APRIL 22 - Today in Food History• Earth Day [www.earthday.org]: The first Earth Day in 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network (EDN) works with over 22,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify. • National Jelly Bean Day (Jelly Bean Trivia)
On this day in:1662 John Tradescant died. He succeeded his father as naturalist and gardener to Charles I. 1818 Cadwallader C. Washburn is born in Livermore, Maine (died May 15, 1882). In 1866 he built a flour mill at St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota and his Washburn-Crosby Co. (forerunner of General Mills) would market Gold Medal flour. (Flour Trivia) 1832 Julius Sterling Morton was born. He was the founder of Arbor Day, first observed in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. Over one million trees were planted.
(Nebraska Food Trivia and Facts) 1878 The White House hosted the first Easter Monday Egg Roll. Previously, the activities had been held on the Capitol grounds. Congress passed a law banning the practice due to a limited maintenance and landscaping budget (Bah humbug!). President Rutherford B. Hayes was asked if children could hold the activities on the South Lawn of the White House and he enthusiastically agreed. The event has been held there ever since. 1889 The U.S. opened Oklahoma to homesteaders and the Oklahoma land rush officially began at 12 noon.
(Oklahoma Food Trivia and Facts) 1913 Thomas Wright of New Jersey patented a method to load ice on to refrigerator railroad cars. 1948 Prosper Montagne died. Montagne was one of the great French chefs of all time. He is mainly remembered as the creator of Larousse Gastronomique (1938), a comprehensive encyclopedia of French gastronomy. 1960 Gary Rhodes was born (died Nov 26, 2019). British restaurateur and celebrity chef, known as an ambassador for British cuisine . He presented TV shows 'MasterChef', 'MasterChef USA', 'Hell's Kitchen' and his own series, 'Rhodes Around Britain'. He also owned four restaurants and had his own line of cookware and bread mixes. 1964 The New York World's Fair opens in Flushing Meadows on the same site as the 1939 World's Fair. I had my first Heineken beer at their exhibition there. As a matter of fact, I spent every weekend there from April to October for the 2 years the Fair was open. I sampled music, food, beer and wine from around the world, and it helped to inspire my interest in cooking & food history. Chef James. 1970 The first Earth Day was celebrated. Is our environment better or worse today? 1992 A series of sewer explosions in Guadalajara, Mexico killed more than 250 people, injured hundreds of others and left 15,000 people homeless. Flawed design of the sewer pipe system allowed gasoline from an adjacent pipeline to leak into the sewer pipes. 1996 Erma Bombeck died. Writer, humorist, you will find some of her quotes about family and food on the Food Reference website. 2020 Coronavirus: Germany cancels Oktoberfest which normally attracts 6 million visitors.
| 