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The "don't gross out the world" dining quiz

Gifted Gourmet

By Gifted Gourmet
in Food Traditions & Culture

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LindaJ

LindaJ

Posted
Posted

8 out of 11. I'm such a homebody. I missed the Polish one though and that's just wrong. I'm half Polish. My whole family is made up of old Polish wives who have tales (just ask my husband who has to listen to them) and I've never heard of that.

Fun though.

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I_call_the_duck

I_call_the_duck

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5 out of 11. Must have been raised by wolves. Actually, being Chinese, I'm embarassed to admit that I got the first one wrong. At home, we always cleaned our plates because, well, food wasn't cheap.

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

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Jmahl

Jmahl

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8 out of 11 - I know the one about dinner - trick question. Good fun.

Jmahl

The Philip Mahl Community teaching kitchen is now open. Check it out. "Philip Mahl Memorial Kitchen" on Facebook. Website coming soon.

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Pan

Pan

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8/11. I got the Chinese, German, and Scottish ones wrong. I won't comment on the questions, so as not to give anyone any hints as to the tricks involved. I found it amusing.

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Megan Blocker

Megan Blocker

Posted
Posted
7 out of 11.  I am a culinary clod.

Me, too!

I got the China one wrong, and then remembered hearing the right answer at some point...wonder where? Huh.

Love the Germany one - it's so true!

"We had dry martinis; great wing-shaped glasses of perfumed fire, tangy as the early morning air." - Elaine Dundy, The Dud Avocado

Queenie Takes Manhattan

eG Foodblogs: 2006 - 2007

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BarbaraY

BarbaraY

Posted
Posted (edited)

10 of 11. I got the Polish one wrong. Guess I can go most places without embarassment.

Now if we can just get people to stop pouring soy sauce over their rice.................... :sad:

Edited by BarbaraY (log)
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miladyinsanity

miladyinsanity

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Posted
5 out of 11.  Must have been raised by wolves.  Actually, being Chinese, I'm embarassed to admit that I got the first one wrong.  At home, we always cleaned our plates because, well, food wasn't cheap.

I got 8 out of 11, but I got the first one wrong too, despite being Chinese!

There's another story about that, about it giving you pockmarks.

May

Totally More-ish: The New and Improved Foodblog

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Tepee

Tepee

Posted
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5 out of 11.  Must have been raised by wolves.  Actually, being Chinese, I'm embarassed to admit that I got the first one wrong.  At home, we always cleaned our plates because, well, food wasn't cheap.

I got 8 out of 11, but I got the first one wrong too, despite being Chinese!

There's another story about that, about it giving you pockmarks.

Erm...you'll get that right only if you belong to my generation. :rolleyes: ...showing my age here. When we were young, we did leave some food on our plates....for posterity.

TPcal!

Food Pix (plus others)

Please take pictures of all the food you get to try (and if you can, the food at the next tables)............................Dejah

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I_call_the_duck

I_call_the_duck

Posted
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5 out of 11.  Must have been raised by wolves.  Actually, being Chinese, I'm embarassed to admit that I got the first one wrong.  At home, we always cleaned our plates because, well, food wasn't cheap.

I got 8 out of 11, but I got the first one wrong too, despite being Chinese!

There's another story about that, about it giving you pockmarks.

Miladyinsanity, I don't feel that bad now. Now that I think about it, I got the pockmarks reason too. (Must have blocked that one out of my mind.) But this weekend, we got a lecture from mom about leaving food on the plates. Little too late for the quiz though.

It was a fun quiz. Thanks, Melissa. You always find the most interesting stuff.

Karen C.

"Oh, suddenly life’s fun, suddenly there’s a reason to get up in the morning – it’s called bacon!" - Sookie St. James

Travelogue: Ten days in Tuscany

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Kent Wang

Kent Wang

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Posted
5 out of 11.  Must have been raised by wolves.  Actually, being Chinese, I'm embarassed to admit that I got the first one wrong.  At home, we always cleaned our plates because, well, food wasn't cheap.

Me too. My mom always taught me to clean my plate.

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Jambalyle

Jambalyle

Posted
Posted
Love the Germany one - it's so true!

Interesting on the German one... I've never eaten with a German or Austrian who has ever let go of the knife in their right hand long enough to cut something with a fork.

My stepdad was Austrian and trained as a chef in a hotel college in Switzerland... that man would starve if he didn't have a knive in his right hand when he ate. Lots of stories about him asking for a knife to eat with in a restaurant and often being given some variety of kitchen knife, which was especially amusing in Chinese restaurants.

Sitting on the fence between gourmet and gourmand, I am probably leaning to the right...

Lyle P.

Redwood City, CA

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Katie Nell

Katie Nell

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Only 7 out of 11, but I still guessed on most of them! Boy, would I be in trouble if I had to eat with my left hand!

"Many people believe the names of In 'n Out and Steak 'n Shake perfectly describe the contrast in bedroom techniques between the coast and the heartland." ~Roger Ebert

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anzu

anzu

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Interesting on the German one...  I've never eaten with a German or Austrian who has ever let go of the knife in their right hand long enough to cut something with a fork.

Interestingly, I was invited to a German colleague's place for Christmas dinner, and the topic of cutting potatoes with a fork was brought up (not by me in response to this quiz).

Only two people present had even heard of this, and one of those two had come across it only in the last week. The one who had known of it longer claimed it was about 100 years out of date, and only a died-in-the-wool pedant would observe it. He's a university professor - not sure if that makes him more or less likely to observe culinary niceties :raz: .

Neither knew the reason for using a fork rather than a knife.

Jambalyle, I don't think you are meant to switch hands, but are meant to keep the fork in the left hand, and use it for cutting through the potato nonetheless (?)

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Fengyi

Fengyi

Posted
Posted
5 out of 11.  Must have been raised by wolves.  Actually, being Chinese, I'm embarassed to admit that I got the first one wrong.  At home, we always cleaned our plates because, well, food wasn't cheap.

Me too. My mom always taught me to clean my plate.

I think there's a great divergence in Chinese eating for 'inside the house' and 'as a guest'.

We were always taught that, while in the house 'en famile', leaving rice was an ABSOLUTE no-no! The reason for it (beyond the 'you'll get a spouse with as many pockmarks as grains of rice that you leave in your bowl' threat) was given as essentially that of the Li Shen poem from the Tang Dynasty:

憫農

鋤禾日當午，汗滴禾下土。

誰知盤中飧，粒粒皆辛苦。

"Feelings for the Farmer" (my VERY bad translation)

Hoeing the rice plants, while the sun is at noon

The sweat drips onto the soil beneath the plants...

Who can comprehend that, of the cooked rice on the dish,

Each and every grain is of such hardship and bitterness?

Any time rice was left, it brought on a 'suffering farmer' lecture....

We *were* brought up never to finish the dishes "cai" (even at home) but always to leave surplus of it, but rice was another matter....

However [deep breath] we were not allowed *ever* to clean our plate or bowl 'in the outside world' while being a guest of someone.

It was quite difficult as a child to fathom this strange behaviour (and I really liked the fried rice/noodles at the end of banquets too!!! I used to yearn for it!) - my mother telling me on the one hand to finish my rice, on the other to leave it all!

Those darned conflicting messages of 'feelings for farmers' and 'giving face to the host'!!!!! :hmmm:

<a href='http://www.longfengwines.com' target='_blank'>Wine Tasting in the Big Beige of Beijing</a>

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