WIKEPEDIA has become the go-to destination for just about anything and everything you need an answer for these days. But when it comes to American food, there’s no better resource than the new “Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink” (Oxford University Press, $49.95), available May 1.
Edited by culinary historian and food writer Andrew F. Smith, this monster-size tome weighs enough to work your biceps and contains more than 1,000 entries that should answer every last one of your culinary curiosities. Test your food IQ with the quiz below. (And for those of you not smarter than a fifth-grader, the answers follow.)
1. What do Blimpie and Frank Sinatra have in common?
a) The Blimpie sandwich was actually named by Frank Sinatra, who was a big fan of the hoagie sandwich.
b) They both got their “start” in Hoboken, N.J.
c) There are 10,000 Blimpie sandwich shops in the United States – the same number of records Frank Sinatra sold in first few hours after “Fly Me to the Moon” was released.
2. Where does the Fortune Cookie come from?
a) China – A cook who had developed a crush on one of his regular customers sent her a love letter folded inside a fried wonton.
b) Japan – after the origami movement gained momentum in the 1880s.
c) The United States.
2. How was the cheesesteak invented?
a) A butcher in New Jersey used to save roast beef scraps for stew. One night he piled some of the stewed beef a roll with some leftover cheese.
b) An Italian immigrant from Tuscany served a loaf of garlic bread with a Tuscan steak and fresh grated Parmesan.
c) A guy who ran a hot dog stand in South Philly’s Italian Market got tired of selling hot dogs.
4. If you order a Boilermaker, what are you ordering?
(a) A shot of tequila followed by a shot of hot sauce.
(b) A shot of whiskey and a beer chaser.
(c) A big pot of Cajun cooked crawfish.
5. How did the Piggly Wiggly change the setup of the grocery story in 1916?
(a) It was the first self-service grocery.
(b) It was the first grocery with a frozen-food section.
c) It was the first grocery store that used a cash register, not a pencil and paper.
answers:
Question 1: (b): Both Frank Sinatra and the three friends who started the Blimpie dynasty in 1964 were from Hoboken.
Question 2: (c) Fortune cookies were invented in 1918 by David Jung, an American baker in Los Angeles. They became popular in Chinese restaurants after World War II.
Question 3: (c) Pat Olivieri, a hot dog vendor in South Philly, invented the cheesesteak after getting bored with serving just hot dogs. A cabbie and longtime customer pulled up as he was eating one, and after trying it, suggested he sell the steak sandwiches instead. Pat’s King of Steaks is still owned and operated by the Olivieri family in Philadelphia.
Question 4: (b): The Boilermaker – a shot of whiskey and a beer chaser – originated in the 1890s in the mining camps of Butte, Mont. It was served to miners as they came off their shift.
Question 5: (a) The Piggly Wiggly – opened in 1916 by Clarence Saunders of Memphis, Tenn. – was the first self-service grocery store. Before the Piggly Wiggly, customers went up to the counter and gave their grocery lists to clerks who would gather their goods for them. Saunders wanted to allow customers to cruise the aisles themselves before visiting the checkout counters – an idea that certainly caught on!