Spanish Food Quiz: Tapas, Jamón & Traditional Dishes Trivia

This Spanish food quiz tours the country one plate at a time, from chilled gazpacho in Andalusia to octopus in Galicia, with questions on tapas, jamón ibérico, churros and the dishes Spaniards grow up eating. Ten questions, 90 seconds, answers explained.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 90 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 90s

Tapas
What are tapas?
Soups
How is gazpacho usually served?
Sweets
What are churros traditionally dipped in?
Jamón
The finest jamón ibérico de bellota comes from pigs fattened on what?
Classics
Spanish tortilla is an omelette made mainly with eggs and what?
Regional Dishes
Pulpo a la gallega, octopus with paprika and olive oil, comes from which region?
Cheese
Which cheese is made from sheep's milk in the La Mancha region?
Soups
What is the chilled almond and garlic soup from Málaga called?
Christmas
Turrón, the nougat Spaniards eat at Christmas, is made with honey and which nut?
Rice Dishes
Which Spanish rice dish gets its black color from squid ink?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What are tapas?
Answer: Small shared plates
Tapas are small plates served with drinks, from olives and croquetas to garlic prawns. Ordering several to share is a social habit across Spain, especially in the evening.
Q2: How is gazpacho usually served?
Answer: Cold
Gazpacho comes from Andalusia in southern Spain and is made from raw tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, garlic, olive oil and bread. It is served chilled, which makes it a summer favorite.
Q3: What are churros traditionally dipped in?
Answer: Hot chocolate
Churros are fried strips of dough, often eaten for breakfast or late at night, dunked in thick hot chocolate. In Madrid, a thicker version is called porras.
Q4: The finest jamón ibérico de bellota comes from pigs fattened on what?
Answer: Acorns
Bellota means acorn, and these black Iberian pigs roam the dehesa oak pastures in the months before slaughter. The ham is then cured for three years or more.
Q5: Spanish tortilla is an omelette made mainly with eggs and what?
Answer: Potatoes
Tortilla española is a thick omelette of eggs, potatoes and olive oil, and whether to add onion is a famous national debate. It is eaten warm or cold, often in wedges as a tapa.
Q6: Pulpo a la gallega, octopus with paprika and olive oil, comes from which region?
Answer: Galicia
Galicia in northwest Spain is famous for seafood, and pulpo a la gallega is served on wooden plates with coarse salt and smoked paprika. The town of O Carballiño holds a big octopus festival every August.
Q7: Which cheese is made from sheep's milk in the La Mancha region?
Answer: Manchego
Manchego is a firm sheep's-milk cheese with a zigzag pattern on its rind, made in La Mancha, the home region of Don Quixote. Cabrales is a strong blue cheese from Asturias.
Q8: What is the chilled almond and garlic soup from Málaga called?
Answer: Ajoblanco
Ajoblanco blends almonds, garlic, bread, olive oil and vinegar into a pale cold soup, often served with grapes. It is older than tomato gazpacho, because tomatoes only reached Spain from the Americas.
Q9: Turrón, the nougat Spaniards eat at Christmas, is made with honey and which nut?
Answer: Almonds
Turrón is made from almonds, honey and sugar, often with egg white, and the towns of Jijona and Alicante are famous for it. Jijona turrón is soft, while Alicante turrón is hard and crunchy.
Q10: Which Spanish rice dish gets its black color from squid ink?
Answer: Arroz negro
Arroz negro comes from the coasts of Valencia and Catalonia and is colored with cuttlefish or squid ink. It is usually served with alioli, a garlic sauce.

Spanish Food Quiz – A Tour of Spain's Kitchens

Spanish food is regional first and national second. Andalusia in the south is known for cold soups and fried fish, Valencia for rice dishes, the Basque Country for pintxos and fine dining, and Galicia in the northwest for seafood. Olive oil, garlic, paprika and good bread tie it all together, and Spain produces around 40 percent of the world's olive oil.

Meal times are part of the culture too. Lunch is the main meal of the day and often runs from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., and dinner rarely starts before 9 p.m.

Spanish cooking also carries its history on the plate. The Romans planted olive groves, the Moors brought rice, almonds, citrus fruit and spices, and ships returning from the Americas introduced tomatoes, peppers and potatoes, the ingredients behind gazpacho, paprika and tortilla. Recipes still change from town to town, and local fiestas often celebrate a single food, from octopus in Galicia to calçots, the sweet spring onions grilled over open flames in Catalonia.

What This Quiz Teaches

This quiz is for travelers planning a trip to Spain, home cooks and anyone who orders tapas and wants to know more about what is on the plate.

What tapas are and how Spaniards eat them
Which famous dishes come from which region of Spain
How jamón ibérico de bellota gets its flavor
The difference between gazpacho, salmorejo and ajoblanco
Which sweets and cheeses Spain is best known for

Quick Facts About Spanish Food

Sobrino de Botín in Madrid, founded in 1725, is listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest restaurant in the world still operating.
Many restaurants serve a menú del día at lunch, a fixed-price meal with a starter, main course, dessert and a drink.
San Sebastián has one of the highest numbers of Michelin stars per person of any city in the world.
La Tomatina, held in Buñol near Valencia on the last Wednesday of August, is a giant tomato fight.
Saffron, paprika and almonds were brought into Spanish cooking during centuries of Moorish rule.
Padrón peppers
Paella is traditionally a lunchtime dish, and in Valencia it is often cooked over a fire of orange-tree wood.
Padrón peppers are mostly mild, but a few in every batch are surprisingly hot.