February’s wacky food holidays
People love food, and students love food even more than normal people. We literally flock to places that offer free food. Looking for a good turnout? Just have food. Students will walk in like zombies with their hands out in front of them and their mouths hanging open.
There are those people in the world who enjoy playing on our food weakness. It is rumored that John-Bryan Hopkins, a food writer and founder of the popular website Foodimentary, makes up the national food holidays simply because he is bored and enjoys the traffic it generates on his website and Twitter feed.
Thanks to Hopkins, we now have a food holiday for every day of the year. If he gets bored, he is apt to simply change the holiday, so celebrate some of these wacky food holidays while you still can.
Here’s what students at Utah State University have to say.
Meet the critics.
Kylee Gustafson – agricultural education freshman.
John Engler – communications sophomore.
Bryden Yow – aviation maintenance senior.
Tyler Westbroek – outdoor product design freshman.
Michael Draper – undecided freshman.
February 6: National Chopstick Day
Yow – “I would make everyone eat with chopsticks.”
Engler – “My wife can’t eat with them at all, but I love chopsticks. My dad went to China on a business trip and brought us back these super fancy chopsticks, not just the ‘breaky’ ones, but legit chopsticks.”
February 10: National “Have a brownie day”
Draper – “Have a brownie day…yes! Goodness gracious, I hope so.”
Gustafson – “Brownie day, that’s awesome because I like brownies too.”
February 21: National Biscuits and Gravy Day
Draper – “If I could have it, the first of February would be biscuits and gravy, the second would be biscuits and gravy, the third…yeah, you get the idea. I like biscuits and gravy.”
February 22: National Sweet Potato Day
Draper – “Maybe not so much sweet potato day. I’ve had some bad experiences with sweet potatoes. They tried to make them in to fries. You don’t do that. They were very, very, very underdone. It was just not a good experience.”
Engler – “Sweet potatoes fries are like my favorite fries. So good. Morty’s Café should do a special.”
February 25: National Clam Chowder Day
Draper – “Maybe not so much clam chowder.”
Gustafson – “Clam chowder day I feel like would be gross…”
February 27: National Strawberry Day
Westbroek – “I would cut the tops off and slice them really thin. The thin slices taste better. Then, I would spread them around the edge of the plate and pour some whip cream on top. I would have a strawberry fiesta!”
Engler – “I love strawberries. I should have my wife make me strawberry shortcake or something.”
February 29: National Frog Legs Day
Draper – “Weirdest one so far is umm…frog legs just took the cake right there. I haven’t seen that, I haven’t eaten that… I just don’t know.”
Gustafson – “Ewww, frog leg. No, I don’t think I could do that one.”
February: National Potato Lovers Month
Gustafson – “That’s my month right there. I love potatoes. I’ve done a cheesy potato, baked potato, and mashed potatoes…just different ways.”
— Ellie Dalton is a sophomore studying agricultural communication and journalism. She enjoys good food every day.