This Mexican food trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers and covers the whole table: mole poblano and its 20-odd ingredients, pozole and tamales that predate the Aztecs, chiles en nogada in the colours of the flag, cochinita pibil from the south, carnitas from Michoacán, and desserts like tres leches, flan and pan de muerto. Drinks get their due too, with tequila, mezcal, pulque, horchata, aguas frescas and the michelada. It is built for anyone who loves eating Mexican food and wants to know where it comes from: the Nahuatl words behind guacamole and tortilla, why corn is soaked in limewater, which chile becomes a chipotle, and how nachos and the Caesar salad were both invented on Mexican soil. Difficulty runs from easy warm-ups to a handful of questions that will test a serious food nerd. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and primary references before publishing, and each question carries a source citation, so you can settle arguments as well as start them.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year did UNESCO inscribe traditional Mexican cuisine on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list?
2010
It was one of the first national cuisines to make the list, recognised the same year as the French gastronomic meal.
Q 02Roughly how many ingredients does an average mole poblano contain?
20
And that is on the simple end: mole almendrado averages 26 and some Oaxacan moles pass 30.
Q 03Pozole is a hearty Mexican soup built around which key ingredient?
Hominy
The name comes from Nahuatl pozolli, and it is a fixture on New Year's Eve tables in Mexico and New Mexico.
Q 04Tamales are thought to have originated in Mesoamerica as early as roughly when?
8000 to 5000 BC
The Aztecs and Maya later used them as portable rations for hunting trips and armies on the march.
Q 05In tropical parts of Mexico such as Oaxaca, tamales are commonly wrapped in what instead of corn husks?
Banana leaves
The larger leaf-wrapped versions in the region are known as pibs.
Q 06The green chile, white sauce and red pomegranate of chiles en nogada are meant to represent what?
The Mexican flag
The dish is poblano chiles stuffed with picadillo, and it is a fixture of Independence Day season in September.
Q 07The creamy nogada sauce on chiles en nogada is made from which nut?
Walnuts
The dish is traditionally made in central Mexico in August and early September, when pomegranates are in season.
Q 08Legend says chiles en nogada were first prepared in 1821 to entertain which future emperor of Mexico?
Agustín de Iturbide
He was passing through Puebla after signing the Treaty of Córdoba, which sealed Mexican independence.
Q 09The word guacamole comes from Classical Nahuatl and literally translates to what?
Avocado sauce
It is āhuacatl (avocado) plus mōlli (sauce), the same mōlli that gives us the word mole.
Q 10Guacamole is traditionally mashed with salt in which stone tool?
A molcajete
The molcajete is a volcanic-rock mortar; the pestle that goes with it is the tejolote.
Q 11In the early 1900s, avocados in the United States often went by what name?
Alligator pear
Avocado seeds found in Mexico's Tehuacán Valley date back roughly 9,000 to 10,000 years.
Q 12In nixtamalization, corn is soaked and cooked in what kind of solution before grinding?
Limewater
The alkaline bath loosens the hulls, improves the flavour, and makes the grain far more nutritious.
Q 13Nixtamalizing corn makes tryptophan available and helps prevent which deficiency disease?
Pellagra
Populations that adopted corn without the process suffered outbreaks of the disease well into the 20th century.
Q 21What does the word carnitas literally mean?
Little meats
The pork is braised and fried in lard over very low heat until it is tender inside and crisp at the edges.
Q 22Carnitas are most closely associated with which Mexican state?
Michoacán
The traditional cuts are heavily marbled shoulder pieces, seasoned and simmered in a thick-bottomed pot.
Q 23A churrera pipes churro dough into hot oil through a nozzle of what shape?
Star
That is where the ridges come from; in Mexico churros are often filled with cajeta or dulce de leche.
Cajeta, the caramel famously made in Celaya, is a dulce de leche made from which animal's milk?
Q 14What is the name of the dough formed from nixtamalized cornmeal that becomes tortillas and tamales?
Masa
The word nixtamalization itself is Nahuatl: nextli (ash) plus tamalli (cooked corn dough).
Q 15The Aztecs and other Nahuatl speakers called tortillas by what name?
Tlaxcalli
The city of Tlaxcala shares the root, and the Spanish renamed the flatbread after their own round cakes and omelettes.
Q 16The Spanish word tortilla, from torta plus a diminutive ending, literally means what?
Little cake
The discs are traditionally cooked on a very hot iron griddle called a comal.
Q 17Elote, Mexican street corn on the cob, is classically dusted with which crumbly grated cheese?
Cotija
Mayonnaise, chili powder, citrus and salt round out the classic version, often served on a stick at fairs.
Q 18Chilaquiles, fried tortilla pieces simmered in salsa, are usually eaten at which meal?
Breakfast
The dish is a classic way to use up leftover tortillas and salsas from the day before.
Q 19Which seed gives the Mexican pork dish cochinita pibil its burnt-orange colour?
Annatto
The meat is marinated in bitter orange juice, then roasted in a píib, a pit dug into the ground.
Q 20The word barbacoa, the root of the English word barbecue, comes from which language?
Taíno
The original term meant a framework of sticks; in Mexico it came to mean meat cooked in a pit lined with maguey leaves.
Goat
Elsewhere in Latin America the same slow-cooked sweet milk goes by arequipe, manjar or manjar blanco.
Q 25Flan napolitano, made in parts of Mexico, adds which ingredient to caramel custard for a denser texture?
Cream cheese
The base dessert is what the French call crème caramel: baked custard under a layer of clear caramel.
Q 26Mexican horchata is typically made from which grain?
Rice
The Spanish original, horchata de chufa from Valencia, is made from tiger nuts instead.
Q 27Agua de jamaica, one of the most common aguas frescas, is brewed from which flower?
Hibiscus
The same deep-red infusion is drunk as sorrel in the Caribbean and West Africa.
Q 28Tequila must be distilled from which specific plant?
Blue agave
Jimadores strip the leaves with a knife called a coa to reach the piña, the succulent core that gets cooked and crushed.
Q 29In which year was the Agave Landscape around the town of Tequila declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
2006
The listing also covers the ancient industrial distilleries; the drink itself can only legally be made in Jalisco and a few municipalities of four other states.
Q 30The gusano sometimes added to bottles of mezcal is actually the larva of what?
A moth
The practice only began in the 1940s or 1950s, and about 90 percent of Mexican mezcal comes from Oaxaca.