79 Fun Facts About World Food

Poutine, the dish of fries, cheese curds and hot gravy, was created in the late 1950s in which country?

It came out of the Centre-du-Québec region and was mocked for years; in 2007 a CBC poll ranked it among the greatest Canadian inventions.

Which savoury pudding of sheep's heart, liver and lungs is the centrepiece of a Burns supper?

Haggis, the sheep-offal pudding, is piped in at Burns suppers held on or near 25 January, Robert Burns's birthday; the US banned sheep lung in food in 1971, shutting out the traditional version.

In which city is chicken tikka masala, hailed in 2001 as 'a true British national dish', thought to have been invented?

Glasgow's Shish Mahal restaurant is the usual claimant: owner Ali Ahmed Aslam supposedly improvised a creamy tomato sauce for a customer who found his chicken tikka too dry.

The croissant is descended from the kipferl, a crescent pastry from which country?

An Austrian officer, August Zang, opened a Viennese bakery in Paris in 1838 or 1839, and the French laminated-dough version grew from there.

The word ketchup most likely comes from Hokkien Chinese words for the brine of what?

Hokkien kê-tsiap meant the brine of pickled fish; the sauce reached Europe through Southeast Asian trade, and tomato ketchup only appeared with James Mease's 1812 American recipe.

From the 1600s, ketchup in Britain was made mainly from which ingredient?

Mushroom ketchup is still sold in the UK; the tomato version is an American invention of the early 1800s.

Pavlova, the meringue dessert, is claimed as a national dish by Australia and which other country?

New Zealand and Australia both claim the pavlova, named for ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured both countries in 1926; food historian Helen Leach traced a New Zealand meringue recipe to 1929.

In 2022 UNESCO listed which country's borscht-cooking culture as heritage in need of urgent safeguarding?

UNESCO added Ukraine's borscht-cooking culture to its urgent-safeguarding list in July 2022, months into Russia's full-scale invasion; the soup's name comes from hogweed, its original fermented base.

Injera, the spongy sour flatbread of Ethiopia and Eritrea, is traditionally made from which grain?

Teff, a tiny Ethiopian highland grain, is ground and fermented for a few days to give injera its sour tang and spongy bubbled surface; the bread then doubles as plate and cutlery.

Ceviche joined UNESCO's heritage list in December 2023 as a traditional dish of which country?

Peru had already declared it national heritage and gave it its own holiday, National Ceviche Day on 28 June.

The communal autumn making and sharing of which fermented dish was recognised by UNESCO in 2013?

Kimchi comes in more than 180 recognised varieties, and in 2008 a bacteria-free version was engineered so astronaut Yi So-yeon could take it into space.

The red, white and green of a pizza Margherita are popularly said to represent what?

Legend has the pizza made for Queen Margherita of Savoy in June 1889, its tomato, mozzarella and basil matching the red, white and green of the Italian flag; historians note similar pizzas existed decades earlier.

Which Neapolitan pizzaiolo is credited by legend with creating the pizza Margherita in 1889?

Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi supposedly baked it for Queen Margherita's 1889 visit to Naples; Gennaro Lombardi, by contrast, is credited with opening America's first pizzeria in New York in 1905.

In the strictest Neapolitan tradition there are only two true pizzas: the Margherita and which other?

The marinara has no cheese at all, just tomato, garlic, oregano and oil. Neapolitan pizza has been an EU traditional speciality guaranteed since 2010.

The name of the dessert tiramisu translates from Italian as what?

Tiramisù means 'pick me up' (tirami sù); the lift comes from espresso-soaked savoiardi biscuits layered with mascarpone cream and dusted with cocoa.

In which city was tiramisu reportedly invented at Ado Campeol's restaurant Le Beccherie in 1969?

Le Beccherie in Treviso, in the Veneto, credits Campeol's wife Alba di Pillo and pastry chef Roberto Linguanotto with the dessert; the recipe was first published by Giuseppe Maffioli in 1981.

The Turkish word döner, as in döner kebab, comes from a verb meaning what?

Döner comes from the Turkish verb dönmek, 'to turn' or 'to rotate': the meat cooks on a rotating vertical spit, and the sandwich version was popularised by Turkish immigrants in 1970s West Germany.

Currywurst was invented in 1949 by Herta Heuwer, who sold it from a stand in which city?

Heuwer's stand stood on Kantstraße in Charlottenburg, Berlin; she reputedly got ketchup and curry powder from British soldiers stationed there, and a memorial plaque marks the spot.

Which country's Cheese Union, a cartel trying to sell more cheese, promoted fondue as a national dish in the 1930s?

Switzerland's Cheese Union pushed fondue as the national dish in the 1930s and later pitched it to Americans at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

What is the name of the communal pot in which fondue is served?

The caquelon, a wide ceramic or enamelled cast-iron pot, sits over a small spirit burner (réchaud) so the cheese-and-wine mixture stays liquid throughout the meal.

Pho, the broth-and-rice-noodle soup usually made with beef, comes from which country?

Pho is Vietnam's signature soup; one theory ties the name to the French pot-au-feu, since beef became common under colonial rule, and Vietnamese refugees carried it worldwide after 1975.

Residents of which northern city are credited as the first to create pho, in the early 1900s?

Nam Dinh, a textile town southeast of Hanoi, is usually named as pho's birthplace; cooks from its Van Cu village carried the soup to Hanoi, where it became a street food before spreading south.

The friendly "Jollof wars" over the best jollof rice are fought mainly between Nigeria and which country?

Ghana and Nigeria trade jollof bragging rights online and at cook-offs; the dish takes its name from the Wolof people of Senegal, whose Jolof Empire flourished from the 14th century.

"Paella" is the Valencian word for what?

Paella is simply the Valencian word for a frying pan, from Latin patella; the rice dish cooked in that wide shallow pan grew up around Valencia's Albufera lagoon in the mid-1800s.

Which of these belongs in a traditional paella valenciana, according to Valencian cooks?

The classic version uses rabbit, chicken, duck, snails and beans; seafood, in the words of purists, is absolutely out of the question.

What is the single defining component of sushi?

Sushi is defined by its vinegared rice (shari); the dish evolved from narezushi, fish fermented in rice for preservation, and the rice, originally thrown away, became the point once vinegar replaced fermentation.

Nigiri sushi, seafood on hand-pressed rice, was invented around 1824 by which Edo-period cook?

Hanaya Yohei sold nigiri from a stall in Edo's Ryogoku district around 1824 as fast food for workers; the pieces were far larger than the modern two-bite version.

Which country produces around 90% of the world's saffron?

Iran, chiefly its Khorasan region, grows around 90% of the world's saffron crop; premium grades fetch upwards of US$5,000 a kilogram, making it the most expensive spice by weight.

Roughly how many crocus flowers does it take to produce one kilogram of saffron?

Each crocus yields just three crimson stigmas, all picked by hand, so roughly 150,000 flowers go into a kilogram of dried saffron, which is the whole reason for the price.

Which pungent 'king of fruits' is banned from hotels and public transport in Singapore?

Durian's smell can linger for days, which is why hotels and transit in Singapore and Bangkok ban it; Thailand was the world's top exporter as of 2018.

Casu martzu, a Sardinian sheep-milk cheese outlawed across the EU, is famous for containing what?

The name means "rotten cheese" in Sardinian; enthusiasts eat it maggots and all.

Iceland's hákarl is fermented for months because which animal's fresh flesh is poisonous?

Fresh Greenland shark is loaded with urea and trimethylamine oxide, so the meat is buried and dried for months; Anthony Bourdain called the result the single worst thing he had ever eaten.

In 2006 several airlines banned surströmming, Sweden's fermented herring, because the cans might do what?

British Airways and Air France banned the fish in 2006, ruling that its pressurised cans might explode; the herring keeps fermenting in the tin, so cans bulge and are traditionally opened outdoors.

Fugu, the Japanese pufferfish delicacy, is dangerous because it carries which poison?

Tetrodotoxin, concentrated in the liver, ovaries and skin, is a nerve poison with no antidote, so fugu may only be prepared by licensed chefs; the Emperor is by tradition forbidden to eat it.

Balut, a popular street food in the Philippines, is what?

Balut is a fertilised duck egg incubated for about 14 to 21 days, then boiled and eaten straight from the shell, embryo included; it is also common in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Vegemite, the dark Australian spread, is made from the leftover extract of what?

Chemist Cyril Callister made it in Melbourne in 1922 from spent brewers' yeast bought from the Carlton brewery, and it went on sale in 1923 as Australia's rival to Britain's Marmite.

Bunny chow, a fast food from Durban, South Africa, is curry served inside what?

The curry is ladled into a hollowed-out quarter or half loaf of white bread, the scooped-out centre serving as a lid; it grew up among Durban's Indian community, and 'chow' is slang for food.

Under Austrian law, a dish sold as Wiener schnitzel must be made from which meat?

Austria's food codex reserves the name for a breaded, pan-fried veal cutlet; a pork version must be labelled 'Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein' or 'Schnitzel Wiener Art'.

Along with Chardonnay and Meunier, which dark-skinned grape is used to make almost all Champagne?

Pinot noir, pressed gently so its dark skins do not colour the juice, is grown chiefly on the Montagne de Reims and in the Aube; Dom Pérignon, despite legend, did not invent the bubbles.

Roquefort, the first cheese given France's AOC protection, is made from which animal's milk?

Roquefort is a blue cheese made from raw sheep's milk (the Lacaune breed) and was the first to get AOC status, in 1925; only wheels ripened in the Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon may use the name.

