Cast Your Vote! Who Invented the Hamburger?
Lots of people claim to be the inventor of America’s favorite sandwich, but who do you think should get the credit? There are four leading contenders for the title of “Hamburger Inventor.” Vote for your favorite below. Contestant #1- “Hamburger Charlie” Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin. When only 15-years-old, this enterprising young man was selling food…
Read MoreNational Vanilla Ice Cream Day
July is National Ice Cream month and July 23rd is National Vanilla Ice Cream Day. Some people might think vanilla ice cream is too boring to deserve its own day, but I don’t. When I was researching There’s No Ham in Hamburgers one of the most interesting things I learned was how vanilla is…
Read MoreNational Pepperoni Pizza Day
September 20th is National Pepperoni Pizza Day! Americans really, really love pizza. Every day, we eat enough pizza to cover 75 football fields! And a lot of them have pepperoni on them. One might assume that pepperoni reached American shores with the Italian immigrants just like pizza did, but that’s not what happened. Pepperoni…
Read MoreNational Potato Day
Did you know that Americans eat an average of 110 pounds of potatoes a year per person? It’s the number one vegetable consumed in the United States. But spuds weren’t always the on top of the vegetable heap. When the Spanish explorer Francisco Pizzaro brought potatoes back from Peru in 1532, Europeans were…
Read MoreNational Ice Cream Day
According to the International Dairy Foods Association (www.idfa.org), the average American eats approximately 22 pounds of ice cream a year. The IDFA also reported that ice cream production in 2020 was up 6% from 2019. I think we all know why that happened. Ice cream is more than just a dessert, it’s a comfort food…
Read MoreHappy Birthday Ruth Wakefield!
Let’s take a moment to honor one of America’s gastronomic heroes today. This woman has brought so much joy and deliciousness in our lives that I believe her birthday should be a national holiday, or at least a national baking day. Ruth Wakefield created the chocolate chip cookie. In 1930, Ruth and her husband…
Read MoreNational Hamburger Day- Lets Talk Toppings
To honor this important day, I decided to find out how Americans like their burgers. According to a survey conducted by YouGov.com in May 2020, the number one topping is cheese. Here’s a list of the top ten: Cheese- 74% Ketchup- 65% Lettuce- 64% Tomatoes- 58% Onions- 57% Pickles- 54% Mustard-…
Read MoreTeacher Appreciation Week Give-Away
My grandmother was a teacher. Her first job out of college was teaching in a rural, one-room schoolhouse. She had to get there early enough to get the fire going so the room would be warm when the students arrived. That was in her contract. She taught all subjects to students of different ages…
Read MoreApril Fool’s Day Book Give-Away
I’m going to give away a copy of There’s No Ham in Hamburgers: Facts and Folklore About My Favorite Foods today. Seriously. This is NO joke. Someone is going to get a free signed book from me and a bookmark. But you’ll have to read all the way to the bottom to find out how…
Read MoreNational Potato Chip Day
Since March is Women’s History Month and today is National Potato Chip Day, I want to tell you about the amazing businesswoman and entrepreneur, Laura Scudder (1881-1959). Scudder started her potato chip company in 1926 because her husband couldn’t work anymore after a car he was repairing, fell on him. It was up to…
Read MoreThe Oscar Mayer Wienermobile Spotted!
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile was on campus at the University of Alabama this week and my daughter Josie got a selfie with it!! You know she’s smiling under that mask. How can anyone NOT smile when they see the Wienermobile? According to Oscarmeyer.com, the first Wienermobile appeared on the streets of Chicago in 1936. Oscar…
Read More