If you're searching for questions about the ingredients of Béarnaise sauce or optimal temperature for torching crème brûlée, then you have perhaps stumbled upon a great idea for a future, but quite different, MiniLeague than the one for which you are about to register.

The US Food System MiniLeague will consist of queries regarding food production, distribution, regulation and culture rather than anything specifically culinary -- think organic vs conventional, local vs industrial, historic vs present day, ominivory vs vegetarianism, fast food vs Slow food, processed vs whole foods, or Whole Foods vs farmers markets/CSAs for that matter.

Put another way, you'll see questions on topics ranging the gamut from the soil to the step just prior to the kitchen... whatever that may be called.

Okay, how can I really explain this... how about a minor-celebrity endorsement? (Well at least for those of us paying attention to lifetime LL Games/Sport percentage, no matter how small that sample may be)

EngW: "What's this stuff?"
RoselundT: "Some MiniLeague... it's supposed to be good for you."
EngW: "I'm not gonna try it."
RoselundT: "Let's get ScandrettG!"
EngW: "Yeah!"
RoselundT: "He won't play it. He hates everything."
[dramatic pause after they slide the US Food System MiniLeague in front of ScandrettG]
RoselundT: "He likes it! Hey ScandrettG!"
nameless narrator: "now available for registration, and don't miss the Insects MiniLeague, coming soon..."

Some examples:

Easy:
1. The US is, by far, the largest producer and exporter of this crop, which has accounted for about three-quarters of total volume of coarse-grain trade in recent years.

2. During WWII, when labor and transportation shortages made it hard to harvest and move fruits and vegetables to market, the US government created a campaign which included posters reading "Our food is fighting" in an effort to encourage citizens to create what in their yards and public spaces? By 1943, 20 million households had set them up, supplying more than 40 percent of the nation's produce.

Medium:
3. Over the last 20 years, CSA has become a popular way for consumers to buy local, seasonal food directly from a farmer. What does CSA stand for?

4. According to the Environmental Working Group's database compiled from USDA records, which former Chicago Bull, who owns multiple NBA championship rings, garnered at total of $210,520 in government subsidies from 1995 to 2002 for land zoned as "agricultural" that he owned in White County, Arkansas?

Hard:
5. In the famous "Mikey" commercial for Life cereal, three varieties of the aforementioned breakfast treat are featured after Mikey digs in. Name all three.

6. In 1964, this restaurant chain was founded in Boardman, Ohio. Thirty two years later, it opened its 3,000th restaurant in Tipp City, Ohio - which seems like an awful lot of the same restaurant for one municipality... but maybe I'm just reading that wrong.

Answers (in white text):

1. corn
2. Victory Gardens
3. Community Supported Agriculture
4. Scottie Pippen
5. Regular, Cinnamon, Raisin
6. Arby's