Rice Is Nice Trivia Quiz

If you've seen 'Squid Game', you might be familiar with gimbap. It's similar to Japanese makizushi: rolls of rice (bap) wrapped in dried seaweed (gim) and stuffed with vegetables, seafood and/or meat. The word 'gimbap' is a recent invention; 'norimaki' was used to describe the dish, but anti-Japanese sentiment due to the Second World War led to the word 'gimbap' being coined.

It uses Korean flavours such as sesame oil instead of rice vinegar, bulgogi, danmuji (pickled daikon radish) and kimchi.

Risotto is an Italian dish traditionally served as a starter, but it can also be served as a main meal, such as this shrimp risotto, or risotto alla milanese with ossobuco. Arborio rice is the main variety used, with the grains being shorter and thicker than other types of rice, and it gives the risotto a creamy texture.

The rice is cooked in broth and often contains butter, white wine and/or onions; saffron was used as a colouring, similar to Spanish paella. Risotto is thought to have originated from the Lombardy region.

Arroz con leche is a Spanish version of rice pudding and literally means 'rice with milk'. As well as milk, pudding rice and sugar, it can also be flavoured with cinnamon (like the version here) or lemon zest. A Basque variant is known as 'arroz-esne'.

A Spanish children's song of the same name has the lines 'Arroz con leche/Me quiero casar/Con una señorita que sepa bailar' ('Rice with milk/I want to marry/A woman who knows how to dance').

This dish is known by many names around Asia, such as pilaf or polo (in Iran), but this version pictured here - from Uzbekistan - is known as plov, or osh. It is often served as a street food from a giant pan, and the rice is simmered in zirvak, a stew of meat (usually lamb) and vegetables until the rice absorbs all the liquid.

The little orange bits are slices of carrot; onions and garlic may also be used, as well as barberries, marigold or red pepper, depending on the region. Sweet varieties of plov with berries and raisins also exist.

Onigiri are Japanese rice balls, shaped like fat triangles and wrapped in nori (seaweed). They are a popular street snack due to being small and portable, and easy to eat; some shops in Japan exclusively sell onigiri. Fillings can vary from umeboshi (pickled plums), salted fish or mustard greens, but are usually sour and/or salty. Unlike sushi, the rice used for onigiri is plain and not salted.

Some variants use glutinous rice, brown rice or rice cooked with red bean paste.

Snow-skin mooncakes originated in Hong Kong and are glutinous rice cakes stuffed with duck egg yolks and lotus seed or red bean paste, although other fillings include chocolate, mung bean paste, green tea or ube (purple yam). Unlike other mooncakes, they are not baked in an oven.

They get their name from being frozen and eaten cold, like Japanese mochi ice cream. The green mooncake here gets its colour from pandan leaves, often used as a green food colouring in Chinese puddings and cakes.

Nasi goreng is a Southeast Asian rice dish popular in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. It consists of rice fried in oil or margarine, and seasoned with kicap manis (sweet soy sauce), tamarind, garlic, chilli and shrimp paste, and a salsa-like mixture known as sambal in Indonesia.

It is often served with a fried egg, like the dish pictured here, prawns, vegetables or chicken. Because of the Dutch colonisation of Indonesia, it is also fairly popular in the Netherlands. It is thought to have originated from Chinese immigrants who settled in Indonesia and made use of the ingredients there.

Shrimp étouffée is a Cajun and Creole dish, although recipes vary. Étouffée literally means 'smothered', and in a cooking context, smothering involves cooking the seafood in a covered pan with liquid. There are also crawfish and crab variants of étouffée; the Creole type either uses a blond roux, where the butter is browned and has a nutty taste, or a brown roux, which is cooked for longer.

Some variants, like the one pictured here, contain tomatoes.

Jollof rice is the subject of much debate in West Africa, with each country and region having its own variant. Nigerians and Ghanaians like to banter over whose version is better! Jollof rice gets its red colouring from tomatoes, and can also contain chillies.

It gets its name from the Wolof or Jolof Empire region, which encompassed Senegal, Mali, the Gambia and Mauritania. Its origins are debated, but Senegalese historians believe it was created by a cook called Penda Mbaye who had run out of barley for a dish she was making, and had to resort to using rice instead.

Horchata is a drink consumed in both Mexico and Spain, but the version in this quiz is the Mexican one, pictured here with a basket of tortilla chips, as it's made with rice. It is an agua fresca, a cold non-alcoholic drink, and can be flavoured with sugar and/or cinnamon.

In Alvarado, Veracruz, it can be flavoured with cempasúchil (Aztec marigold) flowers. It can also be found in Mexican ice cream parlours in the US. The Spanish version is made with tiger nuts, a plant in the sedge family.