Dumplings Trivia
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49 free Dumplings trivia questions with answers — food & drink quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This dumplings trivia quiz travels the whole map of dough wrapped around something good. It starts in China, where a scholar wrote about dumplings 1,700 years ago and where jiaozi are said to have been invented to treat frostbitten ears; from there it goes to Shanghai's soup dumplings and the restaurant chain that folds each one exactly 18 times, to wontons that 'swallow clouds', har gow and shumai at dim sum, and the sticky-rice zongzi of the Dragon Boat Festival. Then it heads west and south: gyoza in Japan, mandu in Korea, momos in Nepal and Tibet, manti and Kayseri, Georgia's khinkali with the knob you are not supposed to eat, Russian pelmeni, Ukrainian varenyky, Polish pierogi and why 'ruskie' does not mean Russian. Europe brings ravioli, tortellini and the navel of Venus, gnocchi, Swabian Maultaschen and Bavarian bread dumplings; Jewish cuisine adds kreplach and matzah balls; the Americas add empanadas, apple dumplings and chicken and dumplings. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the individual dishes, and each question links to the page that establishes it. Fifty questions, free, with an explanation after every answer.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Dim sum, the Cantonese meal of dumplings and small plates, is usually translated literally as what?
Touch the heart
Touch the heart is the usual literal reading of the Cantonese words for 'dot' and 'heart'; teahouses used the term for the small bites served beside the tea, and those bites grew into a meal of their own.
Q 02Dumplings over 1,000 years old survived in desert tombs near Turfan, in which region of China?
Xinjiang
Xinjiang's Astana tombs, near the oasis of Turfan, lie in ground so dry that food and even bodies dried out instead of rotting, which left Tang-era jiaozi intact.
Q 03Which US city's baseball team stages a race of runners in giant pierogi costumes at its home games?
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh's Pirates run the Great Pierogi Race between innings; it was modelled on Milwaukee's racing sausages, and the two sets of mascots race each other when the teams meet.
Q 04In legend, the first jiaozi were made to treat what ailment, hence their old name?
Frostbitten ears
Frostbitten ears were the target: the physician Zhang Zhongjing is said to have wrapped stewed lamb and warming herbs in ear-shaped dough for the poor one winter, and the dish took the old name jiao'er, "tender ears".
Q 05Jiaozi symbolise wealth because they resemble what?
Gold and silver ingots
Gold and silver ingots, the boat-shaped sycee (yuanbao) that served as money in imperial China, are what jiaozi resemble, which is why northern families eat them at New Year.
Q 06The Western term 'potsticker' derives from which Chinese word?
Guotie
Guotie (锅贴) literally means "pot stick"; potstickers are jiaozi pan-fried until the bottoms crisp and stick, then steamed with a splash of water.
Q 07Gyoza reached Japan mainly through what event?
Settlers returning after WWII
Settlers returning after WWII, Japanese colonists repatriated from Manchuria with a taste for jiaozi, opened food stalls serving them beside ramen, and Utsunomiya became famous for gyoza.
Q 08Jiaozi are traditionally served with a dip of soy sauce and what?
Black vinegar
Black vinegar and soy sauce make the classic jiaozi dip, and cooks stir in garlic, ginger, sesame oil or hot sauce to taste; gyoza in Japan swap in rice vinegar and chili oil.
Q 09What does the name xiaolongbao literally mean?
Little basket bun
Little basket bun is the literal sense: xiaolong is the small bamboo steamer basket they are cooked in, and bao means bun.
Q 10The best-known style of xiaolongbao outside China is associated with which city?
Shanghai
The Nanxiang style from Shanghai, named for a town in the city's Jiading district, is the one known worldwide; nearby Suzhou and Wuxi make larger, sweeter versions.
Q 11Which Taipei-born chain pleats every xiaolongbao with exactly 18 folds?
Din Tai Fung
Din Tai Fung opened in 1958 selling cooking oil; when tinned oil hit the trade around 1970, founder Yang Bing-yi turned to xiaolongbao, now famous for their 18 folds.
Q 12Which studio made Bao, the Oscar-winning 2018 short about a lonely mother whose dumpling comes to life?
Pixar
Pixar's Bao, by Toronto-raised Domee Shi, was the studio's first short directed by a woman; the mother raises the bun as a son, and the film played before Incredibles 2 and won the Oscar for animated short.
Q 13The Cantonese name for wontons, wantan, means what?
