British Food
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50 free British Food trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
British food has a worse reputation than it deserves, and most of the blame belongs to wartime rationing. Before it, Britain had invented the sandwich, the Sunday roast, the ice cream cone and the first English curry recipe; after it, the country reinvented itself with chicken tikka masala, the gastropub and more cheeses than France. This quiz covers the whole story. These 50 questions run from Celtic cider and Colchester oysters to the Anglo-Saxon love of bacon, the Norman words for beef and pork, the Forme of Cury and the live blackbirds baked in Tudor pies. The Georgian and Victorian sections cover Hannah Glasse, the Earl of Sandwich, Cornish pasties, Welsh rarebit, the Duchess who invented afternoon tea, Joseph Malin's first chippy, Lea & Perrins and the Quaker chocolate dynasties. Then come rationing, beans on toast, Coronation chicken, the Birmingham balti and the Michelin stars of Bray, plus the regional classics: stargazy pie, Stinking Bishop, Dorset knobs, Wensleydale and the correct order of jam and cream. Easy questions stick to famous dishes; the expert tier asks about medieval cookbooks, 1893 recipes and cheese-rolling prizes. Every answer is cited and explained.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who is credited as the first television celebrity chef, in Britain?
Philip Harben
Fanny Cradock followed him onto 1950s screens.
Q 02Which British chef was the youngest in the world to win three Michelin stars?
Marco Pierre White
His book White Heat was later called possibly the most influential recipe book in 20 years.
Q 03How many Michelin stars had Gordon Ramsay's restaurants earned in total by 2024?
17
At that point it was the most for any British chef and third-highest in the world.
Q 04Which drink did Julius Caesar record the Celtic Britons making from apples?
Cider
Cheese-making in Britain goes back to about 3,800 BC.
Q 05Oysters from which English town were prized as a delicacy in ancient Rome?
Colchester
The Romans also planted vineyards as far north as Lincolnshire.
Q 06Which people introduced bacon to Britain?
The Anglo-Saxons
The Vikings contributed techniques for smoking and drying fish.
Q 07English words like beef, pork and gravy come from the language of which conquerors?
The Normans
Gravy, jelly and mustard are Old French imports too.
Q 08The 14th-century cookbook the Forme of Cury came from the court of which king?
Richard II
Its recipes include gingerbread and sweet-and-sour sauces.
Q 09Which nursery rhyme refers to live birds hidden under a pie crust at banquets?
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Four and twenty blackbirds began to sing when the pie was opened.
Q 10Shortbread was refined into its modern form during whose reign?
Mary, Queen of Scots
It had been known in some form since the 12th century.
Q 11Europe's oldest continually serving coffee house, opened in 1654, is in which city?
Oxford
Queen's Lane Coffee House is still open.
Q 12In which year did the Royal Navy stop issuing a daily rum ration?
1970
Grog, rum diluted with water, had been a staple since the capture of Jamaica in 1655.
Q 13Whose 1747 book contains the first known English recipe for curry?
Hannah Glasse
Franklin, Jefferson and Washington all owned copies of The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.
Q 14What did a 1747 cookbook call the dish now known as the burger?
Q 21The first British ketchup recipe was based on which main ingredient?
Mushrooms
Eliza Smith's version also used anchovies and horseradish.
Q 22The Scots created modern marmalade by adapting a paste of which fruit?
Quince
They swapped in bitter oranges and made it spreadable.
Q 23Eccles cakes are small flaky pastries filled with what?
Currants
They remain popular in Manchester and Lancashire.
Q 24How often did Queen Victoria order curry, on average?
Hamburgh sausage
The same book first mentioned Yorkshire pudding and piccalilli.
Q 15The Earl of Sandwich reputedly ordered meat between bread so he could keep doing what?
Gambling
It could be eaten without cutlery during late-night sessions at the tables.
Q 16The pasty was a portable lunch for tin miners in which county?
Cornwall
A 2021 survey found 90% of Britons had eaten one.
Q 17Welsh rarebit is toast topped with a sauce of cheese, mustard and what?
Ale
It developed as a tavern dish in the 18th century.
Q 18The French nickname "les Rosbifs" for the English refers to which dish?
Roast beef
Roast beef became tied to the Sunday roast in the late 18th century.
Q 19Toad in the hole originally used beef and which bird instead of sausages?
Pigeon
Poor households stretched their meat by baking it in batter.
Q 20The stew scouse gave its name to the people of which city?
Liverpool
The name comes from lobscouse, a sailors' dish.
Twice a week
Her taste spread through the aristocracy and then the country.
Q 25Which lady-in-waiting is credited with starting afternoon tea?
Anna Maria Russell
The Duchess of Bedford asked for tea, bread and cake in her room between lunch and a late dinner.
Q 26Who opened the first fish and chip shop?
Joseph Malin
He was an Eastern European Jewish immigrant in London.
Q 27About how many sausage rolls does Greggs sell each year?
140 million
The sausage roll only became widely available in the 19th century.
Q 28Worcestershire sauce is made primarily from vinegar, tamarind, spices and what?
Anchovies
Chemists John Lea and William Perrins developed it in the early 19th century.
Q 29HP Sauce is named after what?
The Houses of Parliament
It is made from tomatoes, molasses, vinegar and spices.
Q 30Which English writer published the world's first recipe for an ice cream cone?
Agnes Marshall
Her cone was made of baked almonds.