February 9, 2022 - National Pizza Day | National Bagel And Lox Day

Welcome to February 9th, 2022 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate Italian royal taste and kosher fun for everyone. You may not recognize the name Raffaele Esposito, but he holds a special place in history as the father of the modern pizza. Esposito had already earned a reputation as a pizza maker in Naples, Italy, when King Umberto and Queen Margarita made their visit in 1889, and the Queen wanted only the best. Enter Raffaele Esposito. He brought her several choices, but her favorite was topped with mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil. It was not only delicious, it reminded her of the Italian flag. From then on, that style of pizza was known as the Margherita. On National Pizza Day, celebrate with your favorite toppings and make your own royal pie. Some things are just meant to go together, peanut butter and jelly, shoes and socks and today’s celebration: bagels and lox. While lox have been around for thousands of years, bagels were not invented until the 1700s. So how did they come to be a pair? Turns out that it all started in America in the 1930s with the demand for eggs benedict. Because this dish could not be considered kosher, the Jewish community in New York came up with the perfect alternative: a toasted bagel topped with lox and a schmear. This pairing became so closely linked, that when bagel workers went on strike in the 1950s the sales of lox dropped by fifty percent! Today it’s easy to have your shmear and eat it too on National Bagel And Lox Day. I’m Anna Devere and I’m Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we Celebrate Every Day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices