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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 JANUARY

Updated: Over 9,000 Food Festivals

Football Food Articles

Buffalo Chicken Game Day Recipes

Guacamole & Avocado Dips

Meatball Appetizer Recipes
 

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FEATURED RECIPES & TIPS

· Original Frank's Redhot Wings

· Ultimate Party Wings

· More Chicken Wing Recipes

· More Appetizer Recipes·

· French Onion Dip

· Jack's Screaming Red Sauce

· Potato Salad Recipes

· Cole Slaw Recipes

· Chicken Salad Recipes

· Kickoff Kabobs

· Banana Bread Recipes

· Mushroom Appetizer Recipes

· Crunchy Snack Mixes

· Mustard and Mustard Sauces

· Salsa Recipes

· Baked and Stuffed Potato Recipes

· Mac & Cheese Recipes
 

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January Food Holidays:

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

JANUARY is:

• Be Kind To Food Servers Month

• Bread Machine Baking Month
  · Bread Recipes  · Bread Trivia
  · Bread Quotes

• [Family Fit Lifestyle Month]

• [National Fiber Focus Month]
   · Fiber Facts & Trivia

• [National Hot Tea Month]
  · Tea Trivia & History
  · Tea Quotes

• National Meat Month
  · Meat Trivia  · Meat Quotes)

• [National Soup Month]
  · Soup Recipes  · Soup Trivia
  · Soup Quotes

• Oatmeal Month
• Grain of the Month: Oats (More oatmeal is eaten in January than any other month)
  [Whole Grains Council]  · Oat Trivia

• Prune Breakfast Month

• [Wheat Bread Month]
  · Bread Recipes  · Bread Trivia
  · Bread Quotes

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DID YOU KNOW?

Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea) has large tuberous roots, 8-14 inches long which are peeled, pulped and dried to produce the fine white powder of the same name.

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Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Daily Trivia Questions are below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“Life is too short for cuisine minceur and for diets. Dietetic meals are like an opera without the orchestra.”   Paul Bocuse
 

FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:

• National Shortbread Day (Short and Shortening)

• Bean Day (see 1884 below) (Bean Facts & Trivia)
  (Bean Quotes)

• National Apple Tree Day (Apple Trivia and Facts)

• Diet Resolution Week (Jan 1-7)
  (Healthy Diets & Dieting Articles)
 

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

1877 Canada: The first flour mill in Manitoba opens.

1884 Gregor Johann Mendel died. Mendel was an Austrian botanist whose work was the foundation of the science of genetics. Working mainly with garden peas and beans (some 28,000 plants over 7 years), he discovered what was to become known as the laws of heredity.

1901 Philip Danforth Armour, died. American industrialist who pioneered the use of refrigeration and meat canning. Armour & Co. became the largest meatpacker in the world and this helped Chicago become the meatpacking capital of the world. (The fact that Chicago is the 'Windy City' may have helped also).  (Chicago Food Trivia & Facts)

1910 'Kid Chocolate' (Elgio Saldana) was born. He became Cuba's first world boxing champion in 1931 after defeating Benny Bass for the Jr. Lightweight Championship.

1923 Leah Chase was born (died June 1, 2019). Chef and civil rights activist, known as the 'Queen of Creole Cuisine,' she was co-owner and executive chef of the historic Dooky Chase's Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana.
[Dooky Chase's Restaurant website]

1929 Sheffeld Farms of New York began using wax paper cartons instead of glass bottles for milk delivery.

1933 Fred Turner was born (died Jan 7, 2013).  In 1956 he was one of the first employees hired by McDonald's founder Ray Kroc.  He rose quickly through the ranks, and succeeded founder Ray Kroc as CEO in 1977. He founded Hamburger University in 1961 and was a co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities.  (McDonald’s Trivia & Facts)

1952 Charles M. Schulz's comic strip 'Peanuts' ran in its first Sunday comic strip. (Daily strips began Oct 2, 1950).

1960 Nigella Lawson was born. English food writer, cook and television host (Nigella Bites, Nigella Feasts, etc.).

1983 A Danish trawler captain is arrested for fishing inside the new UK 12 mile limit.

1988 The famous Paris restaurant 'La Coupole' was sold and eventually replaced by an office building. It was famous for its Welsh rarebit, and had been frequented by James Joyce, Henry Miller and many other notable Americans. (Welsh Rarebit Recipe)

2003 U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Richard Carmona called obesity the fastest growing cause of illness and death in America today.

2011 Donald J. Tyson died (born April 21, 1930).  President and CEO of Tyson Foods, he built his fathers Arkansas chicken feed and hatchery business into one of the largest producers of chicken, beef and pork in the world.

2012 Best Western U.S. hotel chain announced plans to build 66 hotels in India, 10 to 15 hotels each year for the next five years.

2020 Borden Dairy Co., one of America’s oldest and largest dairy companies, filed for bankruptcy.
 

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

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)
 

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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?
· The first Labor Day holiday was organized in New York City by the Central Labor Union with a parade and a massive picnic.
· The first shipment of frozen meat left Port Chalmers, New Zealand for Britain.
· In Switzerland Julius Maggi begins commercial production of the first bouillon cubes.
· The Jergens Soap Company was founded to manufacture coconut oil soap.

2) These plants, native to Central and South America are grown worldwide, both as garden flowers and for culinary uses. The brillIant yellow, orange or red flowers and peppery flavored leaves are used in salads. The flowers may also be chopped and used to flavor butters, cream cheese and vinegar; the immature flower buds and seed pods may be pickled and used like capers.  There is also a species found in the Andes which is a vegetable tuber crop.
Can you name this plant?

3) A thistlelike Eurasian plant (Carthamus tinctorius) of the daisy family, having heads of red or orange flowers that are the source of a red dye. The seeds, which look like small pine nuts, contain an oil used in foods (especially margarines), cosmetics, paints, and medicine. The flower petals are sometimes used as a substitute for saffron.
Name this plant.

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

Electric refrigerators were first sold to American housewives in 1916, at a cost of $900.

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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?

Cowpea is another name for black-eyed-peas. Other names are China bean and black eyed bean. They are native to Asia and Africa, but have been cultivated since ancient times in China. They are grown throughout the southern U.S. as a hay crop and for human consumption.

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IN SEASON FOR WINTER

VEGETABLES
(Recipes  --  Tips)
Avocados
Beets
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Collard Greens
Kale
Leeks
Onions
Parsnips
Plantains
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Rutabagas
Sweet Potatoes & Yams
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Winter Squash

FRUITS (Tips)
Apples
Bananas
Grapefruit
Grapes
Kiwifruit
Lemons
Limes
Oranges
Pears
Pomegranates

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DID YOU KNOW?

Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

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Website last updated on Tuesday, January 6, 2026