Mexican Food Quiz
Tacos al pastor, mole, birria and chapulines: 15 questions on one of the world's great cuisines.
Which fruit is the main ingredient of guacamole?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Avocado
Guacamole is mashed avocado, usually mixed with lime juice, salt, onion, chilli and coriander. The name comes from the Nahuatl words ahuacatl, meaning avocado, and molli, meaning sauce, so it literally means avocado sauce.
Avocados are botanically large berries with a single seed, and Mexico grows more of them than any other country, most of them in the state of Michoacán.
Mexican salsa verde gets its green colour and tart flavour mainly from which ingredient?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Tomatillos
Salsa verde is built on tomatillos, small green fruits in a papery husk that are related to the tomato but tarter and firmer. They are boiled or roasted and blended with chillies, onion, garlic and coriander.
Tomatillos have been cultivated in Mexico since Aztec times and are sometimes called tomate verde, while the red tomato is jitomate in central Mexico.
Tequila is distilled from the cooked heart of which plant?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Blue agave
Tequila must be made from the blue Weber agave, whose large heart, or piña, is cooked and crushed to release sugary juice that is fermented and distilled. By law it can only be produced in Jalisco and small parts of four other states.
Mezcal can be made from dozens of agave species and is traditionally roasted in earth pits, which gives it a smoky flavour that tequila lacks.
Which traditional Mexican dish consists of masa dough with a filling, wrapped in a corn husk and steamed?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Tamale
A tamale is corn masa spread on a dried corn husk, filled with meat, cheese, chillies or sweet ingredients, then folded and steamed. Tamales date back thousands of years and were portable food for Aztec and Maya travellers and warriors.
In Oaxaca and the Yucatán, tamales are often wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks, which keeps them moister.
A chipotle is a smoked and dried version of which chilli?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Jalapeño
Chipotles are ripe red jalapeños that have been slowly smoke-dried, a technique that dates back to the Aztecs, who used it to preserve the thick-fleshed peppers. They are often sold canned in a tangy adobo sauce.
A dried poblano is called an ancho, and a dried mirasol is a guajillo, two of the most common chillies in Mexican sauces.
Mole poblano, the famous dark sauce from Puebla, is known for including which unexpected ingredient?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Chocolate
Mole poblano blends several kinds of dried chillies with nuts, seeds, spices, stale bread or tortillas and a small amount of chocolate, which adds depth and colour rather than sweetness. Some recipes list more than 20 ingredients.
Oaxaca is known as the land of seven moles, including mole negro, mole verde and mole amarillo, each built on a different mix of chillies.
Pozole, the celebratory Mexican soup, is built around which ingredient?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Hominy
Pozole is made with hominy, dried corn kernels that have been soaked in an alkaline lime solution so the hulls slip off and the kernels swell. It is simmered with pork or chicken and served with shredded cabbage, radish, lime and oregano.
The alkaline treatment, called nixtamalization, also frees up niacin in the corn and is the same process used to make masa for tortillas.
Tacos al pastor, carved from a vertical spit, were inspired by shawarma brought to Mexico by immigrants from which country?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Lebanon
Lebanese immigrants arriving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought the vertical rotisserie to Mexico. Their descendants swapped lamb for pork, marinated it with dried chillies and achiote and served it on corn tortillas with pineapple.
The spit is called a trompo, meaning spinning top, and a skilled taquero flicks a slice of pineapple from the top straight into the taco.
Chiles en nogada, poblano chillies in walnut sauce topped with pomegranate seeds, are a speciality of which state?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Puebla
Chiles en nogada come from Puebla and show the colours of the Mexican flag: green chilli, white walnut cream sauce and red pomegranate seeds. They are eaten around Independence Day in September, when walnuts and pomegranates are in season.
The stuffing is a picadillo of minced meat with fruit such as apple, pear and peach, a sweet and savoury mix that surprises first-time eaters.
Cochinita pibil, pork marinated in achiote and citrus and slow-roasted in banana leaves, comes from which region of Mexico?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Yucatán
Cochinita pibil is the signature dish of the Yucatán Peninsula, where Maya cooks traditionally buried the wrapped pork in a pit oven called a pib. The achiote paste gives the meat its bright orange colour.
It is typically served with pickled red onions and fiery habanero salsa, two more staples of Yucatecan cooking.
Birria, the chilli-braised stew from Jalisco, is traditionally made with which meat?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Goat
Classic birria from Jalisco is made with goat, marinated in dried chillies, vinegar and spices and slow-cooked until tender. Beef versions became popular in Tijuana because goat was more expensive, and they spread across North America.
Quesabirria, a cheese-filled birria taco dipped in the cooking broth, took off on social media in the 2010s and made birria famous far beyond Mexico.
