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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 SEPTEMBER

• Updated: Over 9,000 Food Festivals

• Summer & Picnic Food, Tips & Recipes

• Grilling & Barbecue Articles & Recipes

• Sports & Tailgating Articles & Recipes

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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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September Food Holidays:

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

SEPTEMBER is:

• Better Breakfast Month
• All-American Breakfast Month
• California Wine Month
• Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
• Family Meals Month
• Hunger Action Month
• National Biscuit Month
• National Bourbon Heritage Month
• National Chicken Month
• National Cholesterol Education Month
• National Food Safety Education Month
• National Fruits & Veggies Month
• National Hazelnut Month
• National Honey Month
• National Mushroom Month
• National Papaya Month (also June)
• National Potato Month
• National Rice Month
• Organic Harvest Month
• Whole Grains Month
• Grains of the Month: Rice & Wild Rice
• Canada: National Organic Month
• Scottish Food & Drink September
• UK: Seed Gathering Season
• UK: Sourdough September
• UK: Sustainable Seafood September

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DID YOU KNOW?

Some ham fanatics, look for the ham made from the left leg of a pig, as it is more tender than the right leg. Why, you ask? Well, a pig scratches himself with his right leg, which uses the muscles more often, so the meat will be tougher. (Really strange ham lovers would have to observe the pig before slaughter to be sure it isn't left footed!)

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Thursday, September 10, 2026

Daily Trivia Questions are below

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“Never accept a drink from a urologist.”
Erma Bombeck
 

FOOD HOLIDAYS - TODAY IS:

• National TV Dinner Day: The actual date that Swanson introduced TV dinners is in dispute. Either Sept 10, 1953 or April 6, 1954 see April 6 for details.
(TV Dinners, Who was first?)

• Port Wine Day: the date on which the first demarcated region in the world was created – [the Douro], in 1756 by the Marquκs de Pombal.
(see also January 27)

• St. Theodard's Day, patron of cattle keepers.

• National Waffle Week (Sept 7-13, 2026)
  (Waffle Recipes)

• UK: [Zero Waste Week] (Sept 7-11, 2026)
 

TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

1713 John Turberville Needham was born (died Dec 30, 1781). An English naturalist, he believed in the spontaneous generation of life. He boiled some mutton broth, sealed it in glass containers and when he found living organisms present after a few days, he believed they came from nonliving matter. He was wrong - boiling does not destroy all bacterial and fungal spores.

1823 The 60 mile Champlain Canal opened in New York state, connecting Lake Champlain to the Hudson River in New York. (New York Food Trivia)

1846 Elias Howe Jr. of Cambridge, Massachusetts received the first U.S. patent (# 4,750) for a lock-stitch sewing machine.

1855 Robert Koldewey was born (died Feb 4, 1925). A German archaeologist who discovered and confirmed the existence and location of the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon (excavations 1899-1917).

1859 Thomas Nuttall died. An English naturalist and botanist, he collected and studied plants around the Chesapeake Bay area in the U.S.

1898 Waldo Lonsbury Semon was born. Semon was an American Inventor who is credited with the invention of Vinyl. Vinyl is the 2nd most used plastic in the world. Semon held over 100 patents.

1913 The official route of the Lincoln Highway was announced. It was the first coast to coast highway, running from New York to San Francisco.

1935 ‘Popeye the Sailor,’  about a spinach-loving sailor, debuted on the NBC Red radio network, sponsored by Wheatena breakfast cereal.
(Spinach Trivia and Facts  --  Spinach Recipes)

1949 Barriemore Barlow of the music group 'Jethro Tull' was born.

1953 National TV Dinner Day (The actual date that Swanson introduced TV dinners is in dispute. Either Sept 10, 1953 or April 6, 1954).

2001 The first case of mad-cow disease in Asian animals was reported in a dairy cow in Japan.

2020 Swarms of mosquitoes killed cows, deer, horses and other livestock in Louisiana after rain from Hurricane Laura led to an explosion of the mosquito population.

