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Chef James

“The duty of a good Cuisinier is to transmit to the next generation everything he has learned and experienced.”
 
Fernand Point, 1941

FEATURED FOR DECEMBER

• Updated: Over 9,000 Food Festivals

• Football Food

• Christmas Articles

• Christmas Food Trivia

• Christmas Tree Trivia

• Other Christmas Trivia

• Holiday Recipes

• Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

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FEATURED RECIPES & TIPS

· Guacamole & Avocado Dips

· Original Frank's Redhot Wings

· Ultimate Party Wings

· More Appetizer Recipes

· Deep Fried Turkey

· White Castle Turkey Stuffing

· Turkey Stuffings & Dressings

· Classic Green Bean Casserole

· Fresh Cranberry Relish

· Turducken Recipe

· Candied Sweet Potatoes

· Christmas Wreath Cake

· English Mince Meat (1896)

· Cranberry Cheese Bars

· Perfect Gingerbread Men

· Gingerbread Whoopie Pies

· Pfeffernusse Cookies

· Texas State Fair Pecan Pie

· Florida Pecan Pie

· Pumpkin Pie

· Southern Sweet Potato Pie

· Virginia Sweet Potato Pie

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December Food Holidays:

For Details, History and more DAY, WEEK and MONTH Food Holiday designations, including LINKS to Holiday Origins and Additional Information:
SEE Detailed DECEMBER Food Calendar

DECEMBER is:

• Grain of the Month: Buckwheat
  · Buckwheat Trivia & Facts

• National Egg Nog Month
  · Eggnog Trivia & Facts
  · Egg Nog Recipes

• National Fruit Cake Month
  · Holiday Fruit Cake Recipe
  · Fruitcake Trivia

• Root Vegetables Month
  · Root Vegetable Articles

• National Pear Month: Many fruits are out of season during the winter months. Pears are available fresh during this time.  · Pear Trivia    · Pear Quotes

•  Worldwide Food Service Safety Month
created in 1994 by the National Restaurant Association

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DID YOU KNOW?

Christmas may have been celebrated in the 'New World' long before Columbus arrived. Vikings inhabiting Newfoundland around 1,000 AD were Christians, and might very well have celebrated the Feast of the Nativity

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Saturday, December 13, 2025

Daily Trivia Questions are below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“The man who can't visualize a horse galloping on a tomato is an idiot.”
Andrι Breton, French writer (1896-1966)
 

FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:

• National Cocoa Day (Cocoa Trivia  |  Cocoa Quotes)

• National Exotic Fruit Day (Articles on Exotic Fruit)

• National Day of the Horse [2004 Senate resolution 452]  Encouraging people to be mindful of the  contribution of horses to the economy, history, & character of the U.S.
(Horse Trivia and facts  ---  Horse Quotes)

• St. Jose's Day, patron of harvests.

• [National Handwashing Awareness Week]
  (Dec 7-13, 2025)
 

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

1779 The Smithfield Cattle and Sheep Society held the first Smithfield Show in London. It is now the leading agriculture show in the UK.

1813 Antoine Augustin Parmentier died (born Aug 12, 1737).  French agronomist.  Promoted the potato as a food source and instrumental in gaining its acceptance in France.
(Potato Trivia & Facts  ---  Potato Quotes)

1816 John Adamson of Boston, Massachusetts, received a patent for a 'Floating Dry Dock', for the repair of canal boats.

1827 Giovanni (John) Del-Monico, Swiss wine merchant, and his brother Pietro (Peter) open Delmonico & Brother Cafι at 23 William St. in Manhattan, New York City.
(Delmonico’s Trivia and Facts)

1838 Pierre-Marie-Alexis Millardet was born. A French botanist, he saved the vineyards of France from total destruction by the grape phylloxera, a small greenish-yellow insect which sucks the fluid from grapevines.  He did so by grafting the French vines on American rootstock, which was resistant to phylloxera.  He also developed the first widely used plant fungicide.
(Phylloxera: Deadly Vine Disease Article)

