In the iconic Trica Café in Osijek, on Friday the thirteenth, marking the approach of this year’s World Food Day, quiz teams gathered to test their knowledge about food safety. For the first time, a pub quiz on this topic was organized, led by the well-known and experienced Croatian chaser Morana Zibar.
Questions, such as how much food an average Croatian wasted in 2021; which food item does not require a shelf life date on its packaging; which pseudo-grain falls into the category of novel food; what potential threat do we expose ourselves to when consuming questionable homemade mayonnaise or tartare steak; and which food items are missing in the lyrics of Croatian pop songs were just some of the questions participants had to answer.
After the last question of the quiz, tension was at its peak. Two teams with equal points competed for the winning spot, while the competition for the third place was even more intense with four teams in the showdown. The tiebreaker question was the number of teaspoons of sugar found in half a litre of cola. Ultimately, the team named “Biki’s Entertainer” emerged victorious. The team “First Breakfast, Then on the Road” took the silver medal, while the team “Humanist” was honoured with third place. Everyone received appropriate prizes from HAPIH, and a special surprise was the actual medals.
Morana Zibar, also known as a renowned enogastronomer, was herself surprised by some of the information she learned while preparing the quiz questions. She humorously concluded that she “does almost everything wrong” – from how long she keeps cooked food outside the fridge, to which shelf in the fridge she keeps meat. She was also shocked by the amount of food that gets wasted. She admitted to the media that composing questions for the quiz was challenging, but that this successful quiz is proof that any topic can be engaging if it’s presented in an attractive package, ensuring that everyone has a good time and, of course, learns something.
According to the director of HAPIH, Darja Sokolić, PhD, the pub quiz format is very popular in Croatia, which is why it was utilized for education as part of the #EUChooseSafeFood campaign. The topics covered were considered the most relevant for Croatian citizens, such as food waste, proper food handling, and novel food. The questions were composed by Morana herself from material prepared by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and HAPIH.
Given the participants’ response and their positive reactions, especially the winners’ joy over the medals and prizes, the HAPIH team believes that this format of indirect education could become a traditional part of the campaigns such as #EUChooseSafeFood.