2023 In the Portuguese town of Levira two vats holding about 2.2m litres of wine at a local distillery burst and flooded the streets.
 

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

September 9-12, 2026  75th Annual Murphysboro Apple Festival - Murphysboro, Illinois

September 10-11, 2026  Tipton County Pork Festival
Tipton, Indiana

September 10-12, 2026  Marion Popcorn Festival
Marion, Ohio

September 10-13, 2026 - Atlanta Food & Wine Festival - Atlanta, Georgia

September 10-20, 2026  New Mexico State Fair
Albuquerque, New Mexico

September 11-13, 2026  48th Annual Norwalk Oyster Festival - Norwalk, Connecticut

September 11-13, 2026  80th Annual Kellogg Watermelon Festival - Kellogg, Minnesota

(SEE ALL FOOD FESTIVALS and OTHER FOOD EVENTS)
 

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FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ    (new DAILY questions)

1) The following events took place in the same year.
What year is it?
· In England, Henderson William Brand begins manufacturing A1 Steak Sauce.
· The first full cargo of bananas arives in New York on the schooner 'Harriet Smith.'
· The first known recipe for tomato ketchup appears in 'The New England Farmer'.
· The population of the U.S. is now 12,866,020. The frontier boundary is the Mississippi River.

2) In 1899, Amedeo Obici, age 12, arrived in America from Italy, with no money and no knowledge of the English language, but he knew he had an uncle somewhere in Pennsylvania. He found his uncle, and worked at his fruit stand. In 1906 at age 19, he starts his own business in partnership with his future brother-in-law Mario Peruzzi. By 1912 the business has grown so rapidly that he is buying directly from farmers and opens his own processing plant.  The company's "trademark" and "spokes-person" was chosen in a contest conducted at a Suffolk, Virginia high school in 1916.
Can you guess the very well known product and "spokes-person"?
  a) Planters Nuts & Mr. Peanut.
  b) Cakes and Sarah Lee
  c) Pancake Syrup and Mrs. Butterworth
  d) Tomato Sauce and Chef Boyardee
  e) Milk and Elsie the Cow

3) This Italian skim milk cheese dates back to at least the 13th century and may date even to the 11th century. It is made only from April 1 through November 11 each year with milk from cows that have been feeding on fresh pasture. Most of the cream is skimmed from the milk which is then cooked in copper containers, pressed in cheesecloth lined molds, salted in brine and then allowed to mature.
Name this cheese.

4) This herb, Salvia sclarea is a relative of sage, but is no longer commonly used as a culinary herb. Previously it's leaves were used in soups and omelets, and the leaves and flowers in salads. The leaves were also used to flavor ale and beer (sometimes as a hops substitute), and to flavor wines and liqueurs. It imparts a muscatel flavor to wine, hence it's German name, Muskateller Salbei. It is one of the herbs used in Italian Vermouth.
Can you name this herb?
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

Macadamia nuts are native to Australia. They are named for John Macadam, a Scottish born physician and chemist who promoted the nuts cultivation in Australia.

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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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IN SEASON FOR SUMMER

VEGETABLES: (Trivia)
(Recipes  --  Tips)
Avocados
Beets
Bell Peppers
Carrots
Celery
Corn
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Garlic
Green Beans
Lima Beans
Okra
Onions
Peas
Plantains
Summer Squash
Tomatillos
Tomatoes
Zucchini
 

FRUITS (Tips)
(Trivia)
Apples
Apricots
Bananas
Blackberries
Blueberries
Cantaloupe
Cherries
Grapes
Honeydew Melon
Mangos
Peaches
Pears
Pineapples
Plums
Raspberries
Strawberries
Watermelon

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DID YOU KNOW?

Campbell Soup Company, owner of Swanson, replaced the aluminum trays of Swanson frozen dinners with plastic, microwavable trays in 1986

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Website last updated on Wednesday, September 9, 2026