Dec 282009
You’re probably thinking that every day is a food holiday for me. Nope. I eat leftovers and even Domino’s Pizza on occasion. And while holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter are traditionally associated with food, there are actually daily, weekly and monthly observances that are held in honor of certain types of food.
Always looking for a way to increase advertising dollars or justify the existence of trade association, the United States has developed an abundance of food holidays promoted by clubs, health organizations, industry groups and farmers. Somebody decided that August 31st is National Trail Mix Day, while April has the honor of being National BLT Sandwich Month. And did you know that sliced bread’s birthday is April 1st? (No, that’s not an April Fool’s joke.)
So how do these holidays get designated? Here’s the best explanation I could find, courtesy of The Nibble:
Petitions are introduced by constituents, trade associations or public relations firms to honor industries, events, professions, hobbies, etc. The Senate issue commemorative resolutions which do not have the force of law. Some state legislatures and governors proclaim special observance days, as do mayors of cities, which is why there can be a National Chocolate Day and a National Chocolate Month, as well as two National Guacamole Days – authorized at different levels of government. After the observance day has been authorized, it is up to the petitioner to promote it to the public.
That promotion is what makes this really cool for you. Many of my favorite merchants use these food holidays to promote their own products, releasing some great sales and terrific deals for their ‘special day.’ What makes food holidays cool for me is that this pre-arranged calendar gives me something that resembles a structured format for this blog. I’ll be utilizing the food holiday calendar to discover, then introduce you to some new gourmet food, wine gifts and kitchen gadgets. At the same time, I can pass on those merchant deals to you.
While Christmas comes but once a year, food is around all year long. So keep popping over to read about what kind of food holiday we’re celebrating each week, and post your comments. Just to satisfy your own epicurean curiousity, you can look at the full calendar of food holidays here.
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