The Joy of the Squeak When you bite into a fresh cheese curd and it squeaks against your teeth, you’re experiencing a tiny moment of dairy magic. National Cheese Curd Day, celebrated on October 15, honors this uniquely Midwestern delicacy. The holiday was launched in 2015 by the Culver’s restaurant chain, but the snack it […]
From Alembics to Old Fashioneds Picture a small still bubbling over a coal fire, copper coils dripping clear liquid into an earthenware jug. Before liquor became a fixture at cocktail bars, it was the product of experimentation and alchemy. Distillation dates back at least to ancient Mesopotamia, where perfumers and physicians tried to capture aromas […]
A Global Table of Awareness World Food Day may fall on a single date, but its reach spans the globe and touches issues as diverse as soil health, childhood hunger, and culinary heritage. Established in 1979 by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the day marks the anniversary of the FAO’s founding in […]
A Fruit with a Sense of Humor Four Prunes Day is a quirky reminder that sometimes the simplest foods wield the most surprising power. Once upon a time, doctors and grandmothers alike prescribed a handful of prunes as the cure for what ailed you—particularly sluggish digestion. The “magic number” four came from early 20th-century nutritionists […]
Twirling Through Time On National Pasta Day we twirl our forks through centuries of history and across continents. Pasta is both ancient and endlessly adaptable. In the hands of Chinese cooks four thousand years ago, noodles were pulled from millet and wheat, cooked quickly, and slurped from bowls. In the Mediterranean, Etruscans ground wheat into […]
A Festival of Light Born from Courage and Restoration Hanukkah returns each year as a warm, flickering beacon against the deepening nights of winter. Its story reaches back to the second century BCE, when the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed Jewish practice and desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem. In response, a small group […]
The Final Sprint of the Holiday Shopping Season Super Saturday — sometimes called Panic Saturday — is the last Saturday before Christmas, a day when millions of shoppers flood stores and websites to complete their gift lists. Falling this year on December 20, it stands as one of the busiest retail days of the season, […]
Welcoming a New Year of Renewal and Good Fortune Lunar New Year is one of the world’s oldest and most widely celebrated holidays, observed across East and Southeast Asia and throughout global diasporas. Falling between late January and mid-February, its date is determined by the lunar calendar, marking the transition from one zodiac animal year […]
A Night When Light Takes Center Stage The Lantern Festival glows on the 15th day of the first lunar month, marking the joyful close of Chinese New Year celebrations. It is a night when lanterns rise, riddles dance across paper, and families gather under the first full moon of the lunar year. Rooted in over […]
A Festival of Light Born from Courage and Restoration Hanukkah returns each year as a warm, flickering beacon against the deepening nights of winter. Its story reaches back to the second century BCE, when the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes outlawed Jewish practice and desecrated the Second Temple in Jerusalem. In response, a small group […]
The Final Sprint of the Holiday Shopping Season Super Saturday — sometimes called Panic Saturday — is the last Saturday before Christmas, a day when millions of shoppers flood stores and websites to complete their gift lists. Falling this year on December 20, it stands as one of the busiest retail days of the season, […]