The Mexican preparation mole takes its name from an Aztec-language word meaning simply what?

Mole comes from the Aztec word mōlli, simply 'sauce'; mole poblano from Puebla is the famous version, often running to 20 or 30 ingredients, with chocolate a later addition rather than a pre-Hispanic staple.

Feijoada, the national food of the largest country in South America, is a slow-cooked stew built on what?

In Brazil it is usually black beans with salted pork and beef, served with rice, farofa and orange slices to help digestion.

Which slow-cooked Indonesian meat dish topped CNN's 2011 poll of the world's 50 best foods?

Rendang, the Minangkabau dry beef curry of West Sumatra, won CNN's 2011 readers' poll of the world's 50 best foods; cooked dry enough, it keeps for weeks without refrigeration.

Which Indonesian dish came second in CNN's 2011 poll of the world's most delicious foods?

It is fried rice with sweet kecap manis, regarded as a national dish of Indonesia; some 35,000 people voted.

Koshary, Egypt's national dish, piles rice, lentils, chickpeas and fried onions on top of what?

Koshary layers macaroni pasta with rice and lentils under tomato sauce, chickpeas and crisp fried onions; the dish is usually traced to 19th-century Egypt and the Indian rice-and-lentil dish khichdi.

Ackee, half of Jamaica's national dish ackee and saltfish, is what kind of food?

Ackee is the fruit of a West African tree brought to Jamaica in the 1700s; its unripe arils contain the toxin hypoglycin, so only fruit from naturally opened pods is safe, and the US restricts fresh imports.

Which Beijing restaurant, established in 1864, became famous for its hung-oven Peking duck?

Quanjude, founded by Yang Quanren in 1864, roasts its ducks in an open hung oven over fruitwood; rival Bianyifang, dating from 1416, uses the older closed-oven method.

In WWII, fish and chips was one of the few British foods never subject to what?

The wartime government exempted fish and chips from rationing, judging it too important for morale; the first shops appeared in the 1860s, and newspaper wrapping lasted until hygiene rules ended it.

White Castle, the first hamburger restaurant chain, opened in 1921 in which city?

Walter Anderson and Billy Ingram opened the first White Castle in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921, selling five-cent sliders; the chain later moved its headquarters to Columbus, Ohio.

The potato was first domesticated 7,000 to 10,000 years ago around which body of water?

Lake Titicaca sits in the high Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia, where wild Solanum species were domesticated; the Spanish carried the potato to Europe in the second half of the 1500s.

Traders from which country carried chili peppers to Africa, Arabia and Asia in the 1500s?

Ships from Portugal carried the New World chili to Goa, Africa and Southeast Asia within decades of Columbus; India, Thailand and Sichuan had no chilies before the Columbian exchange.

Rice is the staple food for roughly what share of the world's population?

Rice is the staple for more than half of humanity, over 3.5 billion people, mostly in Asia; it was first domesticated in China's Yangtze valley roughly 9,000 years ago.

The word tomato comes, via Spanish, from tomatl, a word in which language?

Tomatl is Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, who grew the plant in Mexico though it originated in western South America; the Spanish took it to Europe in the 1500s, and botanically the fruit is a berry.

World Food Day is held every 16 October to mark the 1945 founding of which organisation?

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded in Quebec City on 16 October 1945; its 20th General Conference created World Food Day in November 1979.

Which bread's artisanal know-how joined UNESCO's intangible heritage list in 2022?

UNESCO inscribed the artisanal know-how and culture of baguette bread in November 2022; France's 1993 'bread decree' bars additives and freezing from any loaf sold as traditional.

Who invented instant noodles in 1958?

Momofuku Ando launched Chikin Ramen through his Nissin company in 1958 and followed with Cup Noodles in 1971; a 2000 Japanese poll voted instant noodles the country's best invention of the 20th century.

Halloumi, the grillable cheese that won EU protected status in 2021, comes from which island?

Halloumi has been made in Cyprus since at least the 16th century from sheep's and goat's milk; the EU registered it as a protected designation of origin in April 2021.

In 2023 which country grew more coffee than any other, with Vietnam second?

Brazil has led world coffee production since the 1840s, with Vietnam a distant second in 2023; arabica is native to Ethiopia's highlands, and the earliest solid evidence of coffee drinking comes from 15th-century Sufi Yemen.

Mace, the spice, is made from which part of the nutmeg fruit?

The tree is native to Indonesia's Banda Islands; in 1667 the English swapped the nutmeg island of Run to the Dutch in exchange for Manhattan.

Which 12-year-old enslaved boy discovered in 1841 how to hand-pollinate vanilla, making it a global crop?

Edmond Albius, enslaved on the French island of Réunion, worked out in 1841 how to marry the orchid's pollen to its stigma with a sliver of bamboo; outside Mexico vanilla has no natural pollinator.

