Peas of Mind - Food & Beverages Quiz | Ananya Upadhya

Peas of
Mind
Food &
Beverages Quiz
By Ananya
Upadhya
For BQC

Rules
● 30 questions, all +10
● Infinite bounce &
pounce (-5)
● Points will be
conserved

Q1
When a famous figure met a few members of this group during her visit to
Virar in the 80s all the way from the opposite side of the country, she
exhorted them to use their strength and unity to carry out social service.
They eventually did so, such as at homes for destitute women, during the
earthquakes in Latur and Gujarat, and other activities such as planting trees
and providing scholarships.
What is this group of people, who are renowned for their cooperative food-
related activities?
Which figure?

Q2
In the opening scene of a famous film, a young girl is rebuked for stealing a
guava from her wealthy neighbour’s orchard. Her mother blames her
kleptomania on an elderly relative, whom she accused of stealing oil, spices,
and salt from the kitchen.
However, in a later scene, the mother, hurrying in the rain, finds a fallen fruit,
ensures that no one is looking, and tucks the fruit into the folds of her dress
before going on her way, symbolising that her daughter’s earlier act may not
be motivated as much by social learning as poverty. Which film? Why was
the elderly relative stealing these condiments in the first place?

A2
Pather Panchali, Durga stealing a
guava from a neighbour’s
orchard.

Q3
(1930, Helen Jensen)
(2013, __________________)
(1968, Robert Walters)
(1970, Libby Childress)
These are
components of
what list, one
that receives
attention every
year towards the
end of May?

A3
Food-related Scripps’ Spelling
Bee winning words

Q4
King Kunta is Kendrick Lamar track which uses “yams” to refer to two major
works of Black literature. The first is when Lamar says “the yam is the power
that be / you can smell it when I am walkin’ down the street”. This is a
reference to a novel where the protagonist is walking down the streets of New
York City when he smells yams, triggering memories of his hometown in the
South. Later, he famously declares, “I yam what I am”.
The second is when he talks about “getting the yams”, referring to a
pathbreaking novel which begins by describing that a man’s worth in Igbo
society was largely determined by his yearly yam yield.
Name the two books. What is “yams” also used to refer to, colloquially,
given their resemblance to this particular illicit mechanism (pic on next slide)?

A4
Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison)
Things Fall Apart
Heroin-filled balloons

Q5
This is Harry’s New York Bar, an American bar in Paris
and birthplace of several now-IBA official cocktails,
such as the White Lady and Sidecar.
As per a bartender there, who claimed to have invented the X, the name does not
refer to other famous people but instead is a corruption of ‘Vladimir’, for Vladimir
Smirnoff, of the Smirnoff vodka family, for whom he prepared it in 1921. Which
cocktail?
This bar is recorded in a short story as the place where someone did something
significant to his personal reputation, aged 16, on his first visit to Paris. He also
lost, “nearly simultaneously”, his wallet. Who and what did he do?

A5
Bloody Mary
James Bond lost
his virginity here
(in ‘From a View
to Kill’)

Q6
After this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several contestants
in the “home cooking” category of a related public contest forgot about it.
They were, however, pleasantly surprised when their dishes were chosen to
feature, owing to their nutritious value and use of local ingredients.
There are also a few other categories, aiming to use produce from all 47
regions of the country. This includes one region, to fit the theme of
recovery, despite safety concerns. Authorities insist that produce from there
is subject to stricter standards and testing, and hence safe.
What are all these categories of? Which region?

A6
Catering for the
Tokyo Olympics
Fukushima
Prefecture

Q7
In a 1983 interview, X said “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does
provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I
mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a
stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”
When, in 2020, it was revealed that Y was to direct Netflix adaptations of one
of X’s most-beloved works, people thought it an appropriate ‘insult’ to X, not
only because Y has Jewish heritage, but also because Y will focus on a group
of indigenous characters whose description has been criticised as racist.
Give Y and the group of characters.

A7
Taika Waititi
Oompa-Loompas

Q8
Once a year, an Italian
pastry chef makes
highly decorated
versions of something,
shown here in part,
inspired by art, music,
movies, and literature.
What does he make?
Identify the artist in
(A) and the work
alluded to in (B).

