Sea Monkey Day - May 16

If you were a kid in the 70s or 80s of the last century, you probably know sea monkeys, tiny creatures that come in the mail in the form of grains in a bag, pour them into an aquarium and they come to life and become cute little crabs.

May 16th is a day dedicated to these special creatures and the weird story behind the way they came to our aquariums.

It all started when a young American entrepreneur named Harold von Braunhut discovered in 1956 that fishermen in his hometown of New York were using as bait for fish in cute little crabs. These tiny crabs had a wonderful ability - in extreme dry conditions they enter a state of dormancy where they can stay for many years, and as soon as they are put back in the water they come back to life and become agile swimmers. In addition, fertilized crab eggs can develop within 24 hours and tiny white crabs hatch from them as soon as water with salt is added.

Brownhut's business sense immediately went into action and he realized that these sweet creatures could be marketed as pets to lots of people and make a lot of money.

The creatures that Brownhut discovered are called artemia. It is a type of tiny cancer that is common in lakes and salt lakes. Its commercial collection is possible in a handful of places around the world such as Siberia, the Great Dead Sea in Utah in the US and China. They are also found in the diesel lagoons and the Atacama Desert in South America.

Brownhut realized that people would not be excited to just buy crabs called Artemia as a pet, so he thought and thought and decided to call them "sea monkeys" because their long tails reminded him of monkeys.

He hired an illustrator named Joe Orlando who created comic books in which he built a whole world of magical characters from fairy tales of their own living in the underwater world.

American children were enthralled by the new animals that were discovered to the world and of course asked their parents to buy them, and sea monkeys became the flagship hit in America. Von Brownhut patented his invention and later developed with his team a "commercial breed" of Artemia - carefully selected and engineered crabs to suit longer aquarium life.

These tiny crabs have also become TV stars - they have appeared on shows like Spin City, Roseanne, Night Court, South Park, The Simpsons, Garry Shandling's show and Desperate Housewives. On October 29, 1998, sea monkeys went into space with astronaut John Glenn aboard the space shuttle Discovery. They returned to Earth after spending nine days in space and the eggs that hatched eight weeks later were apparently not affected at all by their travels.

A bag of sea monkeys - just add water and you immediately have living creatures in the aquarium! (Link)

© Hans Hillewaert

 Sea monkeys on Amazon

May 16 is also Biographers Day

Caviar Day- July 18

Caviar is one of the food days celebrated in the US. Caviar is a seafood delicacy, with black caviar produced mainly from sturgeon fish eggs and red caviar produced from red eggs.

The black caviar comes from the sturgeon fish that lives in the Caspian Sea and is produced by Iran and Russia. In Russia they call it ikra, fish eggs.

Caviar has great nutritional value and is full of protein and vitamins. The price of the caviar is high and therefore it is considered a status symbol, for the food of the rich.

So if you can afford it, pamper yourself today with quality caviar.

In the picture: a box of caviar that costs $ 130  (link)

Fish & Chips Day- The First Friday in June

The Fish and Chips is a delicacy that began as a basic meal of workers in newspaper and became a winning dish in restaurants.
Fish and Chips is a fried fish and potato chips served together, originally inside a piece of paper as a take away dish.
Fish and chips were invented on the shores of Britain in the mid-1800s mainly as food sold to fishermen and workers on the pier. Later, in 1900, the Fish and Chips became a symbol of British cuisine and tens of thousands of restaurants in the UK have already sold it.
In the 19th century, fishing in the North Sea was a major and important part of the developing world. Masses of people worked in the sea, fishing and shipping, and needed fast food.
The answer was the fried fish and chips that were the most available foods in the area (fish and potatoes). The Fish and Chips is a dish that characterized the working class who ate it shamelessly.

In 1858 a man named John Lee opened the first Fish & Chips restaurant in Oldham, England, and in 1863 Joseph Malin opened the first Fish & Chips restaurant as Take Away.  

Later, the dish that was so tasty spread throughout the United Kingdom, even to places far from the sea and reached the city centers. The immigrants who arrived in Australia, the United States and Canada brought the Fish and Chips with them, and from there the food has already reached other places in the world, thus crossing the border and becoming popular in many parts of the world. The Fish and Chips crossed not only geographical but also cultural and class boundaries, and became popular with many people, not just English and middle class. If you travel in England for example, you will find lots of stalls of their national food, every corner of the street.  

How to celebrate Fish & Chips?  

You can make fried fish with breadcrumbs on the side and wrap it all in newspaper. You can eat fish and chips in a restaurant, preferably with cold beer and best of it to go to the harbor, eat it in front of the ships, and imagine that you are harbor workers in the 19th century in England ...