[For Seniors] Fun Trivia Quiz with Autumn Foods! A Collection of Little-Known Facts

stomach

Autumn is also the season for Pacific saury, isn’t it? Just thinking about whether to grill it with salt or have it as sushi is exciting. Here’s a little quiz: “There’s something that saury don’t have—what is it?” The hint is that it’s a body part. Think it over. The answer is “a stomach.” Saury don’t have a stomach, which means their waste is expelled quickly. For that reason, saury can be grilled whole and eaten with the innards. By the way, fish without a stomach are called agastric fish.

dumpling

As the phrase “the harvest moon” suggests, autumn is a season when the air gradually clears and the moon shines beautifully. In the moon-viewing event known as Otsukimi, what is typically offered alongside pampas grass (susuki)? Even if you’ve never actually done it, many people know about the Otsukimi ritual, so just picturing the scene may help you find the answer. The answer is dango—round rice dumplings modeled after the full moon. There’s a view that fifteen are stacked to correspond to the fifteenth night (Jūgoya), but the shape and number vary by region.

up; above; on; over; top

One of autumn’s seasonal flavors is grapes. Many people love them. Here’s a quiz for you: “Which part of a bunch of grapes is the sweetest?” You might figure it out if you picture how grapes grow. The correct answer is “the upper part near the stem.” Grapes start to ripen from the part closest to the stem, so the higher up they are, the sweeter they become. So when you eat them, if you start from the less sweet bottom and work your way up, they’ll taste delicious right to the end. This could be a fun question to ask before eating grapes!

Japanese pampas grass

When we talk about the “seven herbs,” people often think of the spring seven herbs, but in fact there are also seven in autumn. Of the autumn seven flowers—bush clover (hagi), kudzu (kuzu), pink (nadeshiko), patrinia (ominaeshi), thoroughwort (fujibakama), and bellflower (kikyō)—what is the last one? Unlike the spring seven herbs, which are familiar as edible plants, the autumn seven are ornamental plants said to originate from the Manyōshū. If you think from the perspective of what evokes the feeling of autumn when you see it, you might come up with the answer. It’s susuki (Japanese pampas grass)—a plant indispensable to autumn scenery, often displayed during moon-viewing.

Because it serves as a vent for breathing

A seasonal ingredient from autumn to winter! Here’s a trivia quiz: Why does lotus root have holes? Lotus root’s unique shape with holes is appealing, but do you know what role those holes play? The answer is: they serve as air passages for breathing. Lotus roots grow in watery soil, but the mud at the bottom has little oxygen for them to breathe. There are many kinds of vegetables, and learning about each of their characteristics is fascinating, isn’t it?

pumpkin

One of the major events in October is Halloween. In recent years, more people in Japan have been taking part as well. The symbol of Halloween, you could say, is the jack-o’-lantern. Here’s a question: “What vegetable is used to make a jack-o’-lantern?” The correct answer is pumpkin. The reason is that for the Celts, who came up with Halloween, it was an easy-to-obtain vegetable. It’s interesting to think that a different vegetable might have been used instead.

Number of leaf lobes

Many people enjoy viewing autumn foliage. In particular, Japanese maples (momiji) and maples (kaede) delight us with their beautiful reds. So, what’s the difference between momiji and kaede? You might figure it out by picturing their shapes. The correct answer is the number of lobes (leaf divisions). Momiji typically have 5–6 lobes, while kaede have as many as 9–11. Incidentally, in formal botanical classification, both are considered “kaede” (maples). This makes for a fun bit of trivia to share when you go leaf-peeping.