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Eric Akis: Test your foodie IQ with sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Day quiz

Hawaiian pizza, good eggs, whale blubber and other epicurean trivia — give it a try and see how you do, eh!
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Sharpen you pencils and put your thinking cap on for this year’s sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Day food quiz. RIKA KINAMOTO

It’s the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Day long weekend and time for another edition of my Canadian food quiz. Give it a try and see how you do, eh! You’ll find the answers below.

1. According to the , nutritionally, unless the chicken’s feed has been enhanced for specialty eggs such as Omega-3, the brown and white eggs sold in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ are:

a) Slightly different, with brown eggs having more protein

b) Identical

c) Vastly different, with white eggs containing fewer vitamins

d) Subject to change, depending on the mood in the hen house

2. According to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in 2023 this was true:

a) sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ exported over $7.6 billion worth of quality fish and seafood

b) sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ exported fish and seafood products to 115 countries

c) sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s most valuable exports by species were lobster, snow/queen crab, and Atlantic salmon

d) All of the above

3. According to the , wild blueberries are a native plant in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and can be found growing in all provinces. But they say these provinces are where they grow most abundantly and are harvested commercially:

a) Ontario, Manitoba and Northern parts of Saskatchewan

b) Ontario, Manitoba and Northern parts of Alberta

c) Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec

d) Ontario, British Columbia and Newfoundland and Labrador

4. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, “Golden, Delicate Taste,” “Amber, Rich Taste,” “Dark, Robust Taste,” and “Very Dark, Strong Taste,” are:

a) The four colour classes for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Grade A maple syrup

b) Categories of honey sold in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

c) Legal taste descriptors for beer sold in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

d) How the flavour of coffee imported into sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ can be labelled

5. In Air sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s enRoute magazine’s list of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s top 10 new restaurants for 2023, this Victoria establishment ranked third:

a) Saveur

b) Nubo

c) Marilena Café & Raw Bar

d) 10 Acres

6. According to Vachon, the company making them, the famed Canadian snack cake Jos Louis first started to be made in 1932 at the company’s bakery in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec. Who was this chocolatey treat stuffed with a creamy filling named after?

a) Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce’s then mayor, Jos Louis

b) Famed boxer Joe Louis, who loved chocolate cake

c) Vachon company founders, Joseph-Arcade Vachon and Rose-Anna Vachon’s, two sons, Joseph and Louis. Jos is a traditional contraction of the name Joseph

d) World famous Paris pâtisserie owner, Jos Louis

7. Maktaaq, also known as muktuk, is a traditional Inuit country food that provides important nutrients, such as protein, iron and vitamins A and C. What is it?

a) Artic Char

b) Pieces of whale skin with blubber

c) Musk Ox

d) Artic Hare

8. The KFC restaurant in this small Saskatchewan city is the only one in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ that still has a buffet:

a) North Battleford

b) Humboldt

c) Swift Current

d) Weyburn

9. Despite its name, the Hawaiian pizza was not invented in Hawaii, it was here:

a) At a Pizza Pizza franchise location in Toronto in 1972

b) At Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ontario in 1962, where co-owner Sam Panopoulos experimented with fusing sweet and tangy Chinese-style tastes into Western-style dishes, including putting pineapple on a pizza

c) At a Polynesian/Canadian restaurant in Montreal in 1966

d) At the Tiki Bar in Vancouver’s Waldorf Hotel in 1969

10. This now widely available, flavourful, semi-soft, washed rind cheese was created in 1893 at a Trappist monastery near Montréal:

a) Oka

b) Colby

c) Brick

d) Cracker Barrel

11. First setting up shop in Winnipeg in 1954, this snack food company this year is celebrating 70 years of operating in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½:

a) Old Dutch

b) Ruffles

c) Lays

d) Covered Bridge

12. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s Food Guide has been around for decades and the healthy eating advice it provides has evolved over the years. The first guide, called Official Food Rules, was introduced to the public in July 1942. What was its goal?

a) To help Canadians healthfully feed their family’s for $100 or less per month

b) To teach home cooks how to make the most out what foods were locally available

c) To introduce Canadians to new and healthy food options

d) To acknowledge wartime food rationing, while endeavouring to prevent nutritional deficiencies and to improve the health of Canadians

13. In the Culture and History section of the , they’ve posted heritage gourmet recipes, including one for bouilli, a dish they say has historical roots to Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. What is it?

a) A traditional, boiled, meat and vegetable dinner long enjoyed in the parts of the Maritimes that Acadians settled

b) Meatballs (bouilli in French) served in rich gravy

c) Beef consommé served on special occasions

d) Acadian-style tourtière

14. In some casual eateries in Montréal, other parts of Quebec and beyond, you’ll see pizzaghetti being served. What is it?

a) Canned spaghetti with pizza flavourings

b) A filling meal where pizza is accompanied on the same plate with saucy spaghetti, with variations on how the two are combined, depending on the eatery serving it

c) Pizza dough rolled with spaghetti and deep-fried

d) A dish now loved that was mistakenly created by a Montréal waiter who spilled a plate of spaghetti on a pizza

15. Some sources say the popular coffee-spiked cocktail Shaft, popular in Western sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, was invented in Calgary by a bartender named Mark Smith. Others suggest it was first poured in Victoria, where the cocktail is popular. No matter what story you believe, lore suggests it was named for:

a) John Shaft, the lead character in the 1971 movie Shaft, played by actor Richard Roundtree, who, like the cocktail, was cool

b) How the drink brightens your day, like a shaft of sunlight

c) How the drink, when swirled, creates shafts of light

d) The tall, mine-shaft-shaped glass its served in

16. Taber, Alta., is famous for the sweet corn grown around the town. But it’s also sweetly famous for this:

a) Its annual butter tart festival

b) Being home to the first Dunkin Donuts in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

c) Being home to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s only sugar beet refiner, an operation that processes Canadian grown sugar beets into sugar products

d) An annual charity fund raiser/baking competition called The Taber Cookie Throwdown

17. The famed Michelin Guide began awarding stars to Canadian restaurants in 2022. Restaurants in this city were the first establishments to receive them:

a) Montreal

b) Toronto

c) Quebec City

d) Vancouver

18. Despite the town’s inland location, in April, Osoyoos, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, invites folks to attend this event:

a) Okanagan Clamfest

b) The World’s Largest Crab Boil

c) Shellfish by the Lake Festival

d) Osoyoos Oyster Festival

19. Weather conditions, culture, landscape and other issues affect what crops are grown in Newfoundland and Labrador. According to Statistics sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, in the 2021 Census of Agriculture, farms there reported the field vegetables they primarily grew were:

a) onions, leeks and garlic

b) peas, string beans and zucchini

c) carrots, rutabagas, turnips and cabbages

d) parsnips, horseradish and kale

20. With a giant statue dubbed the World Largest Honeybee, a honey festival, and a history of honey production in the area, this Peace Country, Alberta, town calls itself the Honey Capital of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½:

a) Falher

b) Fairview

c) High Prairie

d) Peace River


Canadian Food Quiz answers

sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Day flags

1. According to the , nutritionally, unless the chicken’s feed has been enhanced for specialty eggs such as Omega-3, the brown and white eggs sold in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ are:

b) Identical

2. According to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, in 2023 this was true:

d) All of the above

3. According to the , wild blueberries are a native plant in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and can be found growing in all provinces. But they say these provinces are where they grow most abundantly and are harvested commercially:

c) Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Quebec

4. According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, “Golden, Delicate Taste,” “Amber, Rich Taste,” “Dark, Robust Taste,” and “Very Dark, Strong Taste,” are:

a) The four colour classes for sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Grade A maple syrup

5. In Air sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s enRoute magazine’s list of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s top 10 new restaurants for 2023, this Victoria establishment ranked third:

c) Marilena Café & Raw Bar

6. According to Vachon, the company making them, the famed Canadian snack cake Jos Louis, first started to be made in 1932 at their bakery in Sainte-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec. Who was this chocolatey, creamy-filling-stuffed, treat named after?

c) Vachon company founders Joseph-Arcade Vachon and Rose-Anna Vachon’s two sons, Joseph and Louis. Jos is a traditional contraction of the name Joseph

7. Maktaaq, also known as muktuk, is a traditional Inuit country food that provides important nutrients, such as protein, iron and vitamins A and C. What is it?

b) Pieces of whale skin with blubber

8. The KFC restaurant is this small Saskatchewan city is the only one in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ that still has a buffet:

d) Weyburn

9. Despite its name, the Hawaiian pizza was not invented in Hawaii, it was here:

b) At Satellite Restaurant in Chatham, Ont., in 1962, where co-owner Sam Panopoulos experimented with fusing sweet and tangy Chinese-style tastes into Western-style dishes, including putting pineapple on a pizza

10. This now widely available, flavourful, semi-soft, washed rind cheese was created in 1893 at a Trappist monastery near Montréal:

a) Oka

11. First setting up shop in Winnipeg in 1954, this year, this snack food company is celebrating 70 years of operating in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½:

a) Old Dutch

12. sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s Food Guide has been around for decades and the healthy eating advice it provides has evolved over the years. The first guide, called Official Food Rules, was introduced to the public in July 1942. What was its goal?

d) To acknowledge wartime food rationing, while endeavouring to prevent nutritional deficiencies and to improve the health of Canadians

13. In the Culture and History section of the , they’ve posted heritage gourmet recipes, including one for bouilli, a dish they say has historical roots to Grand Pre, Nova Scotia. What is it?

a) A traditional, boiled, meat and vegetable dinner long enjoyed in the parts of the Maritimes that Acadians settled

14. In some casual eateries in Montréal, other parts of Quebec and beyond, you’ll see pizzaghetti being served. What is it?

b) A filling meal where on the same plate a serving of pizza is accompanied with saucy spaghetti, with variants on how the two are combined, depending on the eatery serving it

15. Some sources say the coffee-spiked cocktail Shaft was invented in Calgary by a bartender named Mark Smith. Others suggest it was first poured in Victoria, where the cocktail is popular. No matter what story you believe, lore suggests it was named for:

a) John Shaft, the lead character in the 1971 movie Shaft, played by actor Richard Roundtree, who, like the cocktail, was cool

16. Taber, Alta., is famous for the sweet corn grown around the town. But it’s also sweetly famous for this:

c) Being home to sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½’s only sugar beet refiner, an operation that processes Canadian grown sugar beets into sugar products

17. The famed Michelin Guide began awarding stars to Canadian restaurants in 2022. Restaurants in this city were the first establishments to receive them:

b) Toronto

18. Despite the town’s inland location, in April, Osoyoos, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, invites folks to attend this event:

d) Osoyoos Oyster Festival

19. Weather conditions, culture, landscape and other issues affect what crops are grown in Newfoundland and Labrador. According to Statistics sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, in the 2021 Census of Agriculture, farms there reported the field vegetables they primarily grew were:

c) carrots, rutabagas, turnips and cabbages

20. With a giant statue dubbed the World Largest Honeybee, a honey festival, and a history of honey production in the area, this Peace Country, Alberta, town calls itself the Honey Capital of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½:

a) Falher

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Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.