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A. Spam

B. MSG

C. Cheez Whiz

D. Red-dyed fake cherries

B.

Yes, good old headache-inducing monosodium glutamate (MSG)—once the bane of low-end Chinese restaurants—has resurfaced as a creative martini ingredient. The MSG is often added to the drink via an MSG-spiked olive brine. A sodium salt of glutamic acid, MSG is said to give the cocktail a blast of umami and sharpen the sensory impact of the drink. We bet.

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A. A Friday night fish-fry in Wisconsin

B. A Chicago-style fried all-beef hotdog

C. An omelet made with bacon and oysters

D. Loaded Texas chili cheese fries

C.

According to the newsletter Discover California, Hangtown Fry is an omelet that includes bacon and oysters. It is thought to have originated in Placerville, California (once known as “Hangtown”) during the Gold Rush. According to the City of Placerville, the dish’s creator may have been a hungry prospector who, after striking it rich, rushed into a saloon and asked for the most expensive meal he could buy. The cook explained that eggs, bacon and oysters were the most costly foods in the kitchen. The prospector asked him to cook them all up together, and voilà—Hangtown Fry was born. The dish has since become a specialty in local restaurants such as the Buttercup Pantry, which has a disclaimer on the menu warning that not everyone likes the combination.

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A. Comparing the food or dish at the restaurant you are in to the food/dish at another restaurant

B. Asking for lots of substitutions and asking for just about everything “on the side”

C. Grabbing the wine bottle and topping up glasses of wine yourself before the server can get to it

D. Asking the server what he or she “really does” for a profession

A.

While B,C, and D certainly aggravate servers, industry experts interviewed by Travel & Leisure magazine say that one of the seven “deadly sins” committed by diners is comparing the food at the restaurant they are in, to the food at another restaurant. When asked this, some servers say they’re tempted to respond: well why don’t you just go to the other restaurant then? The other six don’t-do’s are: snapping your fingers to get attention, making unsolicited physical contact with staff, chatting on the cell phone, sitting down at a dirty table before staff have a chance to clean it, complaining about the weather, and not honoring reservations.

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A. Italy

B. The Netherlands

C. Romania

D. Greece

D.

In Greece, where the practice of dyeing eggs for Easter originated, the custom is a deeply felt religious ritual. The eggs are dyed on Holy Thursday, the Thursday preceding Orthodox Easter Sunday, (this year on April 16), and are eaten after midnight mass on Holy Saturday as a way of breaking the Lenten fast. In Greece, Easter eggs are always dyed red, symbolizing the blood of Jesus Christ, while the egg itself represents life and regeneration. Happy Easter!

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A. Louisiana

B. Kentucky

C. California

D. Utah

D.

Though Harland Sanders (“the Colonel”) was originally from Kentucky, it wasn’t until he franchised his recipe for pressure-fried chicken to a restaurateur in Salt Lake City that it became known as Kentucky-fried chicken. Pete Harman, owner of Harman’s Café, changed the name from Southern-fried chicken to Kentucky-fried chicken after buying the secret recipe to make it stand out.

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A. Mashed potatoes, flour, baking soda

B. Chickpea flour, yeast, yogurt

C. Coconut milk, flour, coconut oil

D. Black rice, shrimp paste, squid ink

A.

Known in Ireland as boxty (Gaelic: bacstaí), these potato pancakes are made from both mashed and grated raw potatoes, preferably of a floury consistency, along with flour, leavening, and optional buttermilk, eggs, milk, or melted butter. Boxty originated in Ireland in the late 18th century. Today the crisp, chewy pancake is a staple of Irish cooking with many modern interpretations. There’s even a boxty quesadilla. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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A. Mayonnaise

B. Vanilla custard

C. Olive Oil

D. Peanut Butter

C.

May I interest you in a cup of coffee, with a spoonful of olive oil? Starbucks is going out on a limb with a new line of Oleato coffee drinks infused with olive oil—resulting in a slippery sheen that floats to the surface. As the company intended, the bold move has already caused a stir on the internet. But it remains unclear whether the hype will translate to sales, as consumers don’t seem to be clamoring for oily drinks.