A8
Easter Eggs
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1984 by George Orwell

Q9
A veteran of this profession released a tell-all book in 2004, whose title
translates to “The _________ Sits Down at the Table”. Due to this, his
employment in this profession was terminated. As per his account, the lives of
people in this profession was full of “lonely, underpaid drudgery, driving
around for weeks on end”, facing intense pressure and strict deadlines.
Fast forward to 2020. Undeterred, they were the first on the scene as soon as
their “places of work” opened - of which there are around 3,236 globally.
Which highly specific profession?

Q10
In 2020, a Twitter thread called out the sexism and vulgarity in a compilation
considered sacred in a particular industry. In the latest edition, it found 34
references to the compilation describing something as “sexy”, and many more
with such descriptions as “If this was a woman, I’d want to make love to it
every night. And in the morning...” and “Have I had this much fun with a sexy
41-year-old Canadian before? Well, yes I have. But it was a few years back…”.
The thread concludes that any brand celebrating its placement in this -
including one from India - ought to be ashamed.
What compilation?

A10
Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible
Paul John’s Mithuna ranked at #3
(in 2010, Amrut held this spot). It
refused to distance itself from the
publication as Pernod Ricard and
Diageo have done, and its
spokesperson said “We are more
focused on being Indian first than
being gender-focussed.”

Q11-13: Folklore
The Motif-Index of Folk-Literature indexes
common folklore motifs [part of a tale or
the entire tale itself] from across the
world. For example, “Services of helpful
animals” includes “Animal wins wife for
his master”, such as in Puss in Boots.
The following are three questions on
food-related motifs from the Index.

Q11
Several scholars have noted that a tale (under “H0-H199: Identity tests:
Recognition”, where some ‘test’ is used to verify a claimed identity) stemmed
from Hans Christian Andersen’s humiliations by the Danish elite despite his
renown as a writer. While some see the tone of his narration as tongue-in-
cheek, satirising the elite’s delicate nature, others, interpret the tale as a
reflection of Andersen’s view of “true nobility” which does not come from
birth but instead from one’s sensitivity, a metaphor for “feeling and
compassion”. Which tale?

Q12
A certain motif is classified under “Magic objects” in the Index. While some
explanations for the usage of a certain item in this motif include Babylonian
magic practices, a Hebrew term meaning “name of heaven”, and the
dispersal pattern of this item which is similar to treasures being magically
unlocked. What motif?

Q13
In the mid-1500s, a maiden called Margarete von Waldeck lived in a small
mining village in Germany. When she went to Brussels, she caught the eye of
Philip II of Spain. However, she died before this attraction bore fruit. Popular
legend about the cause of her death relates to a motif X and stems from the
fact that her handwriting in her last will was shaky, which may be a sign of this
cause. This is supposedly the inspiration behind a popular tale, supported
by the possibility that children who worked in the mines became an
inspiration for something central to the tale.
What motif, also classified under ‘magic objects’?

A13
The poisoned apple from
Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs

Q14
“There’s No ___ in __________” is a children’s book on food facts, myths, and
folklore deriving its name from a possible misgiving children may have about a
particular dish owing to its name. The author busts such myths about the dish
as Genghis Khan creating it while tenderising meat scraps under saddles on
his way to ransack China, or a teenager in Wisconsin creating it as a handier
way of selling meatballs.
FITB in the title of the book.

A14
There’s No Ham in Hamburgers

Q15
Spiced, Smoked, Pickled, Preserved is a 2021 book
by Indranee Ghosh in which she records recipes
and memories from her childhood in Shillong,
then capital of Assam. Interestingly, she writes
about the worms she used to consume with
friends when they frequently entered ditches in
the ground during school hours, some sixty
years ago.
What led to the children being required to
‘enter the earth’?

A15
1962 Indo-China War
Trenches had been dug all over the school grounds for children to practise
entering and staying safe in during air raid drills.

Q16
______ Pekoe is a term used in the tea trade to describe the highest grade of
black teas from India. Contrary to a common misunderstanding, the ‘______’ in
the name does not have anything to do with the flavour or scent of the tea.
The first and straightforward explanation is the copper colour of a high-
quality oxidised leaf before drying or in the finished product. Another theory is
that a certain group of merchants might have picked the name to suggest
association with a very influential family, which only increased in power
after that and is still symbolically significant. Which family?

