Foods Named After Professions
Shepherd’s Pie. Hunter’s Chicken. General Tso’s Chicken. What do these dishes have in common?
They’re all foods named after professions or job titles.
Food doesn’t just fill your stomach — it can tell a story. Some dishes reflect geography, culture, or family tradition. Others carry a job title right on the menu.
Chances are, you’ve eaten these meals without giving much thought to the profession in their names. That’s where this quiz comes in. Get ready for a series of questions that challenge you to identify the jobs hidden in the foods you love. Think it’ll be easy? You might be surprised.
Why Are So Many Dishes Named After Jobs?
Throughout history, local trades shaped what people ate. Shepherds, hunters, and fishermen all had meals inspired by their lifestyles. Over time, these dishes became iconic, and their associated job titles stuck.
Sometimes, it’s practical — like shepherd’s pie, made with lamb because shepherds herd sheep. Other times, it’s symbolic — General Tso’s chicken is named after a 19th-century Chinese military leader, who may never have tasted it, but whose name adds a bold, fiery flair.
A Taste of What’s Coming
Here’s a preview of the types of dishes you might see in the quiz, along with some hints:
- Shepherd’s Pie: Minced lamb topped with mashed potatoes. (Pro tip: it’s authentic when it’s lamb, not beef.)
- Fisherman’s Stew: A rich, tomato-y seafood mix. Perfect for chilly coastal nights.
- Hunter’s Chicken: Hearty, often with mushrooms — inspired by game meat and foraged ingredients.
- Cowboy Beans: Smoky, meaty beans that fuel a day of ranch work — or just your imagination.
- Baker’s Dozen: Not a dish, but a food term with guild origins. And yes, it’s 13, not 12.
Some of these names are historical, others are playful. A few may even stump seasoned foodies. But every question comes with an explanation, so you’ll learn something new — even if you get it wrong.
How to Take the Foods Named After Professions Quiz
Getting started is easy. Here’s the scoop:
- Each question gives you a brief clue about a dish.
- Your task: choose the profession that appears in the dish’s actual name.
- You’ll get four options — one correct, three wrong.
- Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn as you go.
- Complete all the questions to see your score and earn points on our trivia leaderboard.
If you’re a regular quiz-taker on our site, your correct answers add to your total trivia score — helping you climb the leaderboard. The more you play, the more you learn… and the more bragging rights you earn.
Some questions will be obvious. Others? Not so much. That’s the fun. You might run into dishes where the profession isn’t immediately clear — maybe the name comes from an old language, a historical quirk, or a cultural reference you haven’t seen before.
A Few Examples:
- Marinara sauce isn’t named after someone named Marina. It comes from “marinaro,” meaning “sailor” — a sauce inspired by what sailors ate.
- Carbonara sounds fancy, but it may come from carbonaro — Italian for “coal miner.” Simple, energy-packed, perfect for the working class.
- Financier is a buttery French cake shaped like a gold bar. It was created to appeal to financiers near the Paris stock exchange — literally a taste of capitalism.
Why Foods Named After Jobs Are Comforting
There’s something grounding about dishes like Farmer’s Breakfast, Ploughman’s Lunch, or Lumberjack Breakfast. These aren’t tiny, fancy plates with foam — they’re hearty, no-nonsense meals. Meals that say: someone’s got work to do.
They remind us of a time when food had purpose. Meals weren’t just about flavor — they were fuel, culture, and identity.
And today, these dishes live on in our vocabulary — comfort food with history.
Can You Match the Dish to the Profession?
Naming food after the people who ate it, cooked it, or inspired it is timeless. Do you know your shepherd from your sailor? Your rancher from your cowboy?
Take the quiz and find out if you really know the jobs behind the dishes.
Let’s get started!
