Cuisine origins and history
Sushi (Japan), pizza (Italy debate), tacos (Mexico), curry (India vs Britain). Origin trivia rewards food history buffs.
Q1.What is the romanized Chinese word for "airplane"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Feiji
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Hard.
Q2.What was the nickname given to the Hughes H-4 Hercules, a heavy transport flying boat which achieved flight in 1947?Tap to reveal
Answer: Spruce Goose
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q3.What are Panama hats made out of?Tap to reveal
Answer: Straw
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q4.What is the name of the poker hand containing three of a kind and a pair?Tap to reveal
Answer: Full House
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q5.Which chemical element, number 11 in the Periodic table, has the symbol Na?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sodium
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q6.What is the Spanish word for "donkey"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Burro
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q7.The phrase "accident waiting to happen" is an example of what type of figure of speech?Tap to reveal
Answer: Idiom
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q8.In which cardinal direction does the Sun rise from?Tap to reveal
Answer: East
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q9.The words "bungalow" and "shampoo" originate from the languages of which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: India
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Hard.
Q10.What is the famous Papa John's last name?Tap to reveal
Answer: Schnatter
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Ingredients and what's actually in food
Paprika's pepper origin, vanilla's orchid source, garlic's allium family. Trivia about what's actually in your kitchen.
Q1.A statue of Charles Darwin sits in what London museum?Tap to reveal
Answer: Natural History Museum
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q2.A criminal who has “cooked the books” has engaged in what kind of illegal behavior?Tap to reveal
Answer: Accounting Fraud
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q3.What is a dead mall?Tap to reveal
Answer: A mall with high vacancy rates or low consumer foot traffic
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q4.How many syllables make up a haiku?Tap to reveal
Answer: 17
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q5.What is the French word for "fish"?Tap to reveal
Answer: poisson
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q6.Which is the second largest native language spoken in Spain by numbers of speakers?Tap to reveal
Answer: Catalan
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q7.What kind of aircraft was developed by Igor Sikorsky in the United States in 1942?Tap to reveal
Answer: Helicopter
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q8.Which mountain has the highest peak in Australia?Tap to reveal
Answer: Mount Kosciuszko, New South Wales
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q9.Which of these Nicktoons were NOT originally a short on Oh Yeah! Cartoons before becoming their own series?Tap to reveal
Answer: Danny Phantom
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q10.What country has had prime ministers named Eden, Major, Peel, Law, Brown and Heath?Tap to reveal
Answer: United Kingdom
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Cooking techniques and terminology
Folding, blanching, deglazing, julienne. Technique trivia tests how culinary you actually are.
Q1.What is the closest planet to our solar system's sun?Tap to reveal
Answer: Mercury
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q2.What Latin phrase roughly translates to "seize the day"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Carpe diem
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q3.Who is a co-founder of music streaming service Spotify?Tap to reveal
Answer: Daniel Ek
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q4.The New York Times slogan is, “All the News That’s Fit to…”Tap to reveal
Answer: Print
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q5.Why is the night sky dark?Tap to reveal
Answer: The universe is finite in age and size
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q6.What is the largest rapid transit system in the world by number of stations, with 472 stations in operation?Tap to reveal
Answer: New York City Subway
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q7.What planet is not named after a Greek or Roman god?Tap to reveal
Answer: Earth
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q8.What is the German word for "spoon"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Löffel
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q9.The Quran is the holy book of which Abrahamic religion?Tap to reveal
Answer: Islam
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q10.The lesser-known continuation of the saying "Curiosity killed the cat..." is:Tap to reveal
Answer: "...but satisfaction brought it back."
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Celebrity chefs and TV cooking
Julia Child, Gordon Ramsay, Anthony Bourdain, Bobby Flay. The chefs who shaped TV cooking culture.
Q1.What was the destination of the missing flight MH370?Tap to reveal
Answer: Beijing
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q2.How tall is the Burj Khalifa?Tap to reveal
Answer: 2,722 ft
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q3.Which country has the most Trappist breweries?Tap to reveal
Answer: Belgium
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q4.What is the Italian word for "tomato"?Tap to reveal
Answer: Pomodoro
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q5.In what year did Canada stop producing the penny?Tap to reveal
Answer: 2012
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q6.The file hosting service, "Google Drive" was launched on what day?Tap to reveal
Answer: April 24, 2012
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q7.What is the most frequently used letter in the english alphabet?Tap to reveal
Answer: E
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q8.In DC comics where does the Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) live?Tap to reveal
Answer: Star City
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Easy.
Q9.Out of these four buildings, which one is the tallest, with a height of 1,483 ft (451.9 m)?Tap to reveal
Answer: Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysia
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Medium.
Q10.Sciophobia is the fear of what?Tap to reveal
Answer: Shadows
Sourced from Open Trivia DB (CC BY-SA 4.0). Difficulty: Hard.
Hosting cooking trivia night
Cooking trivia works at dinner parties. Mix categories — half cuisine origins (universal), half techniques (chef-y). Add a 'taste this and guess the spice' round if you can swing it.
Trivio.NET has Food & Drinks packs covering cuisine, beverages, ingredients and chefs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What cooking trivia categories work best for groups?
Cuisine origins (universal), celebrity chefs (foodies), beverages (everyone has favorites). Skip overly technical chef-school terminology.
How can cooking trivia work for non-chefs?
Lead with ingredients and history. People who don't cook still know what's in their food and where it comes from.
Where can I find cooking trivia packs?
Trivio.NET's Food & Drinks category has packs by cuisine, ingredient, and technique.
Is cooking trivia good for date night?
Yes — pair with actual cooking. Ask 5 trivia questions while prepping each course. Engagement + connection.
