Chow Down on Nuts at a Flavorful Chico-Close Foodie Festival

CRUNCHY CALENDAR: So many of our snackiest, handful-iest, reach-for-another-bag-iest favorites have their own national holidays, and keeping track of what nut we're celebrating on what day almost requires a separate calendar. It's a calendar we'd gladly hang at the center of our kitchen wall, for we want to know when Pecan Day is, and when we should pay walnuts their delicious due, and if it is time to throw pistachios a party (that special day, by the by, just passed). But there is a route to honoring a whole caboodle of nuts, all at once, at one special nut-bration. A "nut-bration" is, of course, a festivity that embraces all of a nut's many healthy gifts and the various ways it adds meaty (but meat-less) oomph to a dish. And there's a nut-bration ahead, near Chico, when the California Nut Festival rolls, like a walnut might, into Patrick Ranch Museum.

SATURDAY, MAY 13... is the tasty day, and there are a number of happenings on the roster, with nut tastings, shopping that features an assortment of nut-based products, and the Nutty Chef Competition. Live tunes, an art show, beer tastings, cider tastings, and a host of gourmet goings-on will also add to the springful atmosphere of the food festival. A ticket ahead of time? It's $35, or $40 if you buy yours upon arrival. There are other nut-adjacent activities to be found throughout the Golden State at various points of the year — self-guided tours of the blooming almond blossom trees near Modesto "springs" to mind — just in case you'd like to add these adventures to your nut-centered calendar.