Chapulines, a popular snack in Oaxaca, are toasted what?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Grasshoppers
Chapulines are grasshoppers toasted on a comal with garlic, lime juice, salt and chilli. They have been eaten in central and southern Mexico since before the Spanish arrived and are sold by the scoop in Oaxaca's markets.
Oaxaca also prizes escamoles, ant larvae sometimes called Mexican caviar, and the chinicuil worms that flavour sal de gusano.
Huitlacoche, a delicacy sometimes called Mexican truffle, is a fungus that grows on which crop?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Corn
Huitlacoche is corn smut, a fungus that swells corn kernels into grey-black galls with an earthy, mushroom-like flavour. Mexican cooks have treasured it since Aztec times and use it in quesadillas, soups and tamales.
In the United States the same fungus was long treated as a crop disease, and farmers were paid to destroy infected ears of corn.
The Caesar salad was created in 1924 in which Mexican city?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Tijuana
Italian immigrant restaurateur Caesar Cardini is credited with inventing the salad at his restaurant in Tijuana, which drew Americans across the border during Prohibition. Legend says he improvised it from what was left in the kitchen on a busy holiday weekend.
The original was tossed tableside with whole romaine leaves, coddled egg, garlic oil, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce, and contained no anchovies.
Whoever finds the figurine hidden in a Rosca de Reyes on January 6 is traditionally expected to provide tamales on which later date?
Got a hunch? Pick the answer that feels right.
Candlemas
The Rosca de Reyes, a ring-shaped sweet bread eaten on Epiphany, hides one or more small figures of the baby Jesus. Whoever finds one must host a tamale party on Candlemas, February 2, when the figure is traditionally dressed and taken to church.
The oval shape of the bread represents a crown, and the candied fruit on top stands for the jewels of the three kings.
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All Food and Drink quizzes →About the Mexican Food Quiz
Mexican food was one of the first cuisines in the world to be added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage, and it earned the honour with dishes that go far beyond the taco. Tacos al pastor borrow their spinning spit from Lebanese shawarma, mole poblano stirs chocolate into a sauce of dried chillies, and Oaxaca snacks on toasted grasshoppers with lime and salt.
These 15 questions start with the basics of salsa, guacamole and tequila before moving on to regional specialities such as cochinita pibil, birria and chiles en nogada, plus the surprising Mexican birthplace of the Caesar salad. It suits anyone who loves Mexican cooking and wants to know the stories behind the plates.
You will find 15 multiple choice questions here, each with four options. Difficulty: Medium. Most people finish in about 6 minutes, and every answer comes with a short explanation and one extra fact worth keeping.
How to play
Read the question and pick one of the four answers. The correct answer is revealed straight away with a short explanation, then press Next question to keep going. At the end you get your score out of 15 and a full review of your round. Play again any time and the questions arrive in a fresh order. There is no timer and no account.
Good to know before you play
What does the Mexican Food Quiz cover?
It covers everyday staples such as guacamole, salsa verde and tamales, regional dishes from Puebla, Jalisco, Yucatán and Oaxaca, and food traditions such as the Rosca de Reyes.
Is the Mexican Food Quiz about Tex-Mex?
No. The questions focus on dishes as they are cooked in Mexico, although a few explanations mention how they changed abroad.
How many questions are there and how are they scored?
There are 15 multiple choice questions. You get an instant result after each answer plus a short explanation, and a final score at the end.
Answer key: all 15 questions with explanations
- Which fruit is the main ingredient of guacamole?
Avocado Guacamole is mashed avocado, usually mixed with lime juice, salt, onion, chilli and coriander. The name comes from the Nahuatl words ahuacatl, meaning avocado, and molli, meaning sauce, so it literally means avocado sauce. Avocados are botanically large berries with a single seed, and Mexico grows more of them than any other country, most of them in the state of Michoacán. - Mexican salsa verde gets its green colour and tart flavour mainly from which ingredient?
Tomatillos Salsa verde is built on tomatillos, small green fruits in a papery husk that are related to the tomato but tarter and firmer. They are boiled or roasted and blended with chillies, onion, garlic and coriander. Tomatillos have been cultivated in Mexico since Aztec times and are sometimes called tomate verde, while the red tomato is jitomate in central Mexico. - Tequila is distilled from the cooked heart of which plant?
Blue agave Tequila must be made from the blue Weber agave, whose large heart, or piña, is cooked and crushed to release sugary juice that is fermented and distilled. By law it can only be produced in Jalisco and small parts of four other states. Mezcal can be made from dozens of agave species and is traditionally roasted in earth pits, which gives it a smoky flavour that tequila lacks. - Which traditional Mexican dish consists of masa dough with a filling, wrapped in a corn husk and steamed?
