NYT: The American Thanksgiving

[blue_dolphin]

The NYT food section has a piece titled The American Thanksgiving in which they interview 15 cooks, many 1st or 2nd generation immigrants,  about their traditions for the holiday. There is a video and a recipe to go with each short essay. 

I enjoyed it and wish I could attend a Thanksgiving pot-luck with all these folks so I could try everything!

[Jacksoup]

It's a great article.  Interesting and heart warming how the different cultures make Thanksgiving their own.  

[Anna N]

I agree with Jacksoup. I explored it last night but was then too tired to remark on it. Thanks for the link. 

[IowaDee]

Just finished reading all the stories and they made me hopeful again about my Country's future.  The last couple of weeks had filled me with worry that we have lost our way and forgotten who were are and where we came from.  Maybe I'm wrong and need to take a deep breath and hope our story continues like it has been for generations.  Happy Thanksgiving to All.

Edited November 18, 2016 by IowaDee (log)

[Allura]

It's funny, my mom, who's 2nd generation Italian-American, refuses to make anything Italian for Thanksgiving. My grandmother was the same way. Thanksgiving was an "All American" holiday. OTOH, it's also a chocolate-less holiday. My mother says we make up for it at Christmas, though, especially on Christmas Eve.    But it's always a challenge to come up with an appetizer when you can't rely on the standards of stuffed shells, manicotti, or antipasto.

[Toliver]

My aunt would always make pork roast and sauerkraut (a dish from Bohemia) at Thanksgiving along with the roast turkey. Having grown up eating the dish, I didn't give it a second thought as being out of place at the holiday table.

 

Thanks for the link to the story. It was very life reaffirming for me.

[Martin Fisher]

6 hours ago, Allura said:

....my mom, who's 2nd generation Italian-American, refuses to make anything Italian for Thanksgiving. My grandmother was the same way. Thanksgiving was an "All American" holiday.

 

Yeah....I was thinking sort of the same thing and I'm speaking only for myself here...

If I was dropped into a different culture with a holiday that I knew little or nothing about....I doubt I'd taint it with stuff from my own culture....certainly not at first anyway.

I'd be MUCH more interested in the tradition!

 

Anyway, it's an interesting piece!

 

Edited November 18, 2016 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[heidih]

I enjoyed the article. What is odd for me is that I have little recollection of our Thanksgiving meals. I am a first generation American. I think we did the assimilation thing although for some reason the salad was always red leaf lettuce with a really light oil and vinegar with a touch of sugar. The cranberry was the one with the can ridges and I remember the kids sneaking the canned fried onions, and Campbell's C of M was involved in the green beans even though mom made wonderful green beans on other occasions with a white sauce and dill.....

[IndyRob]

I think Thanksgiving is really becoming the dominant secular American holiday that allows people of all cultures, faiths and religions (or lack thereof) to celebrate roughly the same general sentiment.  It's probably helped immensely by the fact that the holiday was declared long after the the original experience was lost.

 

If we were to be true to the supposed history, we'd probably have to order some venison from the local Indian reservation, and make a variety of squash dishes.  Or, if we were poor, we'd pile the table high with lobsters and complain that we weren't getting the good stuff.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 19, 2016 by IndyRob (log)

[BeeZee]

My brother in law is Sicilian, he's lived in the US for a couple of years, still green card, but should be able to apply for citizenship soon. He referred to my stuffing as "mushroom bread" and refuses to eat turkey, he doesn't like it. I think he ate 4-5 twice baked potato halves for dinner. Doubt he'd prepare an "American" Thanksgiving meal, assimilation be damned, he's gonna cook what he likes to eat.