SALT LAKE CITY — Today, many might consider celery an afterthought vegetable. But at one point in time, this humble stalk was the undisputed King of Vegetables in Utah.
On December 15, 1915, The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce established the first annual Utah Celery Day, which later expanded to Celery Week to promote the superiority of Utah-grown celery.
During this week Utahns were encouraged to promote the celery and send freshly harvested bunches to friends and family all over the country, including the White House.
But what made Utah celery so popular? And who grew it?
"So, the thing about Utah salary, is that it’s had quite a long history with Salt Lake’s Asian community,” local historian Rachel Quistsaid. “It seemed to be originally crossbred by some Chinese gardeners. Chinese gardens were all over downtown Salt Lake City in the early 1900s. But Utah also has a long history of Japanese farmers.
“[Many] Japanese farmers here in Salt Lake grew that as a cash crop," said Quist. "The celery is also quite tolerant of alkali soil. So that's quite common here in Utah as well."
Celery became so popular that from the 1920's until the 40's, this special Utah food item became an annual feature on the White House’s Thanksgiving table. This was part of an initiative from the White House to receive the finest produce from each state to highlight at the President’s Thanksgiving.
The demise of Celery Week
But celery’s time as the star of Utah produce was about to take tragic turn.
With the start of World War II, many Japanese farmers responsible for farming the star quality vegetable were sent to internment camps. After the war much of their farmland became housing for soldiers building new lives through the GI bill
According to Dan Drost, professor and extension vegetable specialist at Utah State University, some production did resume after the war but younger family members did not stay on farms or pursue farming.
In addition, larger celery-producing states like Michigan and California pushed their production levels up making it harder for the local industry.
Utah Celery Week was eventually canceled permanently.
Since Utah Celery Week’s demise, it never really made a large-scale comeback. It isn’t even listed on Utah’s agricultural census. But Utah’s history with celery lives on. Today, while the state no longer produces it at a large scale, you can still find Utah celery seeds at markets and across the country, many varieties of celery are still associated with Utah.
“It’s definitely part of Utah's food heritage,” Quist said. “And it's something that used to be huge. People would send crates of Utah celery to their relatives in the fall.And that doesn't seem to be quite the tradition anymore.”