Tamale A tamale is corn masa spread on a dried corn husk, filled with meat, cheese, chillies or sweet ingredients, then folded and steamed. Tamales date back thousands of years and were portable food for Aztec and Maya travellers and warriors. In Oaxaca and the Yucatán, tamales are often wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks, which keeps them moister. - A chipotle is a smoked and dried version of which chilli?
Jalapeño Chipotles are ripe red jalapeños that have been slowly smoke-dried, a technique that dates back to the Aztecs, who used it to preserve the thick-fleshed peppers. They are often sold canned in a tangy adobo sauce. A dried poblano is called an ancho, and a dried mirasol is a guajillo, two of the most common chillies in Mexican sauces. - Mole poblano, the famous dark sauce from Puebla, is known for including which unexpected ingredient?
Chocolate Mole poblano blends several kinds of dried chillies with nuts, seeds, spices, stale bread or tortillas and a small amount of chocolate, which adds depth and colour rather than sweetness. Some recipes list more than 20 ingredients. Oaxaca is known as the land of seven moles, including mole negro, mole verde and mole amarillo, each built on a different mix of chillies. - Pozole, the celebratory Mexican soup, is built around which ingredient?
Hominy Pozole is made with hominy, dried corn kernels that have been soaked in an alkaline lime solution so the hulls slip off and the kernels swell. It is simmered with pork or chicken and served with shredded cabbage, radish, lime and oregano. The alkaline treatment, called nixtamalization, also frees up niacin in the corn and is the same process used to make masa for tortillas. - Tacos al pastor, carved from a vertical spit, were inspired by shawarma brought to Mexico by immigrants from which country?
Lebanon Lebanese immigrants arriving in the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought the vertical rotisserie to Mexico. Their descendants swapped lamb for pork, marinated it with dried chillies and achiote and served it on corn tortillas with pineapple. The spit is called a trompo, meaning spinning top, and a skilled taquero flicks a slice of pineapple from the top straight into the taco. - Chiles en nogada, poblano chillies in walnut sauce topped with pomegranate seeds, are a speciality of which state?
Puebla Chiles en nogada come from Puebla and show the colours of the Mexican flag: green chilli, white walnut cream sauce and red pomegranate seeds. They are eaten around Independence Day in September, when walnuts and pomegranates are in season. The stuffing is a picadillo of minced meat with fruit such as apple, pear and peach, a sweet and savoury mix that surprises first-time eaters. - Cochinita pibil, pork marinated in achiote and citrus and slow-roasted in banana leaves, comes from which region of Mexico?
Yucatán Cochinita pibil is the signature dish of the Yucatán Peninsula, where Maya cooks traditionally buried the wrapped pork in a pit oven called a pib. The achiote paste gives the meat its bright orange colour. It is typically served with pickled red onions and fiery habanero salsa, two more staples of Yucatecan cooking. - Birria, the chilli-braised stew from Jalisco, is traditionally made with which meat?
Goat Classic birria from Jalisco is made with goat, marinated in dried chillies, vinegar and spices and slow-cooked until tender. Beef versions became popular in Tijuana because goat was more expensive, and they spread across North America. Quesabirria, a cheese-filled birria taco dipped in the cooking broth, took off on social media in the 2010s and made birria famous far beyond Mexico. - Chapulines, a popular snack in Oaxaca, are toasted what?
Grasshoppers Chapulines are grasshoppers toasted on a comal with garlic, lime juice, salt and chilli. They have been eaten in central and southern Mexico since before the Spanish arrived and are sold by the scoop in Oaxaca's markets. Oaxaca also prizes escamoles, ant larvae sometimes called Mexican caviar, and the chinicuil worms that flavour sal de gusano. - Huitlacoche, a delicacy sometimes called Mexican truffle, is a fungus that grows on which crop?
Corn Huitlacoche is corn smut, a fungus that swells corn kernels into grey-black galls with an earthy, mushroom-like flavour. Mexican cooks have treasured it since Aztec times and use it in quesadillas, soups and tamales. In the United States the same fungus was long treated as a crop disease, and farmers were paid to destroy infected ears of corn. - The Caesar salad was created in 1924 in which Mexican city?
Tijuana Italian immigrant restaurateur Caesar Cardini is credited with inventing the salad at his restaurant in Tijuana, which drew Americans across the border during Prohibition. Legend says he improvised it from what was left in the kitchen on a busy holiday weekend. The original was tossed tableside with whole romaine leaves, coddled egg, garlic oil, Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce, and contained no anchovies. - Whoever finds the figurine hidden in a Rosca de Reyes on January 6 is traditionally expected to provide tamales on which later date?
Candlemas The Rosca de Reyes, a ring-shaped sweet bread eaten on Epiphany, hides one or more small figures of the baby Jesus. Whoever finds one must host a tamale party on Candlemas, February 2, when the figure is traditionally dressed and taken to church. The oval shape of the bread represents a crown, and the candied fruit on top stands for the jewels of the three kings.
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