A16
Orange
House of Orange-Nassau (now
the Dutch Royal Family) and the
Dutch East India Company

Q17 - FUQ
Which “self-made” man is widely credited with popularising, if not inventing
the term “Orange Pekoe” to sell these teas in the Western market?
He boasted that his success lay in low prices and the power of advertising.
Another attribute he credited his success to was his “optimism”. While this
may have been true in a direct sense, it is droll to note that his five
unsuccessful challenges to win a particular title in the US were much-
publicised and led to his products becoming famous there.
What title, the oldest still-operating one internationally in any sport? Like in
many other sports, a team from New Zealand is the reigning champion.

A17
Sir Thomas Lipton
America’s Cup (sailing yachts)

Q18
Nixtamalisation is a process developed by Mesoamericans in around 1500 BCE. It
involves the processing of corn kernels to make them easier to chew and digest.
Furthermore, it basically helps our body to better absorb niacin (vitamin B3). The
lack of niacin can cause a disease called pellagra, characterised by skin sores,
insomnia, indigestion of solid food, aggression and delusions.
When corn was brought to Europe in the 1500s, peasants consumed it without
nixtamalisation, just as they would consume any other crop. This led to
widespread cases of pellagra and (as posited by science historians) the rise of
what legend/ myth?

Q19
Yuenyeung is a popular beverage in Hong Kong. It gets its
name from the local name of the Mandarin ducks, since
their males and females look wildly different but are still
considered a symbol of love in Chinese culture. The drink is,
similarly, a mixture of two components which are very
different but apparently work well together.
What are the two components?
A children’s variant consists of Ovaltine (similar to our
Boost) and what other branded product, originally sold as
a meal replacement drink mix for travellers, the sick, and
the aged?

A19
Coffee and (milk) tea
Horlicks

Q20
____ __ ___ _________ is a 1953 short story by Roald Dahl where a woman kills
her husband with a blow to the head by a frozen leg of mutton (and then
cooks and serves the same to the police who turn up). Elements of the same
have since inspired various directors, such as Pedro Almodóvar and Alfred
Hitchcock, who directed an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents based on this.
FITB with the apt title, a common phrase.
Where on Netflix India in 2021 did the plot make a comeback, though
attributed to a Hindi pulp fiction author?

A20
Lamb to the Slaughter
Haseen Dillruba

Q21
Whose recipe for what, carrying a cost that will only be specified after it is taught?
1. Combine 3 oz Baileys, 8 oz of ginger beer, four scoops of chocolate ice-cream
five pieces of candied ginger and a half teaspoon of cayenne pepper in a blender
with ice.
2. Blend until smooth.
3. Dip the rim of a glass in honey, before dipping in chilli and cinnamon sugar.
4. Pour into glass, top with ginger infused whipped cream and a piece of candied
ginger.
5. Await all the [consumers].

Q22
Animikh Roy, along with historian Haripada Bhowmik, contributed to the
“Rasgulla war” between Odisha and West Bengal by submitting a report to the
West Bengal Government supporting the latter’s case.
The report contained reasons why the Rasgulla could not have its origins in
the Chhappan Bhog (“56 Offerings”) of the Puri Jagannath Temple. One
reason lies in chhena being the primary ingredient in Rasgullas. Put funda.
Animikh Roy had a great familial/professional stake in ensuring that the GI
Tag for Rasgullas came to West Bengal. Why?

A22
They said it would be blasphemous to
serve something made out of spoilt milk
(chhena) to a deity.
Animikh Roy is the descendant of Nobin
Chandra Das, widely renowned in Bengal
as the creator of the Rasgulla.

Q23
Bentos (known in the West as bento boxes), Japan’s neatly
organised meal boxes, are usually prepared by (women)
homemakers for their husbands and children to take to
work.
One variety is the hinomaru bento (not pictured).
Considering that it consists of a portion of rice topped by
a lone pickled fruit called the umeboshi, similar to plums
or apricots, what does ‘hinomaru’ mean?
Another is the shikaeshi ben, pictured here. What does
‘shikaeshi’ mean/why are these bentos made this way?

A23
Hinomaru is the name of the Japanese flag
(literally, ‘the circle of the Sun’).
Shikaeshi means ‘revenge’; wives make
these bentos to get back at their husbands
after disagreements by writing insults in the
food, making the bento inedible (such as by
putting in too many pickles and too little
rice), or making it look scary.

Q24
The Goan vindaloo gets its name
from the Portuguese dish carne
de vinha d'alhos, meaning “meat
with wine and garlic”. While
wine was substituted with
vinegar to accommodate local
sensibilities, another ingredient
is often added by non-puritans
due to a misunderstanding.
What is this new ingredient?

