National Potato Chip Day
March 14
Potatoes are the fourth most important food crop in the world and the leading vegetable crop in the United States. Together, Idaho and Washington produce more than half of the annual supply, which totaled 22 million metric tons in 2017 and was valued at $3.77 billion. About 63 percent of potato sales are to processors for French fries, chips, dehydrated potatoes and other potato products.
Americans eat about 1.85 billion pounds of potato chips, or about 6.6 pounds per person annually. Potato chip bags are not full of air. Rather, they are filled with nitrogen gas. The nitrogen prevents the chips from oxidizing, or turning stale. Cheetos come in 50 flavors around the world, including fizzy Pepsi in Japan, ketchup in Poland, strawberry in Russia, and peanut-covered in Europe. Making 2,500 pounds of potato chips requires 10,000 pounds of potatoes. Roughly 28,000,000 pounds of chips are eaten during the Super Bowl.
National Pi Day
March 14
According to piday.org, Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th (3/14) around the world. Pi (Greek letter “π”) is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159. Pi Day is an annual opportunity for math enthusiasts to recite the infinite digits of Pi, talk to their friends about math, and to eat Pie.
Today’s Birthdays of Note….
Albert Einstein – Theoretical Physicist – born in Württemberg, Germany
Billy Crystal – Comedian & Actor – born in New York City, New York