FoodReference.com Logo

FoodReference.com     (since 1999)

 

HOME   |   Articles   |   Food_Trivia   |   Today_in_Food_History   |   Food_History_Timeline   |   Recipes   |   Cooking_Tips   |   Food_Quotes   |   Who’s_Who   |   Culinary_Schools_&_Tours   |   Trivia_Quizzes   |   Food_Poems   |   Cookbooks   |   Free_Magazines   |   Food_Festivals_&_Events

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 AUGUST

Updated: Over 9,000 Food Festivals

Summer & Picnic Food, Tips & Recipes

Grilling & Barbecue Articles & Recipes

Sports & Tailgating Articles & Recipes

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
 

 


** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

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
 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
 

 


** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

August Food Holidays:

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

AUGUST is:

• Air Conditioning Appreciation Days
  (July 3 to Aug 15)

• Get Acquainted with Kiwifruit Month

• Grains of the Month: Rye and Triticale

• Maine Lobster Month: Maine Governor Paul LePage issued a proclamation declaring August 'Maine Lobster Month' in July 2012.

• National Catfish Month (1984, President Ronald Reagan)

• National Goat Cheese Month

• National Panini Month

• National Peach Month

• National Sandwich Month

• National Water Quality Month

• Canada: National Blueberry Month
  (July in U.S.)

• UK: National Fishing Month]
(July 25-Aug 30, 2026)

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

DID YOU KNOW?

The French marigold (Tagetes patula) with a yellow to red flower is used in Africa and India to color foods (butter, cheese, etc) and as a fabric dye. The leaves are used as a seasoning in central Africa. The dried flowers are sometimes used to adulterate saffron.
 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Daily Trivia Questions are below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“If eels only looked a little less like eels more people would want to eat them.”  Clement Freud
 

FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:

• National Toasted Almond Ice Cream Bar Day
  (Almond Trivia)

• National Julienne Fries Day
  (Julienne Trivia  --  French Fries Trivia & Facts)

• Opening of the grouse season in Britain
  (Grouse Trivia & Facts)

• UK: [Afternoon Tea Week] (Aug 10-16, 2026)  A celebration of the great British tradition of Afternoon Tea.
 

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

1737 Antoine Augustin Parmentier was born (died Dec 13, 1813).  French agronomist.  Promoted the potato as a food source and instrumental in gaining its acceptance in France.
(Potato Trivia  --  Potato History)

1759 Thomas Andrew Knight was born.  British horticulturist and botanist who experimented with geotropism, phototropism and heliotropism.  (We all know our tropisms, don't we?).

1801 John Cadbury was born.  Founder of Cadbury Chocolate Company.

1851 Isaac M. Singer of New York City received U.S. patent No. 8,294 for the first sewing machine with a rocking treadle.  Sewing machines had already been patented, but Singer's machine was revolutionary, having a rocking treadle design, continuous feed, and a straight, vertical needle like modern machines.

1856 James Buchanan ('Diamond Jim') Brady was born.  American financier and philanthropist Diamond Jim Brady was known for his collection of diamond jewelry, and for his gargantuan appetite.  He was known to eat 6 or 7 giant lobsters, dozens of oysters, clams and crabs, 2 ducks, steak and desserts at a single sitting.  He would also mix a pound of caviar into a baked potato.  George Rector, a New York restaurateur said he was 'the best twenty-five customers I ever had.'

1865 Sir William Jackson Hooker died (born July 6, 1785).  English botanist, established the Royal Botanical Institution of Glasgow, and in 1841 became the first director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, near London.  He expanded the gardens from 11 to 300 acres, and established Kew as a national botanic garden.

1883 The quagga, a zebra-like mammal of southern Africa became extinct when the last mare at Amsterdam Zoo died.  They had been hunted to extinction.

1898 Hawaii was formally annexed to the United States   (see also Aug 21, 1959). (Hawaii Food Trivia)

1902 C.H. McCormick & Bros. merged with Deering Harvester Co., Plano Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee Harvester Company, Warder, Bushnell and Glessner, to form International Harvester Company.