A24
Addition of potato because of the “aloo” in the name

Q25-27: Like
Chalk and Cheese
Questions connecting
two dishes/beverages
which seemingly do not
share much in common
with each other

Q25
Nihari is a meat stew that originated in Mughal
kitchens. Some nihari outlets boast of an
unbroken “taar” (thread) going back over a
century. This has to do with the way the dish is
prepared each day. How is this “taar” created?
A similar funda is also one of the suggested
etymologies for a South Indian version of a
ubiquitous beverage. Other origins include
something to do with temperature, or the
modified name of a plant whose root is added to
the beverage to bring out more flavour. What?

A25
A few kilos of one day’s nihari are added to the next
and so on.
Kumbakonam degree coffee - the “first-degree” was
made out of decoction and milk, while the “second-
degree” was made out of the first-degree and milk, and so
on. The former was the rich patron’s cup of tea (coffee?),
while the others were that of the common man’s.
Other suggested etyms include ‘chicory’, temperature, or
the purity of the milk measured in degrees.

Q26
X, a brand of hazelnut liqueur, is famous for its distinctive packaging.
It gets this design - and its name - from an 18th century Italian
monk who created liqueur recipes, and not, as is often believed,
from a 14th century painter monk also named X.
An old tradition in Naples consisted of dressing up young children
who had recovered from serious illnesses as monks for a procession.
One of them, Michele Pezza, was especially troublesome, and earned
himself the nickname Y (as an opposite of X). Y stuck due to his
fiery temper and role as a famous guerrilla leader. Today, spicy
tomato sauces are commonly known as Y.
Give X and Y.

Q27
The debate on whether this New Zealand biscuit is named
with racist connotations simmers on - it has nothing to do
with the nation it is named after, but instead,
supposedly, the “colour” of Its people. Some cafes have
been changing its name to show sensitivity towards the
country’s political climate in 2021.
Another biscuit named after a place has since suffered
mispronunciations in the Anglophone world (including
India), to the point of advertisers claiming that they are as
“Delightful as the town after which they are named”.
Name the two biscuits.

A27
Afghan biscuits
Nice biscuits

Q28
When Nazzareno Romano was looking for a name
for his culinary creation in 1950, his brother-in-law
blurted out the name of a volcanic Italian island.
The dish, however, has little to do with the island -
instead, the name comes via that of a film starring
Ingrid Bergman. What dish/film?
The suggestion came about because the movie was
much talked about, but not on its own merits. In
fact, many critics said that the movie paled in
comparison to the real-life series of events which
occurred parallel to the film. What happened,
which led to Bergman being denounced as a
“powerful force for evil” in the US Senate?

A28
Stromboli
Bergman and the director, Roberto Rossellini,
had an affair which led to the birth of a child a
few weeks before the release and them leaving
their respective spouses to get married.
Given all this, there were calls in church groups,
women’s clubs, and even the US Senate to ban
the film. Bergman’s Hollywood career was halted
for several years.

Q29
“_____ Jam” was a game developing event (‘jam’) held in 2014 to protest against a
particular legal move by a corporate in the US. The jam’s tagline “Ooops, sorry,
Sweet Jam” explains what many people (correctly) thought would be the
consequence of the move.
The corporate had already threatened smaller entities in the game development
space with legal action for using the word ‘_____’ and another word in its most
famous game’s name. Ultimately, in response to the concerns raised, the corporate
decided not to pursue the move. Which corporate and what (specific) move?

A29 King, the company behind Candy Crush Saga, filing for a trademark on the word
‘Candy’ with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Q30
Brion Gysin (1916 – 1986) was a painter, writer, and performance artist. After
serving in WW2, he opened a restaurant in Tangier named The 1001 Nights.
This venture brought him in proximity to local ingredients. One of them, he
would go on to incorporate in a recipe and submit “as a joke” to a friend’s
cookbook. The friend innocuously put it in, not knowing the reality of this dish
as Gysin had used the Latin name of the ingredient. The dish would go on to
become wildly popular in the US under her name.
Who was this friend, from whose name a slang word in the US for this
“ingredient” originated?

A30
Alice B. Toklas (the “hashish fudge”, for which
he had listed the mysterious ingredient as
cannabis)
The word “toke”, a slang word for a puff of
marijuana, comes from “Toklas”

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