This is topic Can you guess the food based on the ingredients list? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


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Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
 
Slate's Ingredient quiz

I didn't do great. In my defense, I have never eaten 90% of those "foods".
 
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
 
I scored 9 out of 11. I don't eat any of foods in the quiz but I read the labels on all my food. (I have too, because I'm gluten intolerant).

I've pretty much reached the point where if there are more than ~5 ingredients listed on the package, I don't eat it. It's too easy to miss something and poison myself.
 
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
 
That was fun. Thanks, kat!

[Edited to add: I don't eat any of the things on the list regularly, and have never had most of them.]

I got 6 of 11 right. My thoughts on each one (which you shouldn't read until after you've taken the test, as I list the correct answer for each of the items in the quiz:

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Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing: I got this one right. Oil as a first ingredient and egg yolk as the second just screamed "salad dressing" to me.

Chex Mix: I got this one right. I knew that it wasn't Fritos, since those have surprisingly few ingredients (just corn, oil, and salt, if I recall correctly), there were too many grains and too little sugar involved for it to be Corn Pops, and too many types of grain and not enough citric acid to be lime flavor chips. Process of elimination dictated that it had to be the Chex Mix.

Betty Crocker Bac-Os: I got this one wrong. My first guess was the soy crisps.

Fresca: got this one right, but only because I knew that Fresca contained glycerol ester of wood rosin. Until I got to that ingredient I was leaning toward Hansen's.

Canada Dry Ginger Ale: got this one wrong. It was clearly pop, but I had no idea which kind.

Roast Beef Flavor Ramen: got this one wrong. I was certain that it wsn't the chicken soup, since the ingredients didn't include chicken or anything likely to taste chickeny, but my first guess was the spring vegetable Lipton cup-a-soup. This was mostly because I guessed that the person who'd put together the quiz was making a point about meat products being in dishes that one would usually assume were vegetarian.

Boca burgers: I got this one right. There wouldn't be onion in either of the straight tofu options, and the soy that makes up tofu probably wouldn't be described as "soy protein concentrate". That's going to be an ingredient in a more processed, convenience-food type item. There weren't enough ingredients in this one to be the veggie buffalo wings.

Peppermint Dentyne Ice Gum: I got this one right. With gum base as the second ingredient, and there being only one type of gum in the list, this was pretty easy.

Kellogg's Pop Tarts, S'mores flavor: I got this one wrong. It was a bit of a toss up between the pop tarts and the chocolate Cheerios for me.

Purina Dry Cat Chow: I got this one wrong. It was clear that this was pet food, but I had no idea which of the two cat food options was the right answer. I went with the one with "organic" in the title, again because I suspected that the quiz maker was trying to make a point. I need to stop doing that. They clearly aren't being subtle with this.

Vanilla-Flavored Charleston Chew: I got this one right, and was pretty confident that I would. It just seemed obvious from the ingredients list. Three Musketeers don't have quite that much crap in them, I think, and the list just didn't say "peep" to me. I think that the lactose and the milk protein concentrate where what made me certain that it wasn't the tootsie roll.
 
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
 
I missed the Vanilla-Flavored Charleston Chew. I've never had one. I don't think I've ever seen one. I was thrown off by cocoa as an ingredient in a vanilla flavored chew. I was expecting it to be a bite sized candy. Turns out its a candy-bar with a chocolate flavored coating.

I also missed the Bac-Os. I picked the Soy Crisps even though I knew Bac-Os are soy based. In retrospect, the red-40 should have been a dead give away.
 
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
 
I don't think I recognise more than 20% of the products, let alone the ingredients.
 
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by The Rabbit:
I missed the Vanilla-Flavored Charleston Chew. I've never had one.

Yeah, I've never had one either, and if it's a candy bar with a chocolate flavored coating I was just completely wrong about what it even was. I though that it was a tootsie-roll type thing with a white, differently flavored core.

quote:
I also missed the Bac-Os. I picked the Soy Crisps even though I knew Bac-Os are soy based. In retrospect, the red-40 should have been a dead give away.

