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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 MARCH

Updated: Over 9,000 Food Festivals

Easter Recipes  ---  Ham Recipes

Choosing & Preparing Holiday Ham

Lamb Recipes

Perfect Passover Recipes

Fiddleheads: A New England Delicacy
 

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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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March Food Holidays:

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

MARCH is:

• American Red Cross Month
  (Annual Presidential Proclamation since 1943)

• Caffeine Awareness Month

• Grain of the Month: Quinoa

• National Flour Month

• National Frozen Food Month

• National Kidney Month

• National Noodle Month

• National Nutrition Month  (A nutrition education and information campaign sponsored annually by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

• National Peanut Month (National Peanut Month had its beginnings as National Peanut Week in 1941. It was expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974)

• National Sauce Month

• Canada: Nutrition Month

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DID YOU KNOW?

Citrus fruits are native to Southeast Asia where they have been cultivated for over 4,000 years. Some of the oldest Oriental literature contains references to citrus fruits.

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Monday, March 30, 2026

Daily Trivia Questions are below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.”
Fran Lebowitz
 

FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:

• National Dining Car Day (see 1868 below)

• Turkey Neck Soup Day
 

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

1843 Napoleon E. Guerin of New York received the first U.S. patent for an egg incubator (U.S. patent No. 3,019). He also was the first to patent a life preserver.

1848 An ice jam on the upper Niagara River completely stops the flow of water over Niagara Falls for 30 hours.

1858 Hyman Lipman of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania received U.S. patent No. 19,783 for the first pencil with an eraser attached.

1867 The U.S. agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million (about 2 cents an acre). The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.  Critics at the time called it "Seward’s Folly.”  (Alaska Food Trivia)

1868 The Pullman Palace Car Company introduced the first railroad dining car. (Dining Car Trivia)
(Railroad Trivia)

1899 The Tropical Trading & Transport Company merged with rival Boston Fruit Company to form the United Fruit Company. The company traded bananas and other tropical fruit grown in Central and South America. The company is now known as Chiquita Brands International. (Banana Trivia & Facts)

1911 Ellen Swallow Richards died.  She was one of the founders of the home economics movement in the U.S.

1914 Morton Salt Co. registered ‘When It Rains It Pours’ trademark. (Salt Trivia  ---  Salt Quotes)

1945 Eric 'Slowhand' Clapton, singer & songwriter was born.  A member of the rock groups the Yardbirds and Cream.

1972 Royal Canadian Navy sailors are issued their very last daily rum ration. (Sailor Food Trivia)

1987 'Sunflowers' by Vincent Van Gogh is sold to a Japanese buyer for $39.9 million.  There has been some controversy on whether it is possibly a fake.  During the 1990s more than 2 dozen Van Gogh's have been labeled as fakes or copies.  Vincent Van Gogh was also born on this day in 1853.

1997 'Wannabe' by the Spice Girls is #1 on the charts.

2020 Coronavirus:  More distilleries are producing hand sanitizer;  Disneyland and Disney World to stay closed indefinitely;  U.S. domestic airline flights down 70% to 90%;  Federal Reserve estimates unemployment rate could hit 32%..
 

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

March 1-31, 2026 - Taste Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey

March 13-April 12, 2026  Knott's Boysenberry Festival
Buena Park, California

March 19-29, 2026  50th Annual Collier Fair
Naples, Florida

April 1-4, 2026 - 35th Taste of Vail - Vail, Colorado

April 2-4, 2026 - Annual Llano River Chuck Wagon Cook-Off - Llano, Texas

April 2-6, 2026  Annual Tater Day - Benton, Kentucky

April 2-12, 2026 - Clay County Agricultural Fair
Green Cove Springs, Florida

(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?
· Ritz Crackers were introduced by the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco).
· Pepsi introduced their 12 ounce bottle for the same price competitors were selling 6 ounce bottles.
· Wild Cherry Life Savors are introduced.
· Royal Crown Cola is introduced by Nehi corp.
· Walt Disney's 'The Three Little Pigs' won an Oscar for best Short Subject, Cartoon at the Academy Award

2) This food product, introduced by General Foods in 1965, was added by NASA to the galley of the Gemini astronauts. In July 1969 it traveled to the Moon on the Apollo mission.
Name this food product.

3) This relative of the apple and pear is one of the earliest known fruits. For over 4,000 years, trees have grown in Asia and the Mediterranean. Today, it is also found in Latin America, the Middle East, and the United States. The fruit as we know it in the United States is a different fruit from that found in Western Asia and tropical countries, where the fruit is softer and more juicy. In colder climates, the fruit has a fine, handsome shape, a rich golden color when ripe, and a strong fragrance, judged by some to be heavy and overpowering. In the raw form, the rind is rough and woolly, and the flesh is hard and unpalatable, with an astringent, acidulous taste. In hotter countries, the woolly rind disappears and the fruit can be eaten raw. Because it’s rarely used in its raw form in the United States, the hard and dry flesh of this fruit turns light pink to purple, becoming softer and sweeter when it’s cooked. Because of the astringent, tart flavor, they are commonly made into preserves and jellies. 
Name this fruit.

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

First restaurant chain in the U.S. was the Harvey Houses, that started in 1876 to serve railroad travelers.

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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?

Emmentaler ('Swiss cheese') is a cow's milk cheese that has been made in Switzerland's Emmental Valley since the 15th century, and is the country's oldest cheese. It is made in giant wheels that can weigh well over 200 pounds.

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IN SEASON FOR SPRING

VEGETABLES
(Recipes  --  Tips)
Asparagus
Avocados
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Collard Greens
Kale
Lettuce
Mushrooms
Onions
Peas
Plantains
Radishes
Rhubarb
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Turnips

FRUITS (Tips)
Apples
Apricots
Bananas
Blackberries
Kiwifruit
Lemons
Limes
Pineapples
Strawberries

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DID YOU KNOW?

Corn flake cereals are made from white corn grits.

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Website last updated on Sunday, March 29, 2026