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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 APRIL

Updated: Over 9,000 Food Festivals

Cinco de May Articles and Recipes

Fiddleheads: A New England Delicacy
 

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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
 

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April Food Holidays:

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

APRIL is:

• Alcohol Awareness Month (since 1987)

• Defeat Diabetes Month

• Fresh Florida Tomato Month - fresh tomatoes are harvested from every growing district in Florida in April.

• Global Child Nutrition Month

• Grain of the Month: Sprouted Grains

• National B.L.T. Month

• National Garden Month

• National Garlic Month

• National Grange Month - advocates for rural America and Agriculture

• Grilled Cheese Month

• National Pecan Month

• National Soft Pretzel Month

• National Soyfoods Month (Began in 1996 by the Soyfoods Assn of North America)

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DID YOU KNOW?

Manchego is the best known and most widely available Spanish cheese. It comes from La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote, and was originally made only from the milk of Manchego sheep. Manchego is aged for 3 months or longer, and is a semifirm cheese with a rich golden color. It comes in a 10 inch diameter wheel, 5 inches thick with a herrinbone design on the rind. It ranges from mild to sharp, depending on how long it is aged.

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Monday, April 6, 2026

Daily Trivia Questions are below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“Italian restaurants with more than 120 entrees are always disappointing.”   Miss Piggy
 

FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:

• [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)

• Fresh Tomato Day (Tomato Trivia and Recipes)

• New Beer's Eve (The day before National Beer Day)

• National Public Health Week: April 6-12, 2026 (1st full week in April) [American Public Health Assoc.]

• Egg Salad Week in 2026 is April 6-12 (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.
 

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

1859 Massachusetts authorized the creation of the first Inspector of Milk position in the U.S.
(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.

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

April 2-6, 2026  Annual Tater Day - Benton, Kentucky

April 2-12, 2026 - Clay County Agricultural Fair
Green Cove Springs, Florida

April 10-11, 2026 - 48th Annual Pig Cookin' Contest
Newport, North Carolina

April 10-12, 2026 - 13th Annual Boudin Festival
Scott, Louisiana

April 10-12, 2026  79th Annual Poteet Strawberry Festival - Poteet, Texas

April 10-19, 2026  Sourdough Bread Festival
Cherry Valley, California

April 11-13, 2026 - Annual World Grits Festival
St. George, South Carolina

(SEE ALL FOOD FESTIVALS and OTHER FOOD EVENTS)
 

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FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ    (new DAILY questions)

1) All of the following events took place in the same year.  What year is it?
· Packaged beer (cans & bottles) outsells draught beer for the first time.
· Farmers are 18% of the labor force. There are about 6,102,000 farms, averaging about 175 acres.
· York Peppermint Patties were introduced.
· The first Dairy Queen opened in Joliet, Illinois.
· The 'Original Recipe' for Kentucky Fried Chicken was developed by Harland Sanders.

2) What is the white edible portion of cauliflower called?

3) Where did the thousands of cherry trees in Washington D.C. come from?

4) What modern day crop do scientists believe is descended from the wild grass commonly known as 'teosinte?'

Click Here for Today’s Quiz Answers
 

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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
 

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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

There are some 900,000 poppy seeds to the pound.
 

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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'

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

 

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Classic Fish and Seafood Recipes
 

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DID YOU KNOW?

The California Golden Poppy (Eschscholzia Californica) was designated the state flower of California in 1903.  Native Americans in California used the poppy as a food source and extracted oil from the plant.

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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

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DID YOU KNOW?

Darker Green lettuce leaves are more nutritious than lighter green leaves.

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Website last updated on Monday, April 6, 2026