I kicked myself for not picking up on the red-40 with that one.
 
Posted by adenam (Member # 11902) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by The Rabbit:
I scored 9 out of 11. I don't eat any of foods in the quiz but I read the labels on all my food. (I have too, because I'm gluten intolerant).

I've pretty much reached the point where if there are more than ~5 ingredients listed on the package, I don't eat it. It's too easy to miss something and poison myself.

I also read food labels because of allergies and have stopped eating foods with more than a couple ingredients that I can't pronounce. While my allergies can be very annoying, they also help me eat healthy.
 
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
 
quote:
While my allergies can be very annoying, they also help me eat healthy.
I'm not sure if I eat healthier, but I definitely eat a lot less heavily processed food. Reading the ingredients list can be pretty unappetizing even if you aren't allergic to anything.
 
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
I'm kicking myself for missing the soda one, because it was the only one of the choices that doesn't have caffeine.
 
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by dkw:
I'm kicking myself for missing the soda one, because it was the only one of the choices that doesn't have caffeine.

I should have picked up on that, too. What caught me was the caramel color.
 
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
I got 10/11. Only missed the last one. Once or twice I wasn't 100% positive but was pretty sure.
 
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
 
Which one did you miss?
 
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
The candy bar one. I missed it twice before I got it right.
 
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by dkw:
I'm kicking myself for missing the soda one, because it was the only one of the choices that doesn't have caffeine.

Yeah, I was kicking myself for that one too. I've finally come to terms with it, though. [Wink]
 
Posted by The Rabbit (Member # 671) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by scifibum:
The candy bar one. I missed it twice before I got it right.

Has anyone ever even heard of the Vanilla Flavored Charleston Chew before this quiz?
 
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
Yes.

I got 7 out of 11, but on the 4 I got wrong, I knew it was one of two, and thus got the right answer the second time.
 
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
Charleston Chews were big when I was a kid. I don't think I've seen one in the last 30 years, though.
 
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
 
I've heard of them, and there are a couple of grocery stores in my area that sell them. I don't really buy candy bars, though, so I've never been tempted to try one.
 
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
I was average - I got 5 and the average was 5.2.
 
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by The Rabbit:
quote:
Originally posted by scifibum:
The candy bar one. I missed it twice before I got it right.

Has anyone ever even heard of the Vanilla Flavored Charleston Chew before this quiz?
I've had them. I just couldn't figure out which candy the ingredients matched. I started with Tootsie Rolls and then guessed 3 Musketeers.

I had mentally ruled out 3 Musketeers due to the lack of "chocolate" in the ingredient list, but after missing the question I kind of went there randomly.
 
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
 
I like charleston chews. I even have one in my freezer. I like nougat.

I got a 7/11. Got the two sodas wrong, the gum (my 2nd choice), and the pet food (guessed the other pet food).

I felt very sure about the ramen, bac-o's, and charleston chew ones. I read a decent number of labels.
 
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
 
I got 6 of 11, and on 4 of the 5 I got wrong my second guess was right. I got the first soda question wrong too.
 
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
 
I got 6/11. I felt sure on the sodas, the ramen, and the Purina, the latter of which I actually recall reading several months ago out of curiosity. All the others were guesses, though on many I was able to narrow the choices down to two.
 
Posted by Mr. Y (Member # 11590) on :
 
I got 5 out of 11. Just below the average, but I think it's quite a good score nonetheless. This is because I never read the labels on products and I've never had/bought any of the items in that quiz.
 
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
 
I'm the same as rivka, almost. 6 right, and the other 5 I got on the second try.
 
Posted by happymann (Member # 9559) on :
 
I got the first four right and was feeling pretty good at myself, until I didn't get any of the others. To be honest, I was actually shocked that I got even four right.
 


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