The Art of Preservation Before refrigerators and freezers, people relied on ingenuity to preserve the bounty of summer for winter meals. National Canning Day honors one of the greatest breakthroughs in food preservation—and the man who made it possible. In the late 18th century, as Napoleon’s armies marched across Europe, the French government offered a […]
A New England Icon In the mid-19th century, long before doughnuts were filled with custard, a French-Armenian chef named Sanzian created a dessert at Boston’s Parker House Hotel that would become a New England legend. National Boston Cream Pie Day, observed on October 23, celebrates his ingenious fusion of sponge cake, pastry cream, and chocolate […]
A Slice of Americana For many Americans, bologna sandwiches evoke childhood lunches—white bread, a slice of cheese, maybe a dab of mustard, and a side of potato chips. National Bologna Day, observed on October 24, invites us to revisit this humble cold cut and uncover its fascinating heritage. Bologna is the American adaptation of mortadella, […]
A Sweet Slice of Americana Good & Plenty Day celebrates one of America’s oldest branded candies and the nostalgia tucked into its pink and white shells. Introduced in 1893 by the Quaker City Chocolate & Confectionery Company of Philadelphia, Good & Plenty is a licorice confection coated in a hard candy shell. Each narrow cylinder […]
Celebrating Real Food and a Better Future National Food Day, celebrated on October 24, invites Americans to reconnect with the simple joy of eating real, whole foods while working toward a food system that is healthy, sustainable, and fair for all. Launched in 1975 by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Day […]
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, […]