There’s nothing quite like having an entire day dedicated to a food you love so dearly – let's just call it a food holiday. You might be most familiar with National Doughnut Day (the first Friday in June) or other popularized holidays, but are there more out there that you just don’t know about? The answer is a short and simple yes.
Holidays don’t like to discriminate against certain foods, so that means there’s pretty much a holiday for any food you could imagine. Starting to sound a little crazy, right? Well, don’t stop reading so fast, because I found the 11 food holidays that happen during the summer months you won’t want to miss out on. Don’t worry if you don’t like these foods, there’s always the holidays to try them out.
1. June 7th: National Chocolate Ice Cream Day
A holiday to recognize the second most popular ice cream flavor in America?! Don’t mind if I do. As if you needed another excuse to eat chocolate ice cream, but don’t you worry because you just got one.
2. June 12th: National Peanut Butter Cookie Day
This might not be a chocolate chip cookie, but peanut butter comes in at a close second. So go to the store and grab the biggest box of peanut butter cookies you can find, or try making this recipe at home. It’s 100% okay not to share.
3. June 25th: National Strawberry Parfait Day
Trying to eat a little healthier this summer to maintain that #summerbod? Well, then this food holiday is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. Grab some (Greek) yogurt and some strawberries, and maybe some granola, and make yourself a delicious strawberry parfait. If you’re having some trouble, just try out this recipe instead. It’ll be perfect for breakfast, lunch, or an afternoon snack.
4. July 6th: National Fried Chicken Day
You mean to tell me there’s an entire day dedicated to fried chicken? What more could you ask for?! Grab your friends (or maybe not) and eat as much fried chicken as your little heart desires. This day is the perfect excuse.
5. July 23rd: National Vanilla Ice Cream Day
Here’s to America’s favorite ice cream flavor for having an entire day dedicated to its greatness. You might be longing for a flavor with more to it, but you can never go wrong with vanilla. If a regular cone just isn’t for you today, try ordering a vanilla milkshake to get your fix.
6. July 28th: National Milk Chocolate Day
There’s nothing that can quite compare to chocolate. Having a whole day dedicated to this decadent creation just gives you even more of a reason to watch sappy romance movies and eat an entire box of chocolate by yourself. You could invite some friends if you really wanted to, but they’d probably eat it all.
7. August 2nd: National Ice Cream Sandwich Day
This might be the best creation (and holiday) ever. Not only do you get to enjoy your favorite dessert, but you also get to get creative with it. It’s perfectly acceptable (today of all days) to eat your ice cream in between two chocolate chip cookies. Is there anything better than that? I think not.
8. August 3rd: National Watermelon Day
Unofficially named summer’s favorite fruit (by me), watermelon deserves to be celebrated. There’s nothing better to snack on in the summer sun than this cool and refreshing fruit.
9. August 10: National S'mores Day
S’mores scream summer and bonfires and, since the two go together like peanut butter and jelly, why not have a bonfire to enjoy them on this national holiday?
10. August 20th: National Bacon Lovers Day
Technically not a holiday revolving around food, National Bacon Lovers’ Day is the perfect excuse for all bacon lovers to devour as much bacon as possible. You get to recognize how wonderful a creation bacon is while eating as much of it as you want.
11. August 24th: National Waffle Day
There’s really no better breakfast food than waffles. There’s so many different toppings that its hard to decide which ones to get. You can even eat waffles with chicken. If you’re feeling extra creative, you can make a dessert waffle. Pretty cool, I know.
Whenever you’re having a bad day, just remember that there is probably some unknown food holiday you never knew about going on. It’s never a bad decision to look it up and find out. Be sure to keep these ones in mind, because they’ll definitely be the ones that your friends will enjoy but not necessarily have known about before. So impress them with your food knowledge, they’ll thank you for it.