12 National Food Holidays You’ll Want to Celebrate Every Year
Updated: Jan. 06, 2023Get ready to make a dozen new mouth-watering additions to your calendar.
Who says every day can’t be a holiday? If you’re ever hungry and in the mood for celebrating, Foodimentary has a national food holiday for every day of the year. With over 365 yummy celebrations to choose from, we picked our favorite from every month for your noshing pleasures. Go ahead, eat up; we wouldn’t want you to get hangry, now would we?
January: National Popcorn Day
Whether you prefer to head out to the cinema and indulge in a massive bucket of buttery goodness or curl up in front of Netflix with some Smartfood, make sure to get your popcorn fix on January 19. And if you’re trying to be healthy, good news: You don’t have to forego this holiday! Popcorn has some great health benefits if you prepare it correctly.
February: National Dark Chocolate Day
Here’s another one that might not be as much of a guilty pleasure as you would think. Feel no shame about eating dark chocolate to your heart’s content on February 1; the cocoa concoction is loaded with antioxidants. In fact, it has so many surprising health benefits that you might want to make every day Dark Chocolate Day.
March: International Waffle Day
Yup, waffles are so great that they get an international holiday. Treat yourself to a breakfast fit for royalty on March 25. International Waffle Day first came to be in Sweden (nope, not Belgium!), and the reason is truly hilarious. March 25 was already a holiday in Sweden called “Our Lady’s Day,” a religious holiday marking nine months until Christmas. In Swedish, “Our Lady’s Day” translates to “Vårfrudagen,” which sounds very similar to “Våffel-dagen,” the Swedish words for “waffle” and “day.” So, naturally, the Swedish decided to take full advantage of this similarity, and March 25 became Waffle Day.
May: National “Eat What You Want” Day
This one doesn’t focus on a specific food—and that’s the beauty of it. Forget the rules and the diets for this one day and eat whatever your heart—or stomach—desires. Whether you love ice cream sundaes, baked potatoes with all the fixings, or Brussels sprouts, May 11 is the day to enjoy that food you love. Because the calendar says it’s OK.
June: National Cupcake Lover’s Day
Cupcake lovers, unite on June 13. Whether you bake a batch yourself or buy a treat from that bakery that tempts you on your way home from work, make this day as sweet as its name. Cupcakes actually have a pretty long history; the first recipe for “a cake to be baked in small cups” appeared in a 1796 cookbook, but the actual term “cupcake” wasn’t used until 1828. Why it took over 30 years to come up with that much more concise moniker, we don’t know. If you choose to celebrate by making yourself a sweet treat, beware of these 12 baking mistakes you didn’t realize you were making.
July: National Chicken Wing Day
Did you know that chicken wings are also called “Buffalo wings” not because of another animal, but because they were invented in the city of Buffalo? (“Buffalo” might just be the most versatile word ever.) So it’s only appropriate that the holiday celebrating the messy-but-tasty finger food originated in Buffalo as well. In 1977, Buffalo’s then-mayor Stan Makowski proclaimed July 29 National Chicken Wing Day. The holiday now has its own website!
August: National S’mores Day
What better way to have a last summer hurrah than to toast up some S’mores on the very day designated for them, August 10? Before you send the kids back to school, have a campfire and make some S’mores—or put one of these tasty twists on the classic gooey, chocolatey treat. Legend has it that campers have been eating S’more-like snacks for many years, but we owe the Girl Scouts a big thank-you for bringing S’mores as we know them into the public consciousness with their 1927 Handbook.
September: National Coffee Day
Though we have no doubt that you coffee lovers out there need no excuse to get your caffeine fix, September 29 is the best day to say “I love coffee” loud and proud. In the past, all your favorite coffee sellers have found some way to celebrate, and we imagine they’ll keep doing so. Some give you a free cup; some donate the proceeds from certain coffee sales to a good cause. You can also celebrate by commiserating with your fellow coffee lovers about these 10 coffee lover struggles—and learning how to fix them!
November: National Candy Day
Not much is known about the origin of this holiday, but whoever invented it totally had the right idea. Right after Halloween, you can head to your nearest convenience store and stock up on discounted candy just in time for November 4‘s sweet celebration. Satisfy your candy cravings with your sweet of choice. (If pink and red candies are your favorite, there’s a reason for that!)
