Eat-Q Test: Harvest Festivals
Every fall cultures from all over the globe celebrate the harvest. How well do you know about these international traditions? Test your knowledge with these questions from the August/September 2010 issue of JBF Notes. Once you think you've got them solved, click through for the answers and your Eat-Q score.
1. A traditional Polish harvest festival might feature a girl wearing a straw crown on her head, with this item placed upon it:
A. A rooster
B. A rabbit
C. A bronze spoon
D. A tin pail
2. Which of these foods is most closely associated with the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival?
A. Shumai
B. Preserved jellyfish
C. Scallion pancakes
D. Moon cakes
3. In Ghana and Nigeria, which harvest celebration is named after one of the area’s most common foods:
A. The Yam Festival
B. The Millet Festival
C. The Plantain Party
D. The Palm Party
4. During the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, farmers build these to celebrate the harvest:
A. Aqueducts
B. A tower of citrus fruits
C. A life-size idol of corn husks
D. Shelters made from tree branches and fruit
5. Ancient Greeks worshiped this figure as the goddess of all grains, and every autumn the festival of Thesmophoria honored her:
A. Agea
B. Demeter
C. Isis
D. Pleiades
6. Pongal, the namesake rice dish cooked during the Pongal holiday in Sri Lanka, literally translates to this:
A. “To sweeten”
B. “To cleanse”
C. “To boil over”
D. “To tear”
7. The Grand Kadooment is the finale of this five-week harvest festival:
A. Ch’usok in Korea
B. Crop Over in Barbados
C. Fiestas das Vindimias in Portugal
D. Moon Set in Thailand
8. The Orange Festival Queen rides in a procession of fruit-decorated floats, pipe bands, and highland dancers in this country’s celebration of the orange harvest:
A. Brazil
B. Australia
C. Spain
D. Morocco
9. This is a signature treat at the Tuscan Festa del Impruneta, celebrated in October as the last chance to indulge in special wines and foods before winter sets in:
A. Gnocchi pasta
B. Pignoli cookies
C. Brigidini cookies
D. Tripe sandwiches
10. At the Japanese Otaue Rice Planting Festival, who ceremonially plants rice for the next year?
A. Kimono-clad women
B. Rice farmers
C. First-born sons
D. The oldest couple in the village