APRIL 6 - Today in Food History• [California Poppy Day] (the golden poppy is the official state flower) (Poppy Seed Trivia) • National Caramel Popcorn Day
(Caramel Popcorn Recipe) • International Carbonara Day (launched by International Pasta Organisation in 2017)
(Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe) • New Beer's Eve (The day before National Beer Day) • National Public Health Week: April 1-7, 2024
[American Public Health Assoc.] • Egg Salad Week in 2024 is April 1-7 (week after Easter, March or April) Dedicated to the many delicious uses for all of the Easter eggs that have been cooked, colored, hidden and found.
On this day in:1859 Massachusetts authorized the creation of the first Inspector of Milk position in the U.S. (see also Aug 10, 1859). (Massachusetts Food Trivia) 1869 New York governor John Thompson Hoffman signed a bill creating the American Museum of Natural History. (The museum opened to the public in New York City on April 27, 1871). 1896 Opening day of the first modern Olympic games in Athens, Greece. The last Olympics were held more than 1,500 years ago. 1930 'Twinkies' go on sale for the first time. They originally had a banana creme filling and were sold two for a nickel. 1930 India: After a 240 mile march, Mahatma Gandhi arrived at the the coastal village of Dandi to produce salt without paying the salt tax, in protest of the British salt monopoly (see also March 12, 1930). 1932 C. Glen King, at the University of Pittsburgh, isolated vitamin C from lemon juice. (Vitamin C Trivia)
1938 Du Pont research chemist Roy J. Plunkett accidentally discovered Teflon (polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE).
1947 John Ratzenberger, actor, was born. He played 'Cliff Clavin, Jr.' on the TV series 'Cheers.' 1954 C.A. Swanson & Sons introduced the first TV dinner (The actual date that Swanson introduced TV dinners is in dispute. Either Sept 10, 1953 or April 6, 1954): Roast Turkey with Stuffing and Gravy, Sweet Potatoes and Peas. It sold for 98 cents and came in an aluminum tray, so you could just open the box and heat the dinner in the oven. (No microwave ovens back then). Supposedly executive Gerald Thomas came up with the idea when the company had tons of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving (Didn't we all?). The idea for the aluminum trays came from the trays used for airline food.. They were an immediate success, and Turkey dinners are still the most popular Swanson frozen dinner. Swanson stopped calling them TV dinners in 1962. (See also: Who Really Invented the TV Dinner) 1988 McDonald's opened its 10,000th restaurant, in Dale City, Virginia. (McDonald’s Trivia & Facts)
2004 British Columbia, Canada orders the slaughter of 19 million poultry due to avian influenza (bird flu). 2013 Ikea home furnishings stores in Europe have withdrawn 17,000 portions of Moose Lasagna after traces of pork were found in a batch tested in Belgium.
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