Fruits and vegetables
Kids eat fruits and vegetables every day, but most have never wondered why a strawberry wears its seeds on the outside or why onions make people cry. This round starts with foods every child knows from the lunch box and ends with a purple puzzle and one very smelly fruit. It also settles the famous tomato argument, with a plant scientist as the judge.
Q1.Which crunchy orange vegetable do cartoon rabbits love to munch?Tap to reveal
Answer: Carrot
Long ago, most carrots were purple or yellow, and orange carrots became common only a few hundred years ago.
Q2.Which long yellow fruit do you peel before you eat it?Tap to reveal
Answer: Banana
A bunch of bananas is called a hand, and each single banana is called a finger.
Q3.Which red fruit wears its seeds on the outside?Tap to reveal
Answer: Strawberry
Strawberries belong to the rose family, the same plant family as the roses in a garden.
Q4.Which vegetable can make your eyes water when you chop it?Tap to reveal
Answer: Onion
Cutting an onion lets out a gas that stings your eyes, which is why chilling it first can help.
Q5.Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable to a plant scientist?Tap to reveal
Answer: A fruit
Plant scientists call the part that grows from a flower and holds the seeds a fruit, so cucumbers and pumpkins count too.
Q6.Which green vegetable looks like a tiny tree?Tap to reveal
Answer: Broccoli
The little bumps on top of broccoli are flower buds that would open into small yellow flowers if left to grow.
Q7.Which fruit has the same name as the color between red and yellow?Tap to reveal
Answer: Orange
The fruit had its name first, and people started using the word for the color much later.
Q8.Which fruit has a hard, hairy brown shell with water inside?Tap to reveal
Answer: Coconut
Coconuts can float across the sea and grow into new palm trees on faraway beaches.
Q9.Which shiny purple vegetable is called an aubergine in Britain?Tap to reveal
Answer: Eggplant
It got the name eggplant because some early kinds were small, white and shaped like hen's eggs.
Q10.Which spiky fruit from Southeast Asia is famous for its very strong smell?Tap to reveal
Answer: Durian
Its smell is so strong that some hotels and trains in Southeast Asia do not let people bring it inside.
Where food comes from
Before food lands on a plate, it starts on a farm, in a field, under the ground or even inside a tree. This round follows breakfast, lunch and dessert back to where they began, from cows and hens to rice fields and maple forests. Children who have visited a farm or helped in a garden will have a head start here.
Q1.Which farm animal gives us most of the milk we drink?Tap to reveal
Answer: Cow
A cow's stomach has four parts, which help it break down tough grass.
Q2.Which farm bird lays most of the eggs people eat?Tap to reveal
Answer: Chicken (a hen)
A hen can lay eggs without a rooster, but those eggs can never hatch into chicks.
Q3.What sweet, sticky food do bees make from flower nectar?Tap to reveal
Answer: Honey
Bees store their honey in wax cells with six sides, and together the cells make a honeycomb.
Q4.Most bread is made from flour, which comes from grinding which grain?Tap to reveal
Answer: Wheat
Wheat is a kind of grass, and the grains we grind into flour are its seeds.
Q5.Cheese is made mostly from which drink?Tap to reveal
Answer: Milk
The holes in some cheeses, like Swiss cheese, come from bubbles of gas made by tiny living things called bacteria.
Q6.What do we call a farm where rows of fruit trees, like cherry and peach trees, are grown?Tap to reveal
Answer: An orchard
Farmers often keep beehives near their fruit trees, because bees carry pollen between the blossoms so the trees can grow fruit.
Q7.Which grain is often grown in flooded fields called paddies?Tap to reveal
Answer: Rice
Rice is the main everyday food for more than half of the people on Earth.
Q8.Do peanuts grow on trees, on bushes, or under the ground?Tap to reveal
Answer: Under the ground
Peanuts are not really nuts; they are legumes, from the same plant family as peas and beans.
Q9.Maple syrup is made by boiling which liquid from maple trees?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sap
It takes about 40 liters of sap, boiled for hours, to make just one liter of syrup.
Q10.Which part of a tree does the spice cinnamon come from?Tap to reveal
Answer: The bark
Cinnamon sticks are strips of bark that curl up into little rolls as they dry.
Foods around the world
Every country has a favorite food, and many of those foods are now loved far from home. This round is a trip around the world on a plate, from pizza in Italy to kimchi in Korea. The easy questions cover foods kids already eat, while the harder ones introduce dishes they may want to try the next time the family eats out.
Q1.Pizza first came from which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: Italy
The city of Naples in Italy is famous as the home of pizza topped with tomato and cheese.
Q2.Sushi is a famous food from which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: Japan
The word sushi is really about the rice, which is flavored with vinegar, and many kinds of sushi have no fish at all.
Q3.Tacos are a traditional food from which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: Mexico
In Mexico, most tacos are made with soft corn tortillas instead of crunchy hard shells.
