Old School Thursday:

Today is Beverage Day. No modifiers, no brand names, no geographic descriptors. Simply: Beverage Day. So crank up the G Love and start drinking.

It’s also National Crepes Suzette Day, which is what I’ve come to expect from these national days of food recognition. The dish in question is extremely specific, kind of old-fashioned, and I can’t think of any good reason why it needs its own day. But you know what? I like crepes Suzette, so I’m going to give it a pass.

In other news today, on May 6, 1806, Chapin Aaron Harris, the cofounder of the world’s first dental school was born. I mention this because a) modern dentistry has made eating much more enjoyable, b) I am especially thankful for advancements in dental technology, since my teeth are literally more filling than tooth (and I’m only 34) and c) the school is in Baltimore.

As the century wore on, technology abounded. In 1833, John Deere developed the first steel plow and in 1851, John Gorrie patented an ice making machine – and we all like ice, right? And in 1898, Daniel Gerber – he of the baby food – was born.

Finally, in 1940, John Steinbeck won the Pulitzer for The Grapes of Wrath, a novel about food partly in that the main characters didn’t have enough of it. I kind of hated TGOW, but that’s probably because it was my reading assignment for the summer of 1990. I’m sure I read most of it while I was laying out at my parents’ beach, and since it was literally the only work I did that summer, I shouldn’t really complain, but I think of it as a huge tax on a summer that would’ve otherwise been completely thought-free.

Plus, it reminds me of my 10th grade English teacher, Miss Brady, who was a real piece of work. Great writing teacher but man did she have a bitchy streak, which I think can be attributed to her 45-year-old virgin status (and no, that’s not just gossipy supposition. She used to talk about it. In class.)

Not that any of that has anything to do with food, or John Steinbeck, or the Joads. But there it is.

So, then, to celebrate? Write an in-class essay and follow it up with some celebratory crepes Suzette made with baby food? Then, of course, don’t forget to brush those pearly whites.