Q 01/05

Chemist Fredric Baur asked that some of his ashes be buried in the tube-shaped can he designed for which snack?

A) Pringles

B) Lay's Stax

C) Planters

D) Cheez Balls

Answer · why

A) Pringles

Pringles honoured the wish: on the way to the funeral home his children stopped to buy a can, briefly debated the flavour, and settled on Original for...

Q 02/05

Nestlé is a Swiss giant, but its founder Henri Nestlé was born and trained as a pharmacist's apprentice in which country?

A) France

B) Austria

C) Germany

D) Italy

Answer · why

C) Germany

Germany: he was born Heinrich Nestle in Frankfurt in 1814 and became Henri Nestlé only after settling in Vevey; the surname means 'little nest', which...

Q 03/05

Early bottles of 7 Up, Charles Leiper Grigg's lemon-lime soda, claimed to contain which drug?

A) Sodium bromide

B) Potassium iodide

C) Lithium citrate

D) Cocaine extract

Answer · why

C) Lithium citrate

Lithium citrate put the 'Lithiated' in the early label 7Up Lithiated Lemon Soda: Grigg reckoned the supposed health benefits of lithia, a drug now use...

Q 04/05

Starbucks took its name from Starbuck, the chief mate in which 1851 novel?

A) Treasure Island

B) Captain Blood

C) Robinson Crusoe

D) Moby-Dick

Answer · why

D) Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick supplied the name almost by accident: co-founder Gordon Bowker said the book had nothing to do with the coffee shop and the sound simply see...

Q 05/05

Reuben Mattus coined Häagen-Dazs in the Bronx to sound as if his ice cream came from which country?

A) Denmark

B) Sweden

C) Norway

D) Finland

Answer · why

A) Denmark

Denmark was picked as a tribute to its treatment of Jews during World War II; the made-up words mean nothing in Danish, which has no umlaut ä.