CHRISTMAS FOODIE CRACKERS

1 Which way do you stir the Christmas pudding mixture for good luck?
2 Who was the unlikely writer commissioned by the British Council in 1946 to contribute recipes for Christmas Pudding and Plum Cake?
3 What does the Parker family end up eating for Christmas dinner in the 80s film A Christmas Story?
4 Which acerbic television character's seasonal blessing was: "I trust Christmas brings to you its traditional mix of good food and violent stomach cramps"?
5 What fruit put into the container will keep a stored Christmas cake moist?
6 Norfolk turkeys on foot to the London Christmas markets had their feet protected by "boots" made of sacking or leather. But what was used on geese?
7 Henry V, laying siege to Rouen in 1418, reputedly ate a roasted portion of which mammal for his Christmas meal?
8 In which popular 19th-century classic novel was the impoverished family treated at Christmas to "ice cream – actually two dishes of it, pink and white – and cake and fruit and distracting French bonbons"?
9 Which English monarch was affectionately known as the "Pudding King" because he requested plum pudding for his first Christmas dinner in England?
10 What should be eaten on each of the 12 days of Christmas to ensure good luck for the year ahead?

CHRISTMAS FOOD AROUND THE WORLD

1 What do Americans eat as an alternative to Christmas pudding?
2 The Lithuanian aguonu pienas doubles up as a festive soup or drink. What is it made from?
3 In which south-east Asian country would Christmas dinner not be complete without a slice of bibingka – a coconut-flavoured cake, baked in banana leaves and topped with cheese?
4 What pungent gelatinous (and to some unpalatable) fish is eaten in Scandinavia for Christmas lunch?
5 The Belgian cougnou is a brioche-type bread baked in the form of whom?
6 Rabanadas (King Cakes), traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve, are the Portuguese or Brazilian version of which popular French dessert?
7 How many desserts are prepared for a Provençal Christmas feast to follow Midnight Mass?
8 Which German city puts on a Stollen festival, complete with a monster version of the cake, in the lead up to Christmas?
9 In which country is there a traditional festive marathon of eating and drinking called Julefrokost?
10 Christopsomo is a Greek loaf made with figs, wine, anise, nuts, spices and dried pine resin. What does the name mean?

CHRISTMAS PAST REPEATS

1 How did the Puritans celebrate Christmas?
2 What parts of a deer were its "humbles", made into a Christmas pie and eaten by huntsmen and servants in medieval England?
3 What bird was skinned before roasting, then put back together again, complete with feathers, to take pride of place at a Tudor Christmas banquet?
4 In Victorian times, what did most northerners (who could afford it) prefer to eat instead of turkey on Christmas Day?
5 Which gluttonous English king's Christmas feast comprised 3,000 capons, 1,000 salted eels, 400 hogs, 100lb of almonds and 24 casks of wine (though to be fair he didn't eat alone)?
6 To make which seasonal confection did a second world war recipe suggest using haricot beans and ground rice, laced with vanilla essence?
7 Which military commander's Christmas meal at Valley Forge in 1777 was "fowl, cooked in a broth of turnips, cabbage and potatoes"?
8 What game pie was traditionally eaten for breakfast on Christmas Day in Suffolk?
9 Whose royal command was it that the whole of England should eat goose at Christmas to celebrate a great national victory?
10 Who recorded that his Christmas dinner in 1662 was restricted (since his wife was unwell) to a "mess of brave plum-porridge and a roasted Pullett"?

A LA CARTE

1 What does the word "antipasto" actually mean?
2 With what fruit is a Ripe Tart made?
3 What is the name of the family of Italian hard cheeses made from ewes' milk?
4 Loch Ness, Long Bow and Sprite are varieties of which vegetable?
5 In which country would you eat a carpetbag steak?
6 Which English sausage is traditionally sold by length?
7 Lionel Poilâne, who died in 2002, was celebrated for his what?
8 Which are more nutritious, white or brown eggs?

9 What is a "Buck Rabbit"?
10 Which famous wartime pie consisted of whatever vegetables were available, mixed with oatmeal and topped with potato pastry?

FOOD IN FICTION

1 What had a soporific effect on Beatrix Potter's Flopsy Bunnies?
2 Which small cake triggers the narrator's memory in Marcel Proust's novel, Remembrance of Things Past?
3 What did Hagrid give Harry Potter for Christmas in his fourth year?
4 Who was served in jail "very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in it in great golden drops"?
5 What sandwiches are served in the opening scene of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest?
6 The narrator of Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children works in a what?
7 What is the final novel in Joanne Harris's "Food Trilogy"?
8 Oliver Twist asked for more of what?
9 In Moby-Dick, what did Ishmael and Queequeg eat in the Nantucket tavern?
10 Which Maurice Sendak children's story has a culinary theme?

AS SEEN ON TV

1 Who was known as the Galloping Gourmet?
2 The French Chef was the title of whose American TV show?
3 Who made his TV debut in the 1998 documentary series Boiling Point?
4 Which of the Hairy Bikers was a professional make-up artist?
5 Who was the UK's first celebrity TV chef?
6 Which TV cook was once head chef at Lord's cricket ground?
7 In which town did Jamie Oliver start his Ministry of Food campaign?
8 For which international design house was Ed Baines once the official chef?
9 The actor Richard Burton was godfather to which TV chef?
10 What nationality was the chef on The Muppet Show?

OFF THE SHELF

1 Which bestselling thriller writer published his Action Cook Book in 1965?
2 Whose children's cookbook, The Fun Food Factory, became a 1970s TV series?
3 What was the title of Nigella Lawson's first cookery book?
4 Which classic guide to French cooking was first published in 1903?
5 Whose last book, My Life in France, was published posthumously in 2006?
6 Who launched her cookery writing career with Mediterranean Food?
7 Name the author of the 19th-century English classic Modern Cookery for Private Families
8 The Pedant in the Kitchen relates the culinary experiences of which contemporary English novelist?
9 Which English stately home featured in the title of a 2003 cookbook?
10 Whose Kitchen Confidential spills the beans?

KITCHEN KNOW-HOW

1 When cooking pasta, should the pasta be added to water that is a) boiling, b) simmering, or c) cold and then brought to the boil?
2 How do you shape a quenelle?
3 What is the best utensil for folding whisked egg whites or cream into a mixture?
4 How can you get more juice out of a citrus fruit?
5 Why is creme fraiche an effective cooking ingredient?
6 How do you test the ripeness of a melon?
7 Which is the best way to melt chocolate when cooking?
8 How do you test the freshness of a lobster?
9 Why is steaming the most nutritious method of cooking vegetables?
10 When carving meat, is it best to cut with or against the grain?

Non-Xmas questions extracted from Everything But the Oink: A Foodie Quiz by Graham Tarrant