March 27, 2023 - National Joe Day | National Spanish Paella Day

Welcome to March 27th, 2023 on the National Day Calendar. Today we celebrate a regular Joe and a spicy history. Ordinary Joe, Joe Sixpack, Joe Blow, Joe Schmoe, Average Joe...did you ever wonder if other cultures have their own "Joes"? These Joe terms are used primarily in North America to refer to a completely average person but there are parallel terms in other languages such as Old Mate in Australia, Herr und Frau Osterreicher in Austria (meaning Mr and Mrs Austria), Israel Israeli in, you guessed it, Israel and even Tizio, Caio e Sempronio in Italy, the equivalent of Tom, Dick and Harry! It seems that pretty much everyone around the world has their own way to refer to their own Average Joe. On National Joe Day take your pick of what it means to be you. The Spanish rice dish known as Paella, has an interesting history. Rice was first brought to Spain by the Moors around 1,200 years ago. Because of this, the word for rice or arroz does not come from Latin, but rather from Arabic. Then there’s the word paella itself which refers to the pan in which the meal is cooked. The word comes from the old French for pan or paelle. Are you following along? Good. Because there’s more. Some people claim that the word paella is a contraction of para ella, which means for her, because the man who supposedly came up with the recipe did so for his love. Celebrate National Spanish Paella Day with this uniquely delicious dish and its spicy history. 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