APRIL 16 - Today in Food History• National Eggs Benedict Day (Origin of Eggs Benedict) • Day of the Mushroom [Mushroom Council]
(October 15 is National Mushroom Day)
(Mushroom Trivia --- Mushroom Recipes)
(Mushroom Quotes) • Feast of St. Drogo, patron of coffee house owners and keepers.
• St. Magnus of Orkney, patron of fishmongers.
• St. Bernadette's Day, patron of shepherds.
On this day in:1521 Martin Luther arrived at the Diet of Worms. This was NOT the first fad diet. 1838 The French occupy Veracruz, Mexico during 'The Great Pastry War' (see Nov 30, 1838) 1886 Sir Edward Salisbury was born (died Nov 10, 1978). English botanist and ecologist. Director of Royal Botanical Gardens (1943-1956). His books include 'The Living Garden' (1935), 'The Biology of Garden Weeds' (1962). 
1890 Donald Forsha Jones was born (died June 19, 1963). American geneticist who invented the double-cross method of hybrid corn development, making production of high-yielding hybrid corn practical. (Corn Trivia -- History of Corn)
(Corn Quotes --- Corn Recipes) 1906 William James Farrer died. An Australian agriculturist, he developed new varieties of wheat.
(Wheat Trivia and Facts) 1924 Henry Mancini was born. Oscar winning music composer, he wrote many songs and film scores, including the score for 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' 1928 Ellsworth Milson Statler died. American hotel owner, founder of Statler Hotels. His Statler Hotel in Buffalo, New York was the first hotel in the U.S. to have running water and private baths in each room. 1941 The original Elsie the Cow died. Elsie the cow was originally a cartoon character appearing in ads for Borden Milk. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, when people began asking where Elsie was, Borden's picked a cow originally named 'You'll do Lobelia' from their herd to be Elsie. Elsie stared in commercials, made personal appearances, and even starred in an RKO movie, 'Little Men.' Elsie was injured in a truck accident in 1941 and had to be put to sleep. She is buried in Plainsboro, New Jersey. (Borden’s Trivia and Facts) 1956 On the 'I Love Lucy' show, Lucy stomped grapes in Rome, and wrestled with another female grape stomper. An inspiration for future 'food wrestling' entrepreneurs. 1978 Joseph Delteil died (born April 20, 1894). French writer and poet. Also wrote 'La Cuisine palolithique' (1964) featuring cuisine naturelle using unprocessed foods. 1996 A segment about mad cow disease was aired on the Oprah Winfrey show. Later, a group of Texas cattle ranchers sued Winfrey for her comments. (The cattle ranchers lost the suit). 2020 Busch Beer offers a year of free beer to 250 couples whose weddings were postpone due to the Coronavirus outbreak. 2020 Taneytown, Maryland reminds residents to wear pants when checking their mailbox (True!).
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