Buck Reed, The Supermarket Gourmet
Just like every other month, June is filled with national and international food recognitions. Some make sense and others were clearly conceived by some advertising agent hoping to make a fast buck. Here are a few.
June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month. This makes sense because this is the first month in which really good, fresh local produce can easily be purchased. It is also National Iced Tea Month, because we need to be told to drink iced tea when it gets hot out. It should also be noted that Iced Tea Day is also celebrated on June 10. National Steakhouse Month and National Candy Month also fall in June, but don’t we really keep these in our hearts all through the year?
Most perplexing of all, though, is that National Turkey Month is celebrated in June as well. I guess it is just a bit too easy to appreciate turkey in November. Put Ginger Bread Day on June 5 in the same category, and it’s practically Thanksgiving in summer.
Doughnuts and ice cream get their due in June. National Doughnut Day on the June 5 and National Jelly Doughnut Day is June 8. Rocky Road Ice Cream Day is on June 2 and Chocolate Ice Cream Day is June 7. And then we have Frozen Yogurt Day on June 4, to keep something a bit healthier in mind. Don’t forget Root Beer Float Day, officially called Black Cow Day, on June 10, and Vanilla Milkshake Day on June 20. The Baskin Robbins/Dunkin’ Donuts® merger doesn’t seem so crazy now, does it?
And for those who bake, we have Strawberry Shortcake Day, German Chocolate Cake Day, and Applesauce Cake Day. Round it out with Apple Strudel Day, Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie Day, as well as Peanut Butter Cookie Day, and June becomes one sweet month. Maybe we should just celebrate the baker as well.
So, why do we really have all these seemingly silly holidays celebrating what we eat? It is easy to be cynical and believe some Wall Street mogul, who is somehow leveraging these “holidays” into the cornerstone of their mighty empire, invented all these. At the very least, we can be grateful that the greeting card companies have not wedged their way in yet.
Yet I look on it with a tribe-like mentality. The tribe not only celebrated everything, but also treated it as sacred. At one point in history, our ancestors thought about what they ate and drank. They took the time to appreciate their meals and even celebrated them with others. The idea was that everything had its place in their world. That made everything sacred. And if everything wasn’t sacred, then nothing was.
So maybe taking an extra moment out of our lives to enjoy a glass of cognac with our fellow comrades on National Cognac Day this June 4th is a good start to making our society just a little more reasonable.
Have a question or an idea for an article, please contact me at RguyintheKitchen@aol.com.