Q4.The flaky, moon-shaped pastry called a croissant is famous in which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: France
Croissant is the French word for crescent, the curved shape of a thin slice of moon.
Q5.Paella, a yellow rice dish cooked in a wide flat pan, comes from which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: Spain
The word paella actually means the pan, and the dish comes from the Valencia region by the sea.
Q6.Hummus, a creamy dip loved across the Middle East, is made mostly from which bean?Tap to reveal
Answer: Chickpeas
Chickpeas are also called garbanzo beans, and people have been growing them for thousands of years.
Q7.People in which Asian country, home of the Great Wall, were the first to eat with chopsticks?Tap to reveal
Answer: China
Today chopsticks are also used every day in Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Q8.Potatoes were first grown by farmers on which continent?Tap to reveal
Answer: South America
They came from the Andes mountains, where farmers still grow thousands of kinds of potatoes in many colors.
Q9.Pho, a noodle soup full of fresh herbs, is the best-known dish of which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: Vietnam
In Vietnam, lots of people eat a steaming bowl of pho for breakfast.
Q10.Kimchi, a spicy dish made from pickled cabbage, comes from which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: Korea
Korean families often gather in late autumn to make big batches of kimchi together, a tradition called kimjang.
Sweets, snacks and surprising food facts
This is the round most kids wait for. It covers the treats found at fairs, parties and movie nights, plus a few snack facts that surprise even grown-ups. Children will find out why popcorn pops, why an apple floats, and which famous cookie was first baked at a small inn rather than in a big factory.
Q1.Which snack puffs up with a pop when its kernels get hot?Tap to reveal
Answer: Popcorn
Each kernel holds a tiny drop of water that turns into steam and bursts the shell open.
Q2.Which frozen treat is served in a cone or a cup and melts on a hot day?Tap to reveal
Answer: Ice cream
Ice cream has tiny air bubbles whipped into it, which keep it soft instead of a solid block of ice.
Q3.What fluffy fair treat is made by spinning melted sugar into thin threads?Tap to reveal
Answer: Cotton candy
In Australia it is called fairy floss, and in Britain it is called candy floss.
Q4.What are the tiny, colorful candy bits shaken on top of cupcakes called?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sprinkles
In the Netherlands, many people eat chocolate sprinkles on buttered bread for breakfast.
Q5.Which chewy, jelly-like candy comes in fruity colors and is shaped like a little animal that loves honey?Tap to reveal
Answer: Gummy bears
They were first made in Germany by Hans Riegel, who named his company Haribo after the first letters of his name and his city, Bonn.
Q6.Which salty baked snack is often twisted into the shape of a knot?Tap to reveal
Answer: Pretzel
Soft pretzels get their shiny brown outside from a quick dip in a special water bath just before they go into the oven.
Q7.Which crunchy fruit floats in a tub of water, so kids can bob for it at parties?Tap to reveal
Answer: Apple
About a quarter of an apple is air, and that air helps it float.
Q8.Much of the world's sugar comes from which tall grass plant?Tap to reveal
Answer: Sugar cane
Sugar can also be made from sugar beets, big pale roots that grow under the ground.
Q9.Which squishy white treat was first made using the sticky sap from the root of a plant that grows in soggy ground?Tap to reveal
Answer: Marshmallow
Today the treat is made from sugar and gelatin instead, but it still carries the name of the marsh mallow plant.
Q10.Chocolate chip cookies were first baked in which country?Tap to reveal
Answer: The United States
They were first made in the 1930s at an inn called the Toll House in Massachusetts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is this food quiz the right level for my child?
The questions are written for children aged 6 to 12. Younger kids aged 6 to 8 will know most of the easy ones about carrots, bananas, cows and pizza. Older kids aged 9 to 12 will be tested by the last two questions in each round, like cinnamon, kimchi and marshmallows. If your child is younger, read the questions aloud and give them three answer choices.
How do I run this quiz in a classroom?
Split the class into small teams and give each team a sheet of paper. Read one round at a time, let the teams write their answers, then reveal the answers and read the fun fact out loud. Each round takes about ten minutes, so you can use one round as a quick warm-up or all four as a full lesson on food and farming.
Can teachers use these questions for free?
Yes. All 40 questions and answers are free to read out loud, copy onto a worksheet, or play with your class, and there is nothing to buy. You are welcome to use them in lessons, clubs, school events and homeschool days. If you would rather not type them out, a printable version can be found on the Trivio printables page.
What is the hardest question in this food quiz?
The marshmallow question is probably the trickiest, because very few people know the treat was named after a real plant that grows in wet, marshy ground. The cinnamon question is a close second, since it is surprising that a spice comes from tree bark. If a child gets both right, they have earned the title of food trivia champion.
Where can kids play this food quiz online?
Kids can play the free quiz right here on this page. It works in any web browser on a phone, tablet or computer, so it is easy to play in class, at home or on the go. It is also a nice way to check answers after reading the list together. If they enjoy it, there are many more free kids quizzes on trivio.net to try next.