The Hungarian word gulyás, root of the word goulash, means what?

Gulyás means 'cattle herder' (from gulya, a herd): the dish began as herdsmen's food cooked in kettles over open fires on the Hungarian plains and became a national symbol.

Adobo, the Philippines' unofficial national dish, simmers meat in garlic, soy sauce and what?

Vinegar is adobo's defining ingredient, a pre-colonial way of preserving meat in the tropical heat; the Spanish name (adobar, to marinate) was attached later to an indigenous method.

The empanada is thought to have originated in the Middle Ages in which region of Spain?

Galicia is the usual birthplace claim: the 12th-century Pórtico da Gloria of Santiago de Compostela's cathedral carves empanadas in stone; the name comes from empanar, to wrap in bread.

Reading fortunes in the grounds left after drinking Turkish coffee is a practice known as what?

Tasseography (from French tasse, cup) reads the patterns in tea leaves or coffee grounds; Turkish coffee is brewed unfiltered in a cezve, which leaves the thick sediment to interpret.

The name of the Korean dish bibimbap literally describes what?

Bibimbap literally means 'mixed rice' (bibim, mixed; bap, rice): warm rice is topped with seasoned vegetables, egg and gochujang, then stirred together at the table; the dolsot version comes in a sizzling stone bowl.

In 2010, which country had the world's highest tea consumption per person?

Turkey topped the 2010 per-person tea league, drinking black çay from tulip-shaped glasses; most of it is grown on the Black Sea coast around Rize, and tea is the world's most drunk beverage after water.

Across Mesoamerican civilisations, cocoa beans were used as what?

Cocoa beans served as currency: a 1545 Nahuatl price list records a turkey hen at 100 beans and a tamale at one, and beans were demanded as tribute; the drink itself was taken bitter with spices.

The Italian word gelato literally means what?

Gelato is simply Italian for 'frozen', the past participle of gelare, to freeze; artisanal gelato has only 4 to 9 percent butterfat and is served warmer and denser than American ice cream.

Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia and which country jointly nominated couscous to UNESCO in 2020?

Morocco joined Algeria, Mauritania and Tunisia in the December 2020 joint nomination, setting aside a long argument over who owns the dish; the granules are rolled semolina steamed over a stew in a couscoussier.

A tagine's tall conical lid is designed to do what?

The shape means a stew can cook for hours with very little water, which suited the dry Berber homelands where the pot originated.

In 2010, 300 cooks in which country made a record-breaking 10,450 kg plate of hummus?

Lebanon's 10,452 kg plate, made in Beirut in May 2010, more than doubled the mark set months earlier in the Israeli-Arab village of Abu Gosh; the word hummus is simply Arabic for chickpeas.

Under its 2011 protected status, a genuine Cornish pasty must be D-shaped and crimped where?

The 2011 PGI spec says the crimp runs along one side, never across the top; the thick crimp gave tin miners a handle for dirty fingers, and the filling is beef, potato, swede and onion.

Tamales, the Mesoamerican dish steamed in a husk, are made from masa, a corn dough treated by which process?

Nixtamalization produces the masa, which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf; the word tamale comes from the Nahuatl 'tamalli'.

Poland's first cookbook, which includes a pierogi recipe, was published in which year?

Stanisław Czerniecki's Compendium ferculorum, albo Zebranie potraw, printed in Kraków in 1682, is Poland's first cookbook and already gives pierogi recipes; typical fillings include potato and twaróg cheese.

Which chef created the modern Greek moussaka, with its béchamel top, in the 1920s?

Nikolaos Tselementes layered the modern version under a béchamel top in the 1920s, and even supplied a vegan variant for Orthodox fast days.

Jamaican jerk seasoning is built around Scotch bonnet peppers and which other key spice?

Allspice, the dried berry of the pimento tree native to Jamaica, is the backbone of jerk alongside Scotch bonnets; the word 'jerk' likely comes from 'charqui', the Spanish form of Quechua ch'arki, dried meat.

The Cantonese term 'dim sum' translates literally as what?

Dim sum (dian xin) literally means 'touch the heart', a light bite rather than a full meal; the Cantonese custom of yum cha, eating them with tea, flourished in Guangzhou's 19th-century teahouses.

Which Turkish city's pistachio baklava was the first Turkish product to win EU protected status?

Gaziantep's Antep Baklavası was registered as a Protected Geographical Indication in 2013, after Çelebi Güllü brought the recipe there from Damascus in 1871.

Rice noodles came from China centuries ago, but pad thai itself was invented in which decade?

Pad thai dates from the late 1930s, when Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram's nationalist campaign pushed a 'Thai' noodle dish; it was originally called kuai tiao pad thai, kuai tiao being a Teochew loanword for rice noodles.