In the pantheon of food holidays, just about every edible has its day.
There are officially designated holidays for glazed ham, chocolate-covered peanuts, string cheese, banana cream pie, rice cakes, and on and on. But, until today there was no Rocky Mountain Oyster Day. Gourmands have Denver Post food writer Allyson Reedy to thank for adding this Colorado food to the calendar.
Annoyance drove Reedy to do it. She was sick of the constant barrage of solicitations asking her to cover this or that food holiday. Inevitably, that got her to wondering how these food holidays are even created. Who is behind the curtain declaring that Aug. 29 is Chop Suey Day and June 10 is Iced Tea Day?
Reedy tracked down the person she calls the "almighty Czar of Food Days'," the keeper of the Foodimentary calendar. She took her research a step further and ended up convincing the food czar to dedicate a holiday to the Rocky Mountain Oyster.
Apple Betty now shares a date on the calendar with the Rocky Mountain Oyster. It is book-ended by Taco Day and Noodle Day. It falls in a month devoted to foods including pizza, pretzels and pickled peppers. By now, you're probably getting hungry.
Reedy wasn't able to convince Gov. John Hickenlooper to do an official state declaration for Rocky Mountain Oyster Day. But she was able to get eight Denver metro area restaurants to celebrate by offering Rocky Mountain Oyster Day specials.
For anyone who wants to celebrate, but isn't sure what a Rocky Mountain Oyster is, they are no relation whatsoever to oysters — except for the slime factor. You need only trust in the holiday and order it off the menu, or maybe look it up in the dictionary.
Bon appétit.
