Q 01/05

Which vegetable did President George H. W. Bush refuse to eat in 1990, saying he had hated it since childhood?

A) Spinach

B) Broccoli

C) Lima beans

D) Zucchini

Answer · why

B) Broccoli

Broccoli growers answered the president by sending 10 tons of it to the White House in trucks. The delivery never reached the menu and was donated to ...

Q 02/05

The original Halloween jack-o'-lanterns of Ireland and Scotland were carved from which root vegetable?

A) Turnip

B) Parsnip

C) Carrot

D) Celeriac

Answer · why

A) Turnip

Turnip lanterns carved with grotesque faces lit Halloween across Ireland and Britain in the 19th century. Immigrants took the custom to the United Sta...

Q 03/05

A thousand years ago, long before the orange variety took over, cultivated carrots were typically which colour?

A) Green

B) Pink

C) Purple

D) Brown

Answer · why

C) Purple

Purple roots were the norm in the 10th century, coloured by anthocyanin pigments. Orange carrots did not become the standard until centuries later, he...

Q 04/05

Which major US city takes its name from a Miami-Illinois word for a wild relative of the onion?

A) Milwaukee

B) Detroit

C) Minneapolis

D) Chicago

Answer · why

D) Chicago

Chicago is a French rendering of šikaakwa, the name of a pungent wild plant that grew profusely in the area. The explorer La Salle recorded the site a...

Q 05/05

Mark Twain joked that which vegetable is 'nothing but cabbage with a college education'?

A) Cauliflower

B) Brussels sprouts

C) Kohlrabi

D) Collard greens

Answer · why

A) Cauliflower

Cauliflower gets the line in Twain's novel Pudd'nhead Wilson, as one of the mock proverbs that open each chapter. The same entry claims the peach was ...