Quiz Category: World Food Trivia. 10 Delicious Questions

Gruyere cheese has been made in the Gruyere region of Switzerland since the early 12th century.

Can cheese made outside the region be called Gruyere?

In a decision made public on Jan. 6, 2022,  a US District judge ruled against a consortium of Swiss and French cheesemakers from Gruyeres, Switzerland. The judge ruled that shoppers in the United States understand Gruyere to be generic to a type of cheese without restriction on where it was produced. While similar trademark protections have been granted to Roquefort cheese and Cognac brandy, he determined the same case couldn’t be made for Gruyere.

A wok is a deep round-bottomed cooking pot that originated in China. Chef and food writer J. Kenji López-Alt wrote "The Wok: Recipes and Techniques," a book with 200 wok dishes. The book was published in March 2022.

Wasabi is Japanese horseradish. Japan saw a shortage in wasabi - an essential spice for many Japanese dishes - since Typhoon Hagibis slammed into eastern Japan in 2019. Along with a rural population drop due to aging, the output of wasabi farm-grown in clear-flowing water fell to half that of 2005, according to the Japanese Agriculture Ministry.

Halloumi is a semi-hard, unripened cheese traditionally made in Cyprus from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk that can be fried or grilled.

Does McDonald's have halloumi cheese?

McDonald's UK announced a new Mediterranean-inspired summer menu in June 2022, introducing a halloumi fries side order -  four of which will accompany each burger between July 27 and Sept. 6, 2022. During the summer, McDonald's in the UK also serves mozzarella dippers, a tiramisu-flavored McFlurry, and a Spanish fruit punch drink.

In a statement posted to its Instagram account on Jan. 24, 2022, McDonald's UK said it had removed its breakfast bagels and breakfast wraps from the menu permanently. The move leaves the British McDonald's menu with the McMuffin and the Breakfast roll as its main breakfast items, alongside pancakes and hashbrowns.

Nitrite salts are widely used in cured meats such as ham, bacon, and sausages. They extend the shelf life of processed meats and give boiled ham its pink color. In 2015, a World Health Organization report showed adding nitrates or nitrites to processed meat can lead to the formation of potentially cancer-causing chemicals. On Feb. 4, 2022, the French parliament has approved a bill that gradually reduces nitrite's use in cured meats.

Lemon-Dou, Coca-Cola's first ready-to-drink alcohol beverage, was launched in Japan in 2018. It was Coca-Cola's first entry into the alcohol beverage market since the late 1970s when the company owned a winemaker in California. Coca-Cola announced its latest alcoholic product on June 13, 2022: a can of the iconic cocktail Jack & Coke. It will be available in global markets and will debut in Mexico in late 2022.

Mansaf is a traditional Arab dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented, dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgur (burghul). It's considered the national dish of Jordan, traditionally eaten by hand from a large communal platter.

What's "mansaf in a cup"?

According to a New York Times June 26, 2022, report, in early 2020, Jordan's capital Amman saw the first shop of "Our Mansaf in a Cup," offering takeout servings at the bargain price of one dinar, about $1.40. Three more branches followed, but imitators soon appeared in Amman and other cities - forcing the original to shut down and replacing lamb with beef while creating a "gastronomic beef."

Poutine is a classic Quebec dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with brown gravy. The dish's name is widely believed to come from the French-Canadian pronunciation of the English word "pudding." The famous dish shares its name – in French transliteration – with the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Poutine restaurants in France received threats following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Charoset (also spelled haroset) is one of the six symbolic foods on the Passover seder plate, usually made from apples, nuts, and red wine. The word charoset is derived from the Hebrew for clay (pronounced khe-res). It represents the matter used by the Old Testament’s enslaved Israelites to build Egyptian cities. Passover, which celebrates the Israelites’ exodus from slavery, begins on the evening of Apr. 15, 2022, and runs for eight days. Seders are held on the first and second nights.