1908 Henry Ford's first Model T, the "Tin Lizzie," rolled off assembly line in Detroit, Michigan.  It seated two and sold for $825.
(see also May 26, 1927).

1913 The National Biscuit Co. (Nabisco) registered the "Oreo" trademark (introduced in 1912).
(Nabisco Food Trivia and Facts)

1930 Clarence Birdseye received a patent for a method to preparing food products by quick freezing them.  (Clarence Birdseye short Biography)

1955 The U.S. minimum wage was raised from 75 cents to $1.00

1981 IBM introduced its Personal Computer (PC) and PC-DOS 1.0

1990 B. (Barnard) Kliban died.  A satirical cartoonist, best known for his cat cartoons.  A few of his cartoon book titles: 'Never Eat Anything Larger Than Your Head', 'The Biggest Tongue in Tunisia'.

2008 The U.S. Navy agreed to restrict loud sonar blasts from anti-submarine vessels in large areas of the world's oceans to protect whales and other vulnerable creatures.

2013 Less than a month after ad-firm Renew began anonymously collecting information about people walking past their Wi-Fi-enabled trash cans, the City of London demanded the company put a stop to the practice.

2016 The animated comedy film 'Sausage Party' opened in U.S. theaters. A sausage tries to discover the truth about his existence.
 

** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **

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

August 7-15, 2026  MontanaFair - Billings, Montana

August 7-23, 2026 - Indiana State Fair
Indianapolis, Indiana

August 10-15, 2026  78th Annual Butler Farm Show
Butler, Pennsylvania

August 11-15, 2026  Wyoming State Fair
Douglas, Wyoming

August 11-16, 2026  172nd Topsham Fair
Topsham, Maine

August 13-15, 2026  Bucyrus Bratwurst Festival
Bucyrus, Ohio

August 13-16, 2026  Great Inland Seafood Festival
Newport, Kentucky

(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?
· The North American Bison is declared the official National Mammal of the United States.
· Archaeologists uncovered a 5,000-year-old brewery in the Central Plain of China.
· The animated comedy film 'Sausage Party' opened in U.S. theaters. A sausage tries to discover the truth about his existence.

2) This 'fruit' will not ripen on the tree. They must be picked from the tree to initiate ripening because the leaves supply a substance that prevents ripening. The best way to store them is to leave them on the tree; they will store for 7 months or more when left on the tree.
What is the name of this 'fruit'?

3) It is believed that the sheep's milk cheese that Polyphemus the Cyclops made in his caves in Homer's 'Odyssey' was most likely an early form of this cheese.
You are really good if you can name this cheese.
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
 

TOP

DID YOU KNOW

It takes more than 2.2 million bee hives to pollinate California's Almond crop (about 1.3 million acres).

** ** ** ** ** **

 


** ** ** ** ** **

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'

** ** ** ** ** **

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

 

** ** ** ** ** **

Classic Fish and Seafood Recipes
 

** ** ** ** ** **

DID YOU KNOW?

During the Alaskan Klondike gold rush, (1897-1898) potatoes were practically worth their weight in gold. Potatoes were so valued for their vitamin C content that miners traded gold for potatoes.
 

* ** ** ** ** **

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

** ** ** ** ** **

DID YOU KNOW?

The Mounds/Almond Joy advertising jingle was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame in 2002.  "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't"

** ** ** ** ** **

  Home   |   About Us & Contact Us   |   Privacy Policy   |   Chef James Biography   |   Bibliography   |   Food Links  

Please feel free to link to any pages of FoodReference.com from your website.

For permission to use any of this content please E-mail: james@foodreference.com

All contents are copyright © 1990 - 2026 James T. Ehler and www.FoodReference.com unless otherwise noted.
All rights reserved.

You may copy and use portions of this website for non-commercial, personal use only.
Any other use of these materials without prior written authorization is not very nice and violates the copyright.

Please take the time to request permission.
 

Website last updated on Wednesday, August 12, 2026