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A. Germany

B. Italy

C. France

D. Canada

A.

You would have thought that France or Italy would have this one locked up. But according to the most recent data on Statista, Germany was the top exporter of cheese globally.  In 2021, Germany’s cheese exports had a value of $5.4 billion, followed by the Netherlands with $4.6 billion dollars in cheese exports. I guess the savvy French and Italians keep much of the good fromage and formaggio for themselves.

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A. French baguettes

B. American apple pie

C. Genoa salami from Italy

D. South African ostrich eggs

A.

The French baguette, invented in 1839, was recently put on the United Nations Cultural List. The list celebrates beloved intangible aspects of culture that should be preserved. The move by the U.N. was seen as a sort of rescue. About 400 of France’s traditional baguette-baking bakeries disappear each year. Still, the devoted French manage to consume about 10 billion of the long, thin, crusty loaves yearly. Baguettes generally have a diameter of 5 to 6 centimeters (2-2.4 inches) and a length of 65 centimeters (25.6 inches). The baguette was added to the U.N. list in November 2022 along with another cultural food artifact: Ukrainian Borscht.

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A. Peaches and red currants steeped in Beaujolais

B. Assorted fruits saturated with brandy

C. Apples soaked in Armagnac

D. Pineapples and mangoes drenched in tequila

B.

In the early 19th and 20th centuries, Tutti Frutti was a popular recipe among many American homemakers. Beginning in summer, often with strawberries, fruits would be layered into a jar and drenched with brandy and sugar. As summer progressed to fall, more layers of differing fruits would be added. The mixture was used as a topping for everything from ice cream to meat.

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A. Tomatoes

B. Onion

C. Zucchini

D. Snow Peas

A.

Speaking personally, I have always assumed that vegetables are healthier when they are eaten raw. Wrong, says Consumer Reports in their Oct 2022 issue. Among the vegetables that are healthier cooked: tomatoes, carrots, mushrooms, spinach, bell peppers, and asparagus. When tomatoes are baked, fried, or pureed and cooked as a sauce, the heat increases the phytochemical lycopene which has been linked to lower rates of cancer and heart disease. The magazine cites one study where absorbable lycopene was boosted 35% after tomatoes were heated for 30 minutes at 190 degrees F. Cooking tomatoes also concentrates their flavor. CR suggests quartering tomatoes, drizzling them with olive oil, sprinkling garlic and a little salt and pepper on them, then roasting them in the oven for half an hour at 200 degrees F.

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A. Milk

B. Scrambled Eggs

C. Sushi

D. Fruit Salad

C.

As reported in Travel & Leisure magazine, according to the CDC, it’s best to avoid “raw or undercooked fish, shellfish, or food containing raw or undercooked seafood, such as sashimi, some sushi, and ceviche,” any of which could contain harmful pathogens. Also on the CDC’s “no-at-the-airport” list: salads containing raw lettuces, deli meats, and hot dogs. Low-sugar protein bars are fine (even though many taste like sawdust).

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A. Because over time, consumers realized its aromas and flavors were the perfect antidote to morning “coffee breath”

B. Because it goes well with white spirits like vodka and can thus be made into morning cocktails like mimosas

C. Because orange growers created a marketing campaign to convince us that orange juice was especially good at breakfast time

D. Because in the 1950s, scientists determined that high-acid, vitamin-C-rich juices, drunk in the morning, could help alleviate morning drowsiness

C.

In the early 1900s, several cycles of massive over-production of oranges in both Florida and California lead to a nationwide orange glut. At the time, oranges were mostly eaten whole. Juicing provided a logical solution for orange growers. But what to do with all that juice? Canning it was an option, but the flavor of canned orange juice (which often tuned viscous and brown) was a far cry from the flavor of actual oranges. The next innovation—canned frozen concentrate that could be mixed with water—was better. Growers launched enormous advertising campaigns extolling the virtues of orange juice. But if orange juice was to become a staple (capable of using up a lion’s share of all the oranges produced), more demand for it had to be created. Advertisers decided it needed a “place” in everyday eating behavior. The answer was breakfast. As everyone in America now knows, no breakfast is really “complete” without orange juice.

