QI (F Series) - Episodes - Episode 12 "Food"

Episode 12 "Food"

Broadcast date

• 20 March 2009

Recording date

• 28 May 2008

Panellists

• Alan Davies (−12 points)
• Jimmy Carr (−46 points) 12th appearance
• Rich Hall (−2 points) 18th appearance
• David Mitchell (Winner with 10 points) 7th appearance

Theme

• During the first part of the episode, the panellists are asked to put which areas of taste go where on a mini tongue map that they've each been given. Officially the tongue map has been disproven, but the most commonly believed version of the map from back to front is bitter, sour, salty and sweet, but since then umami (savouriness) has been discovered.

Topics

• The stone crab is a local delicacy in Florida. If its claws are snapped off, they can regenerate within a year.
• An oyster can be taught how to keep closed for long periods of time. When oysters are out of water they stay fresh as long as they stay shut. This was achieved by hitting them with a metal rod, which made them close for long periods of time.
• The Mounties used a fruit machine to determine whether candidates were homosexual or not. It measured the pupil dilation and perspiration and if they failed, they were sacked. This test was invented by Kurt Freund, a German living in Czechoslovakia, in order for people who used the fact they were gay to stop them from being in the Czechoslovakian Army.
• French service involves bringing all the dishes out in one go, whereas the Russian service is where the dishes are brought out in courses. The Russian service method was brought into restaurants by Auguste Escoffier.

General Ignorance

• There are only two known poisonous snakes, the Japanese Grass Snake, which becomes poisonous by eating toxic toads and the Common Garter Snake, which eats a poisonous rough-skinned newt, both of which only kill by being eaten (forfeit: Piers Morgan). A Snake that injects venom into its victims blood is a venomous snake.
• There is no food that you shouldn't eat before bedtime (forfeit: cheese). The idea that cheese gives you bad dreams was debunked in 2005 by a study by the British Cheese Board. There is an amino acid in cheese, and all other dairy products, called Tryptophan, which helps you sleep.
• The phrase "Let them eat cake" has an unknown origin (forfeits: Mr Kipling, Marie Antoinette), Marie Antoinette was most likely quoting it. She was born in 1755 and was first seen in print by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in 1740.
• According to a survey by the American Civil Liberties Union, 70% of the Internet is spam (forfeit: porn). Less than 1% is porn and up to 89% of e-mail traffic is spam.

QI XL Extras

• Greco-Roman wrestling was invented by the French (forfeit: Greeks, Romans), who decided to give it a sort of classical name. It was invented as an alternative to freestyle wrestling.
• Potato starch gives the worst tooth decay as it hangs around in the teeth, unlike sugar, which dissolves quickly in saliva.
• The "Miracle of the Herrings", which gave Thomas Aquinas sainthood. He was ineligible as he hadn't performed a miracle, but on his deathbed he was claimed to say "I fancy a herring" and some pilchards were brought instead. He said they were the best herrings he'd ever had, which the Catholic Church interpreted as a miracle by saying that the pilchards had turned to herrings in his mouth.