Day 6: Six Geese A-laying

Cost: A pack of saltines (crumble up the saltines and catch a goose at a local pond)*

Origin: The goose was invented in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, as a cost-effective alternative to duck.  Wealthy Americans were seeing less return on their investments in the stock market, and had to cut back on their lavish spending.  Not wanting the wealthiest Americans to seek opportunities elsewhere, Franklin Roosevelt, as part of his New Deal, commissioned scientists to develop a cheaper type of “gourmet poultry.”  What they developed was called a “goose” after changing the “R” to a “G” and dropping the “velt” from “Roosevelt,” as FDR had mandated that anything having to do with the New Deal be loosely named after him.

*-Note: If you are going to catch geese of your own, be careful not to confuse a goose with the Aflac duck.  Once Gilbert Gottfried gets in your home, he will never leave…ever.