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A. Turkey

B. France

C. India

D. Canada

D.

As of 2019, most of the mustard seed produced in the world—including for France’s most famous moutarde—“Dijon”—is grown in either Canada (specifically in the province of Saskatchewan), Nepal, or Russia. There are companies in Burgundy (near the city of Dijon) that process seeds to make mustard, but the seeds themselves are almost assuredly grown in Canada. (Importing from Nepal has a number of logistical challenges, and today, importing from Russia has political ones.) According to the US-based Agricultural Marketing Policy Center, Canada, Nepal, and Russia combined have historically produced about 70 percent of the world’s mustard seeds.

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A. The peanuts

B. The pasta

C. The beef

D. The salmon

B.

I admit I would have said D—salmon (when did that fish last see water?), but according to Travel & Leisure magazine, flight experts say to forget the pasta. The reasons they cite: 1) At 30,000 feet, the perception of flavor is reduced by as much as 30% and so, up in the air, pasta tastes about as bland as air—we’d add: ditto for most everything else. 2) On a flight, pasta is assured to be a “mushy mess” since it’s (often) reheated. Yup. And 3) You’ll be “lethargic and cranky” when you arrive, because carbohydrates (the nutritional group that pasta belongs to) cause your blood sugar to soar then plummet. Not sure where all of this leaves us…wine and protein bars?

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A. Morooco

B. Italy

C. Spain

D. Greece

D.

Black Corinth grapes from Greece are the source of dried Zante currants, sometimes known as “black Corinth raisins.” According to the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources department, the word “currant” evolved from “Corinth,” the name of the Greek port from which the fruit was exported to western Europe. By the 1700s, however, the currant trade shifted slightly westward toward Greece’s Ionian Islands, notably the island of Zante (also known as Zakynthos). Hence, the name Zante currants.

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A. Turkey

B. Austria

C. Hungary

D. Italy

C.

One of the defining ingredients of the Hungarian kitchen—paprika—is based on red peppers, the best of which are said to come from the region of Szeged in Hungary. Curiously, these peppers have the highest vitamin C content of any vegetable. Indeed, paprika was used in numerous experiments by Hungarian physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1937 for his discovery of Vitamin C. By the way, Hungarians classify paprika into eight types, starting with the mildest, sweetest, and brightest red—Különleges–and proceeding to Erős, the spiciest and most brown in color.

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A. Peanut Butter and Grapes

B. Jelly and Chocolate Chips

C. Peanut Butter and Mayo

D. Jelly and Spam

C.

Peanut Butter and Mayonnaise, now largely forgotten, was once as popular a pairing as PB & J. During the Great Depression, people were looking for high-calorie combinations of protein and fat. Meat and dairy were expensive and consuming enough energy could prove difficult. Thus, the combination of peanut butter and mayonnaise on white bread was born and became a staple in Southern households in the United States. For the next 30 years or so, the PB & M was a favorite in many American kitchens, perhaps because adding mayonnaise to the era’s rustic, coarse nut butter may have been key for spreadability.

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A. Bamboo

B. Jasmine

C. Nasturtiums

D. Wild Rice

A.

Bamboo is not only the fastest-growing edible plant but also the fastest-growing plant on Earth. Period. Chinese Moso bamboo can grow over 3 feet in a single day! Bamboo shoots are low in fat and calories and contain loads of fiber and potassium. They have a very mild taste but take on flavors of other foods easily and can blend into almost any cuisine.

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A. A tray of sushi

B. A wedding cake

C. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich

D. A pizza

B.

An elaborate four-tiered wedding cake has remained uncut since it was made in 1898. The confection was made by Charles H. Philpott soon after he and his wife opened their family bakery—C.H. Philpott, Baker and Confectioner—in Basingstoke, England. For 66 years after the bakery’s opening, the Philpotts displayed the cake in the shop window, before moving it to their home in 1964 when the bakery closed. In 1995, almost a century after it was first baked and displayed, the Philpotts’ daughter donated the antique cake to the local Willis Museum. The cake is now displayed in the museum, under constant monitoring to ensure it stays intact.