Preparations for World Tripe Day in full swing

With just two weeks to go until the big day, preparations for #WorldTripeDay are in full swing all around the globe as the fifth international celebration of tripe approaches.  Tripe retailers have been advised to ensure their stocks are plentiful in advance of 24 October, as demand is expected to peak in the days leading up to it.

World Tripe Day was celebrated with more gusto than ever last year, with simultaneous events taking place in Preston, Barnsley, Pontefract and Rome.  This year, celebrations are expected in Australia, Bulgaria, and Lancashire, as well as in Yorkshire and parts of North Derbyshire and Humberside.

The Tripe Marketing Board will be celebrating the day in Sofia, where a gathering of aficionados will be tucking into a bowl of the local specialty, Shkembe Chorba. 

A Song for Tripe

Yesterday saw the launch of Have a Plate of Tripe, a specially-composed song by talented Scottish composer and author  Thomas Mackay written in honour of World Tripe Day. 

Meanwhile, TMB Books pledged to reduce the price of its tripe books in the run-up to the great day as a contribution to the celebrations. "We want as many people as possible to sample tripe - and we don't care if they're eating it, talking it or even reading it!" said Doreen Grey, Head of Publishing at TMB Books.  Potential purchasers should see prices being reduced in the next day or so. 

As never before, the nation - and the world - will be 'talking tripe', vindicating the decision made by the Tripe Marketing Board to launch the ceremonial event back in 2013.  TMB chairman Sir Norman Wrassle recalls how many people laughed at the idea, just as they did when the TMB made the decision to move into publishing the year before. "Thankfully, they're still laughing," Sir Norman said.

Right from the start, there were those who criticised the board's decision to use humour as a way to promote the sale of tripe. Sir Norman has always defended the decision robustly, saying in an interview in 2015: "If you can make people laugh, there's always the chance you can pop a bit of tripe in their mouths at the same time". 

2018 looks set to be the year when the TMB finally arrests the catastrophic decline in sales which began in 1956 and which has continued unabated until now. "Over the last five years we have increasingly slowed the decline and I firmly believe that sometime before the end of this year we will turn the corner and increase sales for the first time in 52 years," Sir Norman said.