Cloud swallow
Q 21Tangyuan, glutinous rice balls in syrup, are traditionally eaten on which occasion?
Lantern Festival
Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, is tangyuan's day; the name echoes tuanyuan, 'reunion', so they also appear at weddings and the winter solstice.
Q 22What are dumplings called in Korean cuisine?
Mandu
Mandu is the Korean word; long a dish of the royal court, the dumplings now fill supermarkets and snack bars, steamed, pan-fried or boiled in beef broth as manduguk.
Q 23Momos are steamed dumplings from the cuisines of Nepal and which other place?
Tibet
Tibet and Nepal both claim the momo; it is unclear which side of the Himalaya it came from first, and it is now popular in Bhutan, Bangladesh and India too.
Cloud swallow is the literal sense of the characters 雲吞, a Cantonese rendering of the Mandarin huntun; the cooked dumplings float in broth like small clouds.
Q 14In Sichuan, wontons are known as chao shou, meaning what?
Folded arms
Folded arms is the meaning of chao shou (抄手): the wrapper is folded into a triangle and its two ends pressed together like crossed arms, often served in chili oil.
Q 15Har gow is a dim sum dumpling filled with what?
Shrimp
Shrimp fills har gow, whose wrapper turns translucent when steamed, hence the name crystal shrimp dumpling; a dim sum chef's skill is said to be judged on its thin skin and neat pleats.
Q 16Har gow, shumai, cha siu bao and egg tarts are known collectively as what in dim sum?
The Four Heavenly Kings
The Four Heavenly Kings is the nickname for the four dishes counted as the classics of Cantonese dim sum; it borrows the title of the four guardian kings whose hall stands in Chinese Buddhist temples.
Q 17Shumai evolved into which snack in Australia?
Dim sim
Dim sim grew out of shumai: William Chen Wing Young began producing a bigger, thicker-skinned version in Melbourne in the 1940s, and it is now sold steamed or deep-fried in fish-and-chip shops.
Q 18Baozi differ from most dumplings in that their dough is what?
Yeast-leavened
Yeast-leavened dough gives baozi their fluffy, bread-like bite, unlike the thin unleavened wrappers of jiaozi or wontons; they are the filled cousin of the plain northern steamed bun.
Q 19Zongzi, sticky-rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves, are eaten on which occasion?
Dragon Boat Festival
Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu, falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, and zongzi wrapped in bamboo leaves are its signature food.
Q 20Which poet's drowning in the Miluo River is commemorated with zongzi?
Qu Yuan
Qu Yuan, the Chu statesman-poet, drowned himself in the Miluo River in 278 BC; legend says his ghost asked that the rice offerings be sealed in leaves and tied with coloured thread so river creatures could not steal them.
Q 24Kayseri mantısı, tiny dumplings served under yoghurt and spiced butter, are a speciality of which country?
Turkey
Turkey's Kayseri mantısı are named for a city in central Anatolia; Turkic horsemen are thought to have carried the dumpling west from Central Asia along the Silk Road.
Q 25Buuz, steamed dumplings made in batches for the Tsagaan Sar new year, belong to which country?
Mongolia
Mongolia's families spend days before Tsagaan Sar, the 'White Moon' festival, folding buuz together; khuushuur are the deep-fried cousin and bansh the small boiled one.
Q 26Khinkali, twisted knobs of dough stuffed with meat, come from which country?
Georgia
Georgia is khinkali's home; they come from its eastern mountains, and the tough top knot is left on the plate so diners can count how many they have eaten.
Q 27Pelmeni are considered a national dish of which country?
Russia
Russia adopted pelmeni as a staple during its expansion into the Urals and Siberia; the name comes from the Komi and Udmurt words for 'ear bread'.
Q 28Varenyky are the emblematic dumplings of which country?
Ukraine
Ukraine counts varenyky among its most emblematic dishes; the name comes from the verb varyty, 'to boil', and the dough is thinner and softer than that of Polish pierogi.
Q 29Cepelinai, potato dumplings named after German Zeppelin airships, are a national dish of which Baltic country?
Lithuania
Lithuania's cepelinai were once called didžkukuliai; the grated-potato dumplings, stuffed with meat or curd cheese, were renamed in honour of Count Zeppelin, whose airships they resemble.
Q 30What does the 'ruskie' in pierogi ruskie actually mean?
Ruthenian
Ruthenian is the sense: ruskie refers to Red Ruthenia, the old Rus' borderland that Poland absorbed in the 14th century, and not to the country many foreigners assume.