven Peking duck?

The dish is served in stages: crisp skin first, then meat with pancakes, spring onion and sweet bean sauce, then the carcass as broth.

In WWII, fish and chips was one of the few British foods never subject to what?

The government judged it too important for morale. The first shops appeared in the 1860s, and the newspaper wrapping lasted until hygiene rules ended it.

White Castle, the first hamburger restaurant chain, opened in 1921 in which city?

The hamburger's name traces to Hamburg, Germany, but at least four American towns claim to have invented the sandwich itself.

The potato was first domesticated 7,000 to 10,000 years ago around which body of water?

That is the high Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia. The Spanish carried the potato to Europe in the late 1500s, and today China grows about a quarter of the world's crop.

Traders from which country carried chili peppers to Africa, Arabia and Asia in the 1500s?

That is how the pepper reached India, Thailand and Sichuan, none of which had chilies before the Columbian exchange.

Rice is the staple food for roughly what share of the world's population?

It was first domesticated in China's Yangtze valley about 9,000 years ago, and Asia still grows around 90% of the world's supply.

The word tomato comes, via Spanish, from tomatl, a word in which language?

The plant originated in western South America and reached Europe with the Spanish in the 1500s; botanically the fruit is a berry.

World Food Day is held every 16 October to mark the 1945 founding of which organisation?

The day itself was created at the organisation's 20th General Conference in 1979.

Which bread's artisanal know-how joined UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2022?

France gets through about 30 million a day, but Algeria eats even more, around 49 million.

Who invented instant noodles in 1958?

His Nissin company followed with Cup Noodles in 1971, and a 2000 Japanese poll voted instant noodles the country's best invention of the 20th century.

Halloumi, the grillable cheese that won EU protected status in 2021, comes from which island?

Traditionally a blend of goat and sheep milk, it has such a high melting point that it can be fried or grilled without collapsing.

In 2023 which country grew 31% of the world's coffee, more than any other?

Vietnam came second. The arabica plant itself is native to the highlands of Ethiopia, and the earliest solid evidence of drinking it comes from 15th-century Sufi communities in Yemen.

Mace, the spice, is made from which part of the nutmeg fruit?

The tree is native to Indonesia's Banda Islands; in 1667 the English swapped the nutmeg island of Run to the Dutch in exchange for Manhattan.

Which 12-year-old enslaved boy discovered in 1841 how to hand-pollinate vanilla, making it a global crop?

He lived on the French island of Réunion. His technique is still used, since the orchid will not self-pollinate outside Mexico, where its natural pollinator lives.

The Hungarian word gulyás, root of the word goulash, means what?

The dish began as herdsmen's food cooked over open fires on the plains and is now one of Hungary's national symbols.

Adobo, the Philippines' unofficial national dish, simmers meat in garlic, soy sauce and what?

Despite the Spanish name, the cooking method is indigenous to the islands and predates colonisation.

"True cinnamon", Cinnamomum verum, is named for its origins in which country?

Most supermarket cinnamon is actually cassia; ancient Egyptians used the real thing to embalm mummies.

The empanada is thought to have originated in the 7th century in which region of Spain?

The name comes from empanar, to coat in bread; a 1520 Catalan cookbook already lists seafood-filled empanadas.

Reading fortunes in the grounds left after drinking Turkish coffee is a practice known as what?

The coffee is brewed unfiltered in a cezve, which is what leaves the thick sediment to read.

The name of the Korean dish bibimbap literally describes what?

Warm rice is topped with seasoned vegetables and gochujang; the dolsot version arrives in a stone bowl hot enough to crisp the bottom layer.

In 2010, which country had the world's highest per-person tea consumption, at 2.7 kg a year?

After plain water, tea is the most widely drunk beverage on Earth, and China grows about half of it.

Across Mesoamerican civilisations, cocoa beans were used as what?

They were also drunk bitter with spices and offered as tribute; today the Ivory Coast alone grows roughly a third of the world's cocoa.

The Italian word gelato literally means what?

Artisanal gelato has only 6 to 9 percent butterfat and is served warmer than American ice cream, which is why it tastes so intense.

Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia and which country jointly nominated couscous to UNESCO in 2020?

The four rivals set aside a long argument over who owns the dish; the granules are rolled semolina steamed over a stew in a couscoussier.

A tagine's tall conical lid is designed to do what?

The shape means a stew can cook for hours with very little water, which suited the dry Berber homelands where the pot originated.

In 2010, 300 cooks in which country made a record-breaking 10,450 kg plate of hummus?

The record more than doubled the previous mark set by Israeli-Arab cooks; the word hummus is simply Arabic for chickpeas.

Under its 2011 protected status, a genuine Cornish pasty must be D-shaped and crimped where?

The thick crimp gave tin miners a handle to hold with dirty fingers; the filling is beef, potato, swede and onion.

Tamales are made from masa, a dough of corn treated by which process?

The dough is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf; the word comes from the Nahuatl 'tamalli'.

Poland's first cookbook, which includes a pierogi recipe, was published in which year?

Compendium ferculorum, albo Zebranie potraw established the dumpling's pedigree; typical fillings include potato and twaróg cheese.

Which chef created the modern Greek version of moussaka in the 1920s?

His layered version with a béchamel top also came with a vegan variant for Orthodox fast days.

Jamaican jerk seasoning is built around Scotch bonnet peppers and which other key spice?

Both ingredients are native to Jamaica and were cultivated by the Taíno; the word 'jerk' likely comes from the Quechua-derived 'charqui'.

The Cantonese term 'dim sum' translates literally as what?

The dishes grew out of Canton's 10th-century teahouse custom of 'yum cha', or brunch with tea.

Which Turkish city's pistachio baklava won the first EU protected status for a Turkish product?

Antep Baklavası was registered as a Protected Geographical Indication in 2013, after Çelebi Güllü brought the recipe there from Damascus in 1871.

Rice noodles came from China centuries ago, but pad thai itself was invented in which decade?

It was originally called kuai tiao pad thai, 'kuai tiao' being a Teochew loanword for thick rice noodles.