What’s happening when and where in the world of food.
| January | May | September |
| February | June | October |
| March | July | November |
| April | August | December |
In Corsica, on All Saints Day, people place milk and chestnuts (of the châtaigne type) on window sills for the visiting dead to eat.
This is All Saints Day in Mexico, the first of two days to honour the dead. This first day focusses on dead children and babies. It’s a day of feasting, to celebrate the young souls who have returned to join their families for the day. Their favourite food is put on graves, as well as...
Men Make Dinner Day is celebrated on the first Thursday of every November. Gals, make sure notice of this gets spread around in plenty of time, so there’s no excuses. Some women observe, though, that the day can end up being more work for them, trying to answer all the men’s questions and to make...
Mike Mozart / Flickr / 2014 / CC BY 2.0 A day to celebrate an ingredient that we all take for granted — vinegar! The 1st of November appears to have the most recognition and backing as being Vinegar Day, though there are renegade groups backing the 16th and 20th of August. In late June,...
All Soul’s Day was started in the 900s by the Church, being designated as the day on which you can help those in purgatory with your prayers. It came to be in people’s minds the day when the dead could visit the living. In some parts of England, people made Soul Cakes. Children took them...
With the distraction of Hallowe'en at the end of October, Devilled Egg Day, on the 2nd of November, catches many people unprepared for it.
This is All Souls Day in Mexico, the second day of Día de los Muertos. This day focusses on dead adults who may have returned to visit.
November 3rd is the birthday of John Montagu (3 November 1718 – 3 April 1792), who became the 4th Earl of Sandwich in 1729. Popular myth credits him with having invented the sandwich. Is it true, though? CooksInfo.com knows — read our entry on sandwiches to learn all about the Earl and the history of...
German Wholegrain Mustard © Denzil Green There are so many different kinds of mustard, that it’s a rare person indeed who doesn’t like at least one of them. Too often, however, jars of mustard languish in our fridges, pushed further and further back by other bottles, and getting crusty inside around the edges. Today’s a...
In 1605, Catholics in England were angry. Under Queen Elizabeth I, harsh laws had been passed against Catholics in England. Catholics backed James VI of Scotland as her successor, noting that he was more sympathetic to Catholic causes. In 1603, Elizabeth died and James came to the throne of England (and Ireland) as King James...
It’s a myth that nachos weren’t invented in Mexico. They actually were — just across the border with Texas in a Mexican town called Piedras Negras. See the entry on Nachos for the full story. Nachos, for Brits who are just getting used to both the dish and the pronunciation, is not pronounced with the...
On this day in 1953, the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas expired in New York at St Vincent's Hospital. The popular legend is that he drank himself to death.
Martinmas © Gerhard Gellinger / pixabay.com / 2015 / CC0 1.0 Martinmas is on the 11th of November. Martinmas was traditionally the day on which pigs and geese were slaughtered. It used to be as well the time when parliament and school started up again, contracts were signed or renewed, municipal elections were held, etc....
Canned Pineapple Anniversary Day, the 13th of November, marks the first shipment of canned pineapple from Hawaii in 1895. CooksInfo.com is uncertain, though, if this is actually true.
The 15th of November is a day dedicated to fridges filled with USO's -- unidentified shrivelled objects. It's not such a bad time of year to tackle it, actually.
If Homemade Bread Day happens to fall on a work day, it can be tricky to manage making bread in between doing everything else. If you work from a home office, or are a stay at home person, then you can perhaps manage making bread by hand if it’s a slow day. Otherwise, it can...
The fifth Sunday before Christmas1, has in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer the following collect: “Stir up we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people…” Consequently, it has become the day on which people “stir up” their Christmas puddings and Christmas cakes. It allows just enough time for the cakes and...
Thanksgiving Harvest © Denzil Green American Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November. Though many people who are weary of Turkey for Thanksgiving and Turkey for Christmas try to persuade their family to accept something else for Thanksgiving, it’s very hard to change what people expect. It’s traditional to also serve cranberry sauce and...
Cashews are some of the oddest nuts. They grow hanging off the bottom of fruits that look like apples, and are toxic to touch unless the shells on the nuts are treated properly. But you can probably rest assured that the ones you buy in the vacu-sealed tins are safe to eat! Some people like...
St Catherine was a popular French saint, one of the saints that Joan of Arc frequently struck up conversations with. Children get served taffy on this day. It’s also considered a special day for single women. Taffy pulls were held in some places as an excuse for a party for single women to meet eligible...
The 30th of November is marked in honour of St Andrew, the Patron Saint of Scotland. You might consider serving fish on this day because St Andrew was a fisherman. On the night before St Andrew’s Day, single Scottish girls could pray to him for a husband. If a single girl could peel an apple...