FEBRUARY 19 - Today in Food History• Presidents' Day (Washington's Birthday observed - Feb 19, 2024 - 3rd Mon) • National Chocolate Mint Day • National FFA Week: Feb 17-24, 2024 [Future Farmers of America] Week of Washington's Birthday, from Saturday to Saturday encompassing February 22 • National CSA Week (Feb 19-25, 2024) Formerly CSA Day [CSA Innovation Network] Community Supported Agriculture • UK: [Real Bread Week] (Feb 17-25, 2024) A celebration of additive-free loaves and the people who make them.
On this day in:1526 Charles de L'Escluse, or Carolus Clusius was born (died April 4, 1609). A pioneering French botanist, he contributed to the establishment of modern botanical science. Published many influential books including Rariorum plantarum historia (1601). 1764 Gottlieb Sigismund Kirchhof was born. He discovered glucose, developed a method for refining vegetable oil, and also experimented with brewing and fermentation. 1847 The Donner Party is rescued after being snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas. Almost half of the original 87 members died, and some of the survivors seemed to be well fed considering the ordeal they went through. Cannibalism itself is not a crime, and no charges were ever brought. 1855 Bread Riots in Liverpool.
1881 Kansas became the first state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages. (Kansas Food Trivia) 1888 The Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California opened, At the time, the 399 room hotel was the largest resort hotel in the world, and today is the second largest wooden structure in the U.S.
[Historical Photos on Hotel website] 1896 The Detroit Convention and Business Mens' League was formed to attract convention business to Detroit, Michigan. 1897 Adelaide Hunter Hoodless founds the Federation of Women's Institutes of Canada which promotes pasteurization of milk as one of its main projects.
(Pasteurization Facts) 1903 Tsingtao, China's first brewery, was founded by German settlers. (Some sources say it was 1897). 1906 Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company (W.K. Kellogg Company) was founded by Will Keith Kellogg to manufacture breakfast cereals (cornflakes).
(Kellogg’s Corn Flakes Trivia) 1913 Cracker Jack begins to put prizes in each box.
1953 The play 'Picnic' opened at the Music Box Theatre in New York City. 1976 Iceland broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain when the two couldn't settle their disagreement on the 'cod war' fishing rights issue.
(Cod fish Trivia --- Cod Quotes) 1985 Cherry Coke was introduced. Actually, soda fountains (remember them?) had been making them for decades. 1999 A record 6,000 pound strawberry shortcake was created in McCall Park, Plant City, Florida, the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World.
(Strawberry Trivia --- Strawberry Quotes) 2001 UK: The first suspected case of foot-and-mouth disease is detected in Essex. The disease ravages livestock in Britain in the worst epidemic since 1967. By March it has spread to mainland Europe. Millions of animals are destroyed (see also Jan 14, 2002) 2012 A team at Maastricht University in the Netherlands announced they have successfully used stem cells to grow muscle tissue, with the goal of producing the first lab-grown hamburger later this year.
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