Flour is one of mankind’s most important staple foods, yet we all take it for granted. Now we have a special day to appreciate it. The National Day Calendar has certified 20th March as World Flour Day. “At last we have one day in the year that reminds us to appreciate our daily flour – the white gold of life”, says initiator Carsten Blum of FlourWorld Museum with satisfaction. Farmers, millers, bakers – in fact the entire flour-processing industry from New York to Sydney, from Buenos Aires to Mexico, from Lisbon to Moscow: they all celebrate this day.

Products made from flour are the daily food of billions of people. All over the world, flour is made into delicious foods like bread, biscuits, cake, pasta and many other goods. It is one of man’s most important staple foods, and has been for thousands of years.

DAY OF APPRECIATION Why 20th March? The day falls in the middle of the solstice, that varies between 19th and 21st March. In the northern hemisphere, it marks the beginning of spring and the time for sowing; in the southern hemisphere it represents autumn and harvesting. For farmers and the flour processing industries the days around 20th March are a special time of hope and gratitude. World Flour Day has been officially appointed and certified as an “international day of action” by the National Day Calendar.

Millers, bakers, confectioners and pasta manufacturers use this day to draw attention to the significance and diversity of flour products with their creative activities. These all fall under the ancient motto: “Share your bread, and it will taste better. Share your good fortune, and it will multiply!”

THE INITIATOR: THE FLOURWORLD MUSEUM With the new World Flour Day, the FlourWorld Museum draws attention to the civilizing power this white gold has always had. “Flour has secured man’s survival for thousands of years”, says Volkmar Wywiol, the founder of the FlourWorld Museum.

Established in Wittenburg, Germany, in 2008, the museum houses the world’s biggest collection of flour sacks. The motifs on the 3,500 or more sacks from 140 countries testify to the pride of the millers. They tell surprising, moving and sometimes incredible stories of what corn, flour and bread mean to people all over the world. Moreover, flour is a historical power factor of the highest order. In a cultural and historical tour, the FlourWorld Museum illuminates the epoch-making effects flour had on mankind between the Neolithic and the Industrial Revolution and will continue to have in future