Trivia and treats

Win Foodie Fight and a year’s supply of ice cream

By Culinate staff

May 8, 2008

Over the next two weeks, we’re playing virtual Foodie Fight, a food-trivia game from Chronicle Books. Between today, April 25, and Wednesday, May 7, we’ll post a new trivia question from the game each day on Culinate.

If you suggest an answer, you’ll be entered into a drawing ¹ to win a boxed copy of the game. If you answer the question correctly, you’ll be entered into another drawing, this time to win a year’s supply ¹ of ice cream from Straus Family Creamery.

Got that? Just by taking a stab at the day’s question, you can win a copy of the game. Answer correctly, though, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a year’s supply of Straus ice cream. (Not in the mood to play? You can also enter to win a copy of the game by subscribing to Culinate’s weekly e-newsletter. Don’t forget to validate your subscription via email.)

The current trivia question is posted below; subsequent questions will go up each day at noon ². You can enter every day — 13 times in total — by answering each day’s question before noon the following day.

Final question (day 13): According to recorded history, who were the first people, in 1608, to use forks?
A: Italians (much debate on this one, key to the question is the word “recorded”)

Congratulations to the week one grand prize winner Pamela, from Washington state and week two winner Dave, from Eugene, Oregon (go Ducks) — Ice cream and trivia will be around their houses for a while — and to the Foodie Fight trivia game winners: Sue, Tammy, Tim, Melanie.

Prior trivia question(s):

Q: What 18th-century British writer said, “He was a bold man that first ate an oyster”? (day 1)
A: Jonathan Swift
Q: What do 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon equal in a cup measure? (day 2)
A: 1/3 cup
Q: What did Sylvan N. Goldman invent in the 1930s that boosted grocery-store sales? (day 3)
A: The shopping cart
Q: What did Benjamin Thompson invent at the turn of the 19th century that moved the pot off the hook? (day 4)
A: The kitchen stove (he is also credited with inventing, among other things, thermal underwear)
Q: By what percentage has the number of commercially grown varieties of fruits and vegetables been reduced since the turn of the 20th century? (day 5)
A: 97 percent
Q: In miles, what is the average distance conventional food travels from farm to table? (day 6)
A: 1,500 miles
Q: What did Hebrew University scientists breed out of chickens to cut processing time and expense? (day 7)
A: Feathers
Q: What kind of fresh bean can fight malaria and also trigger a potentially fatal reaction in people with a certain genetic blood-enzyme deficiency? (day 8)
A: Fava beans (The favism disease causes a deficiency of the blood enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, or G6PD.)
Q: What spice is sometimes called a health food due to studies suggesting that it may help regulate blood sugar and that its fragrance may enhance brain activity? (day 9)
A: Cinnamon
Q: Which U.S. president called the cocktail hour “the pause between the errors and trials of the day and the hopes of the night”? (day 10)
A: Herbert Hoover
Q: What percent of the fossil-fuel energy used in the world’s food system is used for the production of food? (day 11)
A: 10 percent (the other 90 percent goes into transportation, packaging, and marketing)
Q: What fruit, placed among properly stored potatoes, will retard potato sprouts? (day 12)
A: Apples

1. Winner selection process: At noon on Thursday, May 1, and again at noon on Thursday, May 8, Culinate will randomly select four winners for the Foodie Fight trivia game from all trivia question answer entries and from new e-newsletter subscribers that week. Then, from all the correct answers given for each question, we will randomly pick two grand-prize winners who get both Foodie Fight and a year’s supply (gift certificates for 12 pints) of ice cream from Straus Family Creamery. All winners will be listed on this page once notified and verified. All answers are based on those given in the Foodie Fight board game.
2. Times mentioned are based on US Pacific Standard Time (PST).
3. Emails used for entry are never used for any other purpose than this contest and are never shared with anyone.