Monday, January 5, 2026Daily Trivia Questions are below TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE“She has a laugh so hearty it knocks the whipped cream off an order of strawberry shortcake on a table fifty feet away.” Damon Runyon,
FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:• National Whipped Cream Day (see 1914 below)
(Whipping Cream Tips) • National Keto Day (short for ketogenic, a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates) • St. Simeon Stylites’ Day, patron of shepherds. • Diet Resolution Week (Jan 1-7)
(Healthy Diets & Dieting Articles)
TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY1589 Catherine de Medici, wife of King Henry II of France died. She is sometimes called the 'mother of French haute cuisine' because the Italian chefs she brought with her from Florence had a strong influence on the development of French cuisine. One of the things they brought with them was ice cream. 1786 Thomas Nuttall was born. English naturalist and botanist. He also collected and studied plants in the United States, especially around the Chesapeake Bay area. 1794 Edmund Ruffin born. The father of soil chemistry in the U.S. 1858 Ezra J. Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut received U.S. patent No. 19063 for a can opener ("a new and Useful Improvement in Instruments for Cutting Open Sealed Tin cans and Boxes").
(Cans & Canned Food Trivia, History, etc.) 1889 According to the ‘Oxford English Dictionary’ the word 'hamburger' first appeared in print on this day in a Walla Walla, Washington newspaper, the Walla Walla Union.
(Hamburger Trivia --- Hamburger Quotes) 1913 Kemmons Wilson was born (died Feb 12, 2003). Founder of Holiday Inn hotel chain, the first standardized hotel chain. The 1942 Bing Crosby film 'Holiday Inn' was the inspiration for the hotels name. 1914 Aaron 'Bunny' Lapin was born. Lapin was the inventor of whipped cream in an aerosol can (Reddi-Wip) in 1948. It was first sold by milkmen in St. Louis in 1948. 1914 Henry Ford introduced a minimum wage of $5 per day. 1943 George Washington Carver died. African American agricultural scientist and innovator. He developed hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes. He founded the George Washington Carver Research Foundation at Tuskegee, for agricultural research. 1956 Chen Kenichi was born. Chinese chef (born in Japan) best known for his role on the TV series 'Iron Chef'. He is the only Iron Chef to have held his position throughout the life of the show. 1961 'Mr. Ed' the talking horse debuts on TV.
(Horse Trivia & Facts --- Horse Quotes) 2007 Momofuku Ando died in Osaka, Japan (born in Taiwan, March 5, 1910. Mr. Ando was the founder of Nissin Food Products, and invented 'Instant Ramen' noodles. 2009 A locally caught bluefin tuna weighing 282½ pounds sold for $104,700 ($371 lb) at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market auction. Prized by sushi lovers, the normal price for bluefin tuna is about $25 - $50 per pound. (Bluefin Tuna Trivia) 2012 A 593 pound Bluefin Tuna sold for a record $724,000 (56.49 million yen) at Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market - that's about $1,220 per pound!
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** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Novvember 14, 2025 - January 17, 2026
Gingerbread House Competition & Display
Lahaska, Pennsylvania January 1-31, 2026 - Napa Valley Restaurant Month
Napa Valley, California January 8-18, 2026 Restaurant Week South Carolina
Statewide, South Carolina January 9-10, 2026 - Annual Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival - Doswell, Virginia January 9-11, 2026 52nd Santa Cruz Fungus Fair
Santa Cruz, California January 10-11, 2026 - Seattle Travel & Adventure Show - Seattle, Washington (SEE ALL FOOD FESTIVALS and OTHER FOOD EVENTS)
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ (new DAILY questions)1) All of the following events took place in the same year. What year is it?
· H. & C. Studebaker was founded, blacksmith and wagon building.
· The Chicago Union Stock Yards opened.
· The first public lavatory opened for business in London.
· A 446 pound baron of beef was served to Queen Victoria and the royal family. 2) A small Chinese tree widely cultivated throughout temperate regions, having pink flowers and edible fruit. In spite of the tree's short life, its fruit was a symbol of immortality to the ancient Chinese. They exchanged the fruit as a token of affection and placed bowls of them in the tombs of loved ones to prevent the bodies from decaying. They are believed to have originated in China then to have spread westward through Asia to the Mediterranean countries and later to other parts of Europe. On his travels in China, Marco Polo encountered ones that weighed as much as several pounds. Spanish explorers brought the them to the New World. In colonial America, they were used for feeding pigs and making brandy.
Worldwide, they are the third major deciduous-tree fruit. The United States is the major producer, accounting for about one fifth of the world's supply. Italy is second, with about one sixth of the world supply. France, Greece, and Spain also produce substantial crops. 3) Born during the Great Depression, this snack treat was developed by bakers who tried scores of recipes before they were satisfied with the results. They were first manufactured in the company's north Philadelphia bakery, and introduced to the public in Philadelphia and Baltimore on November 21, 1934, at 19 cents per box. Success was immediate. In the first year of production, the company baked 5 billion of this snack treat, about 40 for every man, woman and child in America in 1935. They remain a best seller in its class today.
Can you name this snack treat? Click Here for Today’s Quiz Answers
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Read an article about Chef James and the FoodReference.com website published in the Winona Daily News, Minneapolis StarTribune, and numerous other newspapers: Click here for the Article
** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** Dedication
This website is dedicated to:
· Gladys Ehler, my mother, who taught me patience and how to make Sauerbraten (it is still my favorite)
· Edward Ehler, my father, who taught me a love of books and history.
· Barbara Saba, my sister, who taught me how to dance.
· Cpl. Thomas E. Saba, my nephew. Died in action on Feb. 7, 2007 in Iraq. He was 30 yrs. young. Chef James
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