The great British food quiz

With lashings of nostalgia, royal facts and British flavours, food writer Nicola Miller’s celebratory British quiz is the perfect activity for a weekend get-together.

The great celebration food quiz

1 Which famous author created the ‘Naughty… but nice’ tagline of the UK Milk Board’s cream cake advert starring Les Dawson?
(a) Mary Wesley
(b) Salman Rushdie
(c) Fay Weldon

2 In which decade did the Food Safety Act make it unlawful to wrap fish and chips in newspaper?
(a) 1990s
(b) 1980s
(c) 2000s

3 Nigel Slater called this food personality ‘The Queen of the Frozen Pea’. Who is she?
(a) Diana Henry
(b) Andi Oliver
(c) Nigella Lawson

4 In 2011, what food from Northern Ireland was the first to gain EU protection (protected geographical indication)?
(a) Lough Neagh eels
(b) Armagh bramley apples
(c) New season comber potatoes

5 Which British city still sends lamprey pies to the Royal Household to commemorate coronations and jubilees?
(a) Bristol
(b) Durham
(c) Gloucester

6 How many male actors performed the Milk Tray Man role in the famous Cadbury’s adverts that debuted in 1968?
(a) Three
(b) Four
(c) Six

7 Vindaloo originated in Goa on India’s southwest coast and became one of Britain’s most popular Indian restaurant curries. Latterly, Bangladeshi-British restaurants have introduced the Tindaloo, which differs in that it contains more:
(a) Tamarind
(b) Vinegar
(c) Chillies

8 Marmite is a much loved British spread, with many fans all around the world, but which international star said: “I would do anything for my
children, for sure – except have a Marmite sandwich.”

(a) Meat Loaf
(b) Madonna
(c) Stanley Tucci

9 Scotland has a large Italian population. The grandparents of which famous Scottish personality owned and ran an ice cream shop in Glasgow?
(a) Peter Capaldi
(b) Lewis Capaldi
(c) Paolo Nutini

10 Scones with jam and clotted cream are served at Buckingham Palace garden parties. According to ex-royal chef Darren McGrady, Queen Elizabeth II always added jam first. In which English county is this the preferred method?
(a) Somerset
(b) Devon
(c) Cornwall

11 The last 20 years have seen an explosion in plant-based and vegan eating. However, some British-based diasporic populations have always eaten this way. The Ital diet is vegan, but which belief system underpins it?
(a) Jainism
(b) Buddhism
(c) Rastafarianism

12 In 1954, the first Wimpy Bar opened at Lyons Corner House in London and, by 1970, the company had opened 1,000 restaurants in 23 countries. In 1986 Wimpy claimed to be the first chain to introduce what?
(a) Automated milkshake machines
(b) Meat-free bean burgers
(c) A Special Sauce

13 The ‘Delia effect’ was coined in the late Seventies when her praise for a lemon zester resulted in huge sales. Which berries experienced a 200% rise in sales in 1995 after being included in one of her recipes?
(a) Blueberries
(b) Cranberries
(c) Goji Berries

14 The controversial Sugar Tax was applied to UK produced or imported soft drinks containing added sugar in 2018. No levy is imposed on soft drinks containing less than what percentage of sugar per 100ml?
(a) 5%
(b) 8%
(c) 10%

15 In the last 10 years, there’s been a greater awareness of cultural appropriation in food. Which food personality made the headlines when they announced they’d employed “teams of cultural appropriation specialists” to oversee recipes?
(a) Gordon Ramsay
(b) Mary Berry
(c) Jamie Oliver

16 In 1967, Smith’s Crisps launched a ‘Do The Crunch’ advertising campaign. Which later-to-be-rock-superstar fronted the campaign, demonstrating the ‘crunch dance’ to the British public?
(a) Phil Collins
(b) David Bowie
(c) Freddie Mercury

17 Which iconic Cadbury product saw sales fall by £6 million in the year after its formula was changed in 2015?
(a) Dairy Milk Bar
(b) Creme Egg
(c) Milk Chocolate Buttons

18 Like coronation chicken in 1953, trifle was chosen as the official Platinum Jubilee dish to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s reign in 2022. What were its main ingredients?
(a) Lemon swiss roll, mandarin coulis and amaretti biscuits
(b) Orange sponge, Campari jelly and savoiardi biscuits
(c) Elderflower sponge, gin and lemon coulis and shortbread fingers

9 For King Charles III’s Coronation, three chefs have created a coronation roast rack of lamb with Asian-style marinade, coronation aubergine and a strawberry & ginger trifle. Who are they?
(a) Madhur Jaffrey, Jamie Oliver and Clare Smyth
(b) Nadiya Hussain, Ken Hom and Adam Handling
(c) Cyrus Todiwala, Yotam Ottolenghi and Florence Knight

20 What portable pastry-based snack shares part of its name with a well-known British children’s TV series?
(a) Black Country Brum
(b) Carmarthen Gog
(c) Bedfordshire Clanger

Name these teas…

(a) It gains its aroma and flavour from the smoking process over cedar and light pine logs. The tea’s leaves were first transported by camels to Russia from China.
(b) Created by Chinese tea masters for a prime minister, this black tea was flavoured with bergamot oil to offset the acidic water of his Northumberland estate.
(c) Originating in Japan, this green tea is made from steamed single-origin sencha leaves and toasted rice grains, giving it a nutty flavour.
(d) Sometimes referred to as the ‘champagne of teas’, this aromatic floral tea is made from leaves grown in the hills of West Bengal.
(e) Best made in a saucepan rather than a teapot, this southeast Asian drink made with black tea, milk, water, spices and sugar has many iterations.

Answers below - BEWARE!

1.(b) 2.(a) 3.(c) 4.(a)
5.(c) 6.(b) 7.(c) 8.(b)
9.(a) 10.(c) 11.(c) 12.(b)
13.(b) 14.(a) 15.(c)
16.(a) 17.(b) 18.(a)
19.(b) 20.(c)

Teas
(a) Russian caravan
(b) Earl grey
(c) Genmaicha
(d) Darjeeling
(e) Masala chai