☠️ SOMEHOW THAT'S EDIBLE
This “nut” has trust issues.
It grows attached to the bottom of a fruit called a cashew apple, and its shell contains irritating compounds related to those found in poison ivy.
Yet somehow we looked at this setup and said:
“Yeah, get me the snack inside.”
What is it?
Cashew
Archaeologists excavating Pompeii have uncovered counters containing large jars built directly into them.
These establishments sold prepared food and drink to ancient Romans.
Basically:
“Welcome to Pompeii, what can I get started for you?”
What were these ancient food shops called?
Thermopolia
These delicate red threads are harvested from the flower Crocus sativus.
Each flower produces only a tiny amount, and harvesting is largely done by hand.
Name this famously expensive spice.
Saffron
Welcome to the Krusty Krab.
SpongeBob has dedicated an alarming percentage of his life to producing this signature sandwich.
Plankton has dedicated his life to stealing its formula.
Name the food.
Krabby Patty
We have bread.
We have melted cheese.
We have an egg.
We have butter.
And most importantly, we have constructed the bread into a BOAT.
Name this Georgian dish.
Khachapuri
☠️ SOMEHOW THAT'S EDIBLE
This Japanese delicacy is infamous because some of its organs contain tetrodotoxin, a potent neurotoxin.
Specially trained and licensed chefs prepare it in Japan.
What fish are we talking about?
🐡 Fugu / pufferfish
Imagine handing someone some beans and walking away with merchandise.
In parts of Mesoamerica, these beans were valuable enough to function as a medium of exchange.
Thousands of years later, we're still obsessed with what they produce.
What beans were they?
Cacao / cocoa beans
Not every fish egg gets to enter the VIP section.
Traditionally, the word caviar specifically refers to salt-cured roe from fish in this family.
What fish?
Sturgeon
You grab one of these magical candies.
Maybe you get:
🍒 Cherry.
Or perhaps:
🧦 Dirty sock.
🪱 Earthworm.
🤢 Vomit.
What candy did you recklessly agree to eat?
Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans
Vegetables such as napa cabbage or radish are salted, seasoned and fermented to create this staple of Korean cuisine.
Name it.
Kimchi
You eat fresh pineapple.
Your mouth:
“WHY IS THE FRUIT EATING ME BACK?!”
Pineapple contains a mixture of protein-digesting enzymes commonly used as a meat tenderizer.
What is it called?
🍍 Bromelain
🤥 SOMEBODY LIED
Three statements have a basis in real food history.
One does not.
A. Ancient Romans consumed a fermented fish sauce called garum.
B. Cacao beans were used as currency in Mesoamerica.
C. Europeans once feared tomatoes might be poisonous.
D. Medieval Europeans routinely used potatoes as a major staple centuries before Europeans encountered the Americas.
Who is lying?
D. Medieval Europeans routinely used potatoes as a major staple centuries before Europeans encountered the Americas.
It grows underground.
Specially trained dogs can help find it.
Some varieties sell for extraordinary prices.
Then somebody shaves approximately three atoms of it over your pasta and adds $80 to the bill.
What is it?
🍄 Truffle
🎮 In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, combining certain ingredients with monster parts creates items that can grant temporary effects.
These concoctions are generally called what?
🧪 Elixirs
Your plate arrives containing:
🥩 Thinly sliced meat
🧅 Onions
🍅 Tomatoes
🍟 French fries
Everything has been stir-fried together and commonly served with rice.
Chinese culinary techniques met Peruvian ingredients and created what dish?
Lomo saltado
Humans found olives growing on trees.
Humans tasted them directly.
They were extremely bitter.
Humans refused to accept defeat.
Fresh olives contain a bitter compound that curing helps remove or reduce.
Name that compound.
Oleuropein
☕ DAILY DOUBLE
🏺 THE ANCIENT CONDIMENT
Romans produced an intensely savory liquid by fermenting fish and salt.
It became enormously popular throughout the Roman world.
What was it called?
🐟 Garum
💰 EXPENSIVE SPIT
One extremely expensive soup ingredient is made from the hardened saliva of swiftlets.
What delicacy is made using these structures?
Edible bird's nest / bird's nest soup
🍙 IDENTIFY YOUR ANIME SNACK
Rice is shaped into a ball or triangle, often wrapped partly in nori and sometimes filled with ingredients such as salmon, tuna or pickled plum.
Anime has ensured you've seen this approximately nine thousand times.
What is it?
Onigiri
A thick handmade corn cake is stuffed with fillings such as cheese, beans or pork and traditionally served with curtido.
Name this Salvadoran staple.
Pupusa
Match the risky food to its danger:
1. Fugu
2. Cassava
3. Raw kidney beans
A. Phytohaemagglutinin
B. Cyanogenic compounds
C. Tetrodotoxin
Give me the complete match.
1-C, 2-B, 3-A
We're leaving the kitchen briefly because humanity needs to answer for itself.
For centuries in Europe, substances made from or associated with preserved human remains were sold medicinally under a name also associated with Egyptian preserved bodies.
What word was commonly used for this supposed medicine?
Mummy / mumia
In Japan, exceptionally perfect examples of this fruit can be given as prestigious gifts, and premium pairs have fetched extraordinary auction prices.
The famous Yubari King is what type of fruit?
🍈 Melon / cantaloupe
🕵️ IDENTIFY THE MOVIE
Our evidence:
🐀 One extremely talented rat
👨🍳 One extremely stressed human
🇫🇷 Paris
🍅🥒🍆 A beautifully arranged vegetable dish that emotionally destroys a food critic
Name the movie.
Ratatouille
☕ DAILY DOUBLE
NAME THE BREAD
This spongy, sour flatbread is traditionally made with teff flour and doubles as both food and utensil, used to scoop up stews and other dishes.
What is it?
Injera