National Salami Day Catches Tough Break Having To Compete With NFL This Year

There's a holiday for everything, and so it should come as no surprise that next Thursday is National Salami Day.

However, there's a problem. This edition of arguably the biggest dates on the cold-cut calendar falls on the opening day of the NFL season.

That's a tough break for the Super Bowl of salami.

The powers that be selected Sept. 7 as the way to celebrate all things salami for some unknown reason. I would have thought tying it into the American Cured Meat Championships which was last month (shoutout to Tommy G's Meat & Sausage of Fairbanks, Alaska for their prize-winning Reindeer Cotto Salami. Hellnof a 2023 for them) would make sense, but, alas, no one asked me.

Most years, Sept. 7 isn't a problem. Aside from the occasional Labor Day conflict, National Salami Day is usually uncontested.

Unless you count the other annual Sept. 7 — Neither Rain Nor Snow Day — as competition.

I, for one, do not count the yearly celebration of the US Postal System as competition for a day celebrating cured meats.

Salami is typically a staple of National Salami Day, but will it be able to compete with the start of the NFL season? (Getty Images)

NFL Is King, Even Over Salami (If You Can Believe That)

Everything loses to the National Football League.

The NFL even took Thanksgiving from the pilgrims, who had themselves taken it from the Indians. At least that's what my high school history teacher who drove a Prius with a "Coexist" bumper sticker on it told me.

If the National Football League can strong-arm its way into one of America's major national holidays, it can handle National Salami Day. I don't think it'll be too concerned about people being too busy with salami business to watch the Chiefs and Lions on Sept. 7.

However, salami is facing a bit of an uphill battle. Sure, it's right at home on a charcuterie board. But is a pretentious piece of wood with various meats and cheeses perhaps too highfalutin alongside traditional game-day staples like chicken wings, pizza or even the mozzarella stick?

Who knows? Not you, not me, hell, not even the American Association of Meat Processors, a major trade organization in the cured meat industry.

It's a tough break for the holiday and for the cured meat industry, which is a proud one. If you've got the bandwidth maybe add a little salami to to your Thursday night menu. Help make sure that this National Salami Day isn't the year without salami (which sounds like the title of a terrible Rankin/Bass TV special).

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle