AUGUST 29, 2014 – NATIONAL COLLEGE COLORS DAY – NATIONAL CHOP SUEY DAY

                                               NATIONAL COLLEGE COLORS DAY
Across the United States, on the first Friday of each college school year, students, parents, family, fans, alumni and etc celebrate National College Colors Day.  This day is annually celebrated by wearing your college’s (or the college you support) favorite colors and college/university apparel.

Show your school spirit and your support!

For more information regarding National College Colors Day, see: http://www.collegecolorsday.com/
NATIONAL COLLEGE COLORS DAY is an “unofficial” national holiday.
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NATIONAL CHOP SUEY DAY

Get your chop sticks ready!  National Chop Suey Day is celebrated each year on August 29. 
Chop suey, which literally means, “assorted pieces” is a dish in American Chinese cuisine, consisting of meat (chicken, fish, beef, prawns or pork) and eggs that are cooked quickly with vegetables (usually bean sprouts, cabbage and celery) and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. Rice normally accompanies this delicious dish.

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“A prime example of culinary mythology” and typical with popular foods, there is a long list of colorful and conflicting stories of the origin of chop suey, according to food historian Alan Davidson.
It is believed, by some, that chop suey was invented in America by Chinese Americans however, anthropologist E.N. Anderson concludes that it is based on tsap seui (“miscellaneous leftovers“) which is common in Taishan, a district of Guangdong Province.  Taishan is the home of many early Chinese immigrants to the United States.
Another account claims that chop suey was invented by Chinese American cooks that were working on the transcontinental railroad in the 19th century.
A tale is told of chop suey’s creation steaming from the Qing Dynasty premier Li Hongzhang’s visit to the United States in 1896 by his chef who wanted to created a meal that was suitable for both the Chinese and the American palates.  It has also been told that Li wandered to a local Chinese restaurant after the hotel kitchen closed, where the chef, embarrassed that he had nothing ready to offer, came up with the new “chop suey” dish using scraps of leftovers.
Another myth tells of an 1860′s Chinese restaurant cook in San Francisco that was forced to serve something to the drunken miners after hours.  To avoid a beating, having no fresh food, he threw leftovers in a wok and served the miners.  The miners loved the dish, asking him what it was called to which he replied, Chopped Sui.  

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Traveling to the United States in 1903, Liang Oichao, a Guangdong native, wrote that there existed a food item called chop suey which was popularly served by Chinese restaurateurs, but which local Chinese people did not eat. 

HAVE A WONDERFUL, NATIONAL CHOP SUEY DAY!