Happy New Year! January is filled to the brim with monthly food celebrations. I better get right to it. First, I want to glide over some 2009 food anniversaries. In the food category, Ritz crackers will be 75 years crisp on November 1, 2009 and Rumford Baking Powder will celebrate 150 years. Are you a tomato lover? Well, The ‘Rutgers’ Tomato was introduced in 1934; 75 years ago in 2009. In the cookbook category, we have Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cookbook (1884) celebrating 125 years and The Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cook Book (1909) 100 years. I look forward to delving into the history of these anniversaries in the coming year. I hope you will join me!
Monthly Food Celebrations
January is a comforting month of food. There's National Soup Month, National Oatmeal Month, National Hot Tea Month, Slow Cooking Month and National Wheat Bread Month just to name a few. I'll be updating last year's National Soup Month post with hearty links in a few days but for now, there's last year's link for starters. It was grueling celebrating Oatmeal last year. Not only did I celebrate Oatmeal Month , I also celebrated Oatmeal Day; January 2nd. I don't know if I will be adding any additional recipes for Oatmeal Month this year because, I really would like to celebrate National Tea Month. We'll see:) I'm especially fascinated with the thought of cooking with tea. I've never done that before and would like to learn a little more about it. My inspiration for this fantasy tea side excursion are these Tea Smoked Wings posted by Coco Cooks. Speaking of Glamah, did you see the updated search engine I did. I've put all my favorite blogs and then some all together so I get to search my preferences before venturing deeper into the web. It's been working out just great! It's way up at the top...the rest of the resources and links for the monthly celebrations are below. I discovered a post by David Lebovitz at Zany Holidays (their link is in the sidebar) declaring January as Prune Breakfast Month. Follow his link to Prune Recipes from Around the World. Oh, and one more thing, according to Chase's Calendar of Events for 2009, available at google books, National Fresh-squeezed Juice Week flows from January 18 until January 23rd.
Daily Food Celebrations
I'm going to try something different this month when listing the daily food celebrations. Rather than link numbering them as I have in the past, I'm going to try linking right to the relative place. Let me know what you think!
National Cream Puff Day is January 2nd.
Cookbook author and famous TV spokeswoman
Betty Furness was born on January 3, 1916.
It looks like January 5th is
National Whipped Cream Day and also the day "America's Innkeeper," Charles Kemmons Wilson was born. Visit my
post about his inspiring career. Have you ever stayed at a Holiday Inn? Well, you have him to thank. On January 6, 1925, Jell-O made
history by introducing the sugarless gelatin dessert known as D-Zerta. Hmmm...Jell-O and whipped cream both on the same day:)
Merry
"Little Christmas" or Epiphany is celebrated on January 6th. Epiphany and Twelfth Night: are the traditional signals of the end of the festive Christmas season:( Did you see the
Three Kings Dinner I posted last year?
Leah Chase, "the Queen of Creole Cuisine," was born on January 6, 1923.
Nanakusa is the Festival of Seven Herbs...it is celebrated on January 7th in 2009.
I'm not happy about the
post I did for the anniversary of the publication of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book which was brought to the masses on January 7 in 1896. Hopefully, I will try again.
There appears to be quite a few legends immersed in the beginnings of the Bloody Mary. If indeed it was first created by American bartender, Fernand Petiot, then January 8 is the date to celebrate his birthday. Hey, why not celebrate with a
Bloody Mary!Web Holidays claims yet another food holiday. This one for January 8th and
English Toffee Day. There's a recipe too!
For the life of me, I just can't seem to locate my Elvis Presley Family Cookbook anywhere. I hope I find it before his birthday, January 8th. This is a plain ol' link to
wikipedia.I learned about Day to Read from Jen @
A2eatwrite she has a link to info. Day to Read is January 8th.
Chef, and restaurateur
Wolfgang Puck was born on January 8th in 1949.
Have you ever heard of the commercial featuring
Clara Peller and "Where's the Beef?" The "fluffy bun" debuted on January 10th 1984.
Pining over the lack of fruitful pineapples available on the grocery shelves? Guess what? They were first planted in Hawaii on January 11 in 1813. Don't believe me? Ask the
teacher.On January 11, 1878, Alexander Campbell of New York City began selling milk in
glass bottles. Someday, I'm going to have to investigate this statement further.
Nicholas Longworth made the first American champagne in Ohio. He was born on January 12, 1782.
January 12 is Plough Monday.
What!Pongal is celebrated on January 15th this year.
I posted about
Prohibition, Gin & Ginger-Ale last year on the anniversary of the Eighteenth Amendment; January 16, 1920. The ginger in the Ginger-ale is Vernor's Ginger Soda.
It is said, that when Popeye the Sailor made his debut on January 17, 1929, spinach became the third most popular children's food after turkey and ice cream.
On January 18, 1943, commercial bakers stopped selling sliced bread after Claude R. Wickard, Secretary of Agriculture, banned the sale of sliced bread in the United States until the end of WWII. I posted about this historical event at
Bread Toast Wonder.January 18th is
Winnie The Pooh Day. I will be sharing recipes from a Winnie the Pooh Cookbook.
January 19th is National Popcorn Day! I hope to be posting for Popcorn Day. We'll see...
How ironic is it that both Jeff Smith; the Frugal Gourmet and Graham Kerr; the Galloping Gourmet were both born on January 22. I was compelled to post about the
Couch Potatoes a la Gourmet last year.
I know I told you January is Slow Food Month but did you know, January 23th is
Slow Food Day? It says so @ Slash Food:)
Here's another good one, did I say good? I mean GREAT! On January 24, 1922, the United States granted patent number 1,404,539 for the Eskimo Pie.
Eskimo Pie Day is celebrated in March on the birthday of
Christian K. Nelson.On January 24, 1935, the first delivery of Krueger Cream Ale was received and exposed to the beer drinkers of Richmond VA. You can read all about it
here.Unfortunately, I didn't post on the anniversary of the birth of Paul Newman last year. I'll share some recipes from a booklet of Newman's Own on January 26th, the day of his birth in 1925.
E. Wade received Patent Number x5348 on January 26, 1829 for what may be the first patented
"Meat Cutter."Ballerina Anna Pavlova was born on January 31, 1882. There's a dessert in her honor
here.Resources
1. Ritz info @ the food timeline
2. Rumford Baking Powder (1859) 150 year anniversary
3. Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cookbook (1884) 125 year anniversary
4. The Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cook Book (1909) 100 years anniversary
5. Hot Tea Month
6. January is National Wheat Bread Month
7. January is Slow Cooking Month
