Thanksgiving Day Food Traditions
Traditionally Thanksgiving began as a festival of sorts to give thanks after the season’s first harvest. In North America, pilgrims and puritans, Plymouth and Protestantism are the roots of the holiday. A modern day mentality of Thanksgiving still celebrates the history of the ancestors, often through children’s school plays and storytelling, but to most of us, Thanksgiving can be summed up by the 3 F’s: Food, Family, and Football.
Thanksgiving Day across the United States is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of every November and consists of a national day off for people to spend time with those they love. Every family has their own traditions they follow, their own food they serve and their own activities to share in, but one thing they have in common is that this is a national day of family values where you allow yourself a day off from work, school and the pressures of everyday life and escape into a day of appreciating the good things in life with family and friends. Food is a primary focus of the Thanksgiving holiday, with the roasted turkey being at the center of the meal and an abundance of side dishes to compliment. Here are some favorites from around the nation:
The Turkey: Roasted, fried, stuffed, or braised, anyway you shake it the almighty turkey is the foundation for a Thanksgiving feast. The image of a whole, glistening turkey on a platter is an American marker for the beginning of a beloved holiday season filled with celebrations, shopping and giving thanks for all that you have. We associate the turkey with funny memories like watching the neighbor’s dog steal the entire turkey off the table in the family classic, “A Christmas Story” and we take notes every year as Food Network personalities give us tips to spruce up our turkey this Thanksgiving and avoid the dreaded overcooked, dry meat we desperately try to avoid. For families who try to update their Thanksgiving tables or don’t eat meat, proteins like ham, duck, or the vegetarian “tofurkey” (tofu turkey) can be substituted, but with over 40 million turkeys cooked and eaten on Thanksgiving day across the country, no one can argue that when your uncle dozes off in front of the TV after his afternoon meal, everyone will blame it on our favorite Thanksgiving bird.
Stuffing or Dressing: This side dish wins the vote as most Americans’ favorite Thanksgiving accompaniment and depending on what region of the country you come from will depend on what you call it; if you’re from New England you call it stuffing, and if you’re from the South it’s dressing to you. Starting with a breadcrumb base, Americans add anything from onions, peppers, and spices to sausage, apple, chestnuts or cranberries inside the mix. You can literally stuff it inside the bird to bake or fill it into a casserole dish and allow the top to get brown and crunchy. Covered with gravy or eaten on its own, stuffing is sure to add to your stuffed feeling when you allow yourself to indulge in this yearly food tradition.
Cranberries and Cranberry Sauce: We see Martha Steward and Ina Garten tote about homemade, fresh cranberry sauces and jams, but most traditional families in the U.S. can’t help the temptation of the canned jellied cranberry sauce that plops out of the can and leaves the can’s imprint on the gelatinized concoction. That’s not to say that many American’s don’t love their cranberries homemade; in recent years it’s become popular to sauté fresh cranberries with orange zest for an extra zing.
Potatoes: Mashed, sweet, candied or buttered, no Thanksgiving table is complete without the creamy, buttery sweetness of potatoes. Most families offer two options: traditional buttery mashed and mashed sweet covered in roasted marshmallows and baked. Who said a turkey side dish can’t be a prelude to dessert?
If you’re in charge of your family’s Thanksgiving meal or plan to bring something to add to the table, there are a lot of resources for you to find new and inventive recipes or recipes that stick to the fundamental purity of each dish. Look at local bookshops and grocery stores for holiday inspired cookbooks, magazines or flyers. Online you can search recipe ideas that you can bookmark for use when the day arrives. Most of all, remember that while the day is focused on the food, it’s really about the family and the traditions you make together; no one will go hungry even if everything isn’t just right.
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