1844 John Henry Patterson was born (died May 7, 1922). Founder of National Cash Register Company.

1856 Charles Dickens wrote in 'Household Words,' "Aluminum may probably send tin to the right about face, drive copper saucepans into penal servitude, and blow up German-silver sky high into nothing."  He was pretty accurate in his prediction, even though aluminum had only been discovered in 1808, and had only been used commercially since 1854.
(Aluminum Trivia & Facts)

1884 Percy Everitt patented a coin operated scale.

1950 James Dean appears in a Pepsi Cola commercial, his first paid acting job. (video below) (Pepsi Trivia)
 

 


1970 Neil Simon's 'The Gingerbread Lady' opened on Broadway.

1981 'Pigmeat' Markham died. American actor, comedian. ("Here comes the Judge.").

2010 U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the $4.5 billion Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, authorizing funding for federal school meal and child nutrition programs and increased access to healthy food for low-income children.
(Kids Food and Nutrition Articles)

 

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A FEW FEATURED FOOD FESTIVALS
(See All 9,000 Food, Wine & Beer Festivals)

Nov 18, 2025-Jan 4, 2026  National Gingerbread House Competition & Display - Asheville, N. Carolina

December 1-31, 2025  55th Annual Christmas in Newport - Newport, Rhode Island

December 10-22, 2025  The Bracebridge Dinner
Yosemite National Park, California

December 12-14, 2025  Annual Woodstock Winter Wassail Weekend - Woodstock, Vermont

December 13, 2025  Hudson Valley Pizza Festival
Poughkeepsie, New York

December 13-14, 2025  28th Annual Inn to Inn Holiday Cookie & Candy Tour
Mt. Washington Valley, New Hampshire

(SEE ALL FOOD FESTIVALS and OTHER FOOD EVENTS)
 

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FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ    (new DAILY questions)

1) All of the following events took place in the same year.  What year is it?
· Ultra-high temperature pasteurization is introduced.
· V-8 Cocktail Vegetable Juice is introdced by Campbell Soup Co.
· Nestle's Quik chocolate milk additive is introduced to compete with Ovaltine.

2) What president of the U.S. served hot dogs to the Queen of England?

3) On April 25, 1856, Charles Luttwedge Dodgson met Alice Liddell. Miss Liddell had a penchant for consuming unknown (and possibly psychoactive) food and liquids. What other names might these 2 be more recognizable as?

4) Before these gentlemen founded a well known computer technology company, they invented an automatic urinal flusher and a weight loss shock machine. What computer technology company did they start?

Click Here for Today’s Quiz Answers

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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
 

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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
 

TOP

DID YOU KNOW

· Turkey Tips

· Cranberry Tips

· Sweet Potato Tips

· Stringy Sweet Potatoes

· Pecan Tips

· Mashed Potato Tips

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A FOOD LIFE

"There are those who say that a life devoted to food -- cooking it, eating it, writing about it, even dreaming about it -- is a frivolous life, an indulgent life.  I would disagree.  If we do not care what we eat, we do not care for ourselves, and if we do not care for ourselves, how can we care for others?"
Fictional cookery writer Hilary Small, in episode 6, series 2 of 'Pie In the Sky'

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Click Here for
Food Emergency
Websites, Phone #s, E-mails, etc.

 

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Classic Fish and Seafood Recipes
 

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DID YOU KNOW?

Thomas Edison's assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for Christmas trees in 1882. Christmas tree lights were first mass-produced in 1890.

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IN SEASON FOR AUTUMN

VEGETABLES
(Recipes  --  Tips)
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cauliflower
Celery
Collard Greens
Cranberries
Green Beans
Kale
Mushrooms
Okra
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Rutabagas
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes & Yams
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Winter Squash

FRUITS (Tips)
Apples
Bananas
Grapes
Kiwifruit
Lemons
Limes
Mangos
Pears
Pomegranates
Raspberries

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DID YOU KNOW?

In 1836 Alabama became the first U.S. state to recognize Christmas as a legal holiday.

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Website last updated on Saturday, December 13, 2025