Food and drink quiz questions and answers

Free food and drink questions with answers: cooking, ingredients, beer, wine and spirits. The natural round for a taproom, a restaurant or a bar staff team.

Last reviewed 14 September 2026

How to use this round

Food and drink is the most reliably enjoyable round in a pub quiz, because everybody eats and most of the room is holding a drink while they answer it.

It is also the round where bar staff clean up, which is worth knowing if your team of staff is playing. And it is the obvious choice for a taproom, a restaurant or any venue where the subject is the reason people are there.

The one trap is going too deep on drink. A round of brewing technicalities in a taproom full of homebrewers is either trivial for them or unfair on everyone else.

Easy

Kitchen and bar basics. A round almost everyone can score on, which makes it a good opener.

1
What is the main ingredient in guacamole?
Answer: Avocado
2
Which country does feta cheese come from?
Answer: Greece
3
What spirit is the main ingredient in a mojito?
Answer: Rum
4
What is the main ingredient of hummus?
Answer: Chickpeas
5
Which fruit is used to make cider?
Answer: Apples
6
What is the Italian word for 'pie', which gives us a well-known dish?
Answer: Pizza
7
Which grain is used to make traditional Scotch whisky?
Answer: Barley
8
What colour is the flesh of a ripe avocado?
Answer: Green
9
Which nut is used to make marzipan?
Answer: Almond
10
What is the main ingredient in a traditional omelette?
Answer: Eggs
11
Which vegetable is the main ingredient in coleslaw?
Answer: Cabbage
12
What kind of drink is Earl Grey?
Answer: Tea

Medium

Cooking terms, origins and drink. The middle of the round, and where most tables start to separate.

13
What are the four main ingredients of beer?
Answer: Water, malted barley, hops and yeast
14
Which country does the dish paella originate from?
Answer: Spain
15
What does the cooking term 'sous vide' mean?
Answer: Under vacuum, cooked slowly in a sealed bag in a water bath
16
Which herb is the main flavouring in traditional pesto?
Answer: Basil
17
What grape variety is used to make traditional Champagne, alongside Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier?
Answer: Chardonnay
18
Which spice is the most expensive in the world by weight?
Answer: Saffron
19
What is the primary ingredient in a traditional Japanese miso soup?
Answer: Fermented soybean paste
20
Which country produces Rioja wine?
Answer: Spain
21
What is the name for a mixture of flour and fat used to thicken sauces?
Answer: A roux
22
Which part of the plant is cinnamon made from?
Answer: The bark
23
What does IPA stand for in brewing?
Answer: India Pale Ale
24
Which nation invented the sandwich's namesake, the Earl of Sandwich's title?
Answer: England

Hard

For a taproom crowd, a tie-break, or the back end of a food round.

25
What are the five mother sauces of French cuisine?
Answer: Béchamel, velouté, espagnole, hollandaise and tomato
26
Which fungus is used to make blue cheese?
Answer: Penicillium
27
What does 'brut' mean on a bottle of Champagne?
Answer: Dry
28
Which Italian region is Parmigiano-Reggiano traditionally from?
Answer: Emilia-Romagna
29
What is the fermented tea drink known as?
Answer: Kombucha
30
In brewing, what does 'dry hopping' mean?
Answer: Adding hops after fermentation, for aroma rather than bitterness
31
Which spirit is made from the blue agave plant?
Answer: Tequila
32
What is the name of the Japanese horseradish served with sushi?
Answer: Wasabi
33
Which acid gives lemons their sour taste?
Answer: Citric acid
34
What is the difference between an ale and a lager, in one word?
Answer: Yeast: ales use top-fermenting yeast, lagers bottom-fermenting

The version for a taproom

If you are running this in a brewery, use one drink round rather than a themed drink night. Your regulars know more about beer than any question set does, and a whole quiz about brewing is a quiz they cannot lose.

The rounds that land are the ones about your own beers and your own taproom, which you have to write yourself, and which are worth the hour it takes.

A tasting round, if the venue allows it

Three small samples, identify the style or the ingredient. It is the most memorable round in this category and it needs the venue's cooperation, a licence that covers it, and some thought about quantities.

Keep it to three and keep them small. It is a quiz round, not a tasting session, and the rest of the night still has to happen.

Run the Food & Drink pack

It is one of the five packs included on every plan, including the free session.

Start free, no card needed