{"id":6461,"date":"2021-01-30T20:31:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T20:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=6461"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:23:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:23:21","slug":"opinion-february-the-yummy-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/opinion-february-the-yummy-month\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: February, the yummy month"},"content":{"rendered":"
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And so we come to the end of January, a month that introduced a new year that began with the build-up to an insurrection in the national capital and is ending with a new administration in charge of our government, though not as a result of insurrection. On Monday, we\u2019ll flip a page on our monthly calendar and notice that February, which had 29 days in 2020, is once again only 28 days \u2014 our shortest month.<\/p>

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It might interest you to know that there was no February in the original Roman calendar. In fact, there was no January, either. Before 153 BCE (or AD, as our years were known for about two millennia), the new year started on March 1, and there were only 10 months. But, as those in charge of such things learned that it took about 365 days for the earth to revolve around the sun, January and February were added. January 1 was recognized as the start of a new year, and February had little significance until the British called it \u201cKale-monath,\u201d meaning \u201cCabbage Month.\u201d I don\u2019t know how it got that sobriquet. Perhaps people in medieval England simply ate a lot of cabbage at this time of year.<\/p>

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National Days of Recognition<\/h2>

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For some reason, February is the month that has the most days that are devoted to the recognition of scrumptious foods. Behold the following line-up:<\/p>

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Feb. 1:<\/strong> National Dark Chocolate Day<\/p>

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National Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day<\/p>

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Feb. 2:<\/strong> National Tater Tot Day<\/p>

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I\u2019ll bet people in Pennsylvania snack on warm tater-tots on Groundhog Day as they await the appearance of Punxsutawney Phil and his prediction about the arrival of spring.<\/p>

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Feb. 3:<\/strong> National Carrot Cake Day<\/p>

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Feb. 4:<\/strong> National Thank-a-Mail-Carrier Day, and grateful mail recipients will show appreciation with a plate of cookies<\/p>

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Feb. 5:<\/strong> National Bubble Gum Day<\/p>

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National Chocolate Fondue Day<\/p>

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National Nutella Day, and you can top that off by having fun during National Shower-with-a-Friend Day.<\/p>

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Feb. 6:<\/strong> National Frozen Yogurt Day<\/p>

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Feb. 7:<\/strong> National Fettuccine Alfredo Day<\/p>

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Feb. 9:<\/strong> National Pizza Day<\/p>

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Feb. 12:<\/strong> National Plum Pudding Day<\/p>

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Feb. 13:<\/strong> National Tortellini Day<\/p>

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Feb. 14:<\/strong> Valentine\u2019s Day, and we know that involves a heart-shaped box full of chocolates<\/p>

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Feb. 16:<\/strong> National Pancake Day<\/p>

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National Paczki Day (a paczki being a deep-fried donut-type Polish dessert that\u2019s filled with sweet cream or fruit)<\/p>

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Feb. 18:<\/strong> National Drink Wine Day<\/p>

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Feb. 19:<\/strong> National Chocolate Mint Day<\/p>

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Feb. 20:<\/strong> National Muffin Day<\/p>

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Feb. 21:<\/strong> National Sticky Bun Day<\/p>

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Feb. 22:<\/strong> National Margarita Day (not recognized in Margaritaville, where everyday is Margarita Day \u2014 just ask Jimmy Buffet)<\/p>

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Feb. 23:<\/strong> National Dog Biscuit Day (if you don\u2019t think that this is a yummy good, just ask Snoopy)<\/p>

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Feb. 24:<\/strong> National Chili Day<\/p>

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National Clam Chowder Day<\/p>

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Feb. 26:<\/strong> National Pistachio Day<\/p>

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Feb. 27:<\/strong> National Protein Day (Be sure to choose a delectable protein, like veal parmigiana)<\/p>

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Feb. 28:<\/strong> National Chocolate Souffle Day

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Yummy month<\/h2>

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Not being a particular fan of cabbage, which my Irish great grandmother boiled in the same pot with corned beef and potatoes, I prefer to think of the next four weeks as Yummy Month. (It\u2019s also why I identify with the Italian side of my family, people who knew how to prepare and eat really delicious food.) While the British Isles gave us yucky things like Haggis Baggis or yucky-sounding things like clotted cream (which is about the only taste-bud teaser to come from Britain), Italy watered our mouths with antipasto, ravioli alla Napoletana, tiramisu, and bisque tortoni.

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Paying the piper<\/h2>

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After sating our appetites by appropriately recognizing all those national yummy-food days, we should probably spend the month of March by fasting and committing to a low-calorie diet plan. We\u2019ll need to get our body-mass index (BMI) below 30, the point at which \u201cnormal\u201d becomes \u201coverweight.\u201d To help you find your BMI, here\u2019s the formula:<\/p>

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BMI = your weight in pounds, times 703, divided by your height in inches, divided by your height in inches, again.<\/p>

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A BMI between 19 and 24.9 is considered to be healthy; 25 to 29.9 is overweight; 30 to 34.9 is obese; above 35 is morbidly obese. And we\u2019re reminded of this by our calendar because March 4 is \u201cWorld Obesity Day.\u201d Until we get there, enjoy Yummy Month if your current BMI is acceptable.<\/p>

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\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/p>

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Jim Glynn es Profesor Em\u00e9rito de Sociolog\u00eda. Se le puede contactar en j_glynn@att.net.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And so we come to the end of January, a month that introduced a new year that began with the build-up to an insurrection in the national capital and is ending with a new administration in charge of our government, though not as a result of insurrection. On Monday, we\u2019ll flip a page on our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[38,41],"class_list":["post-6461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-food","tag-holiday"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}