America’s Food Holiday
If people and cultures are bound by their food traditions, Thanksgiving is the unifying holiday that links all Americans to a common heritage. We may modify the traditional menu to include ethnic favorites such as salsa or sushi, or incorporate new culinary trends, like brines or rubs. But the tradition of turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, are imprinted in our taste memories and are the comfort foods we crave at Thanksgiving.
Years ago, living in a high-rise apartment in New York City, I stepped out of my apartment on Thanksgiving Day to run an errand. I was greeted with the most delicious aromas in the hallway of my floor, and floor by floor, through my descent in the elevator. Turkey was roasting in my kitchen, and in the kitchens of others in my apartment building. A classic Thanksgiving feast would be consumed by most of us on West 14th Street, throughout Manhattan, New York State and the rest of the United States, including Hawaii, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
I was struck by the universality of this food tradition and how almost all Americans — whether in an elegant Park Avenue dining room or a soup kitchen downtown — would be enjoying a similar meal on one specific day. This would not be unusual in a country with a homogeneous population, but how amazing to find such a meal served in a country where everybody, except Native Americans, originally came from somewhere else and embraced widely diverse food customs.
So ingrained is the heritage of Thanksgiving, that when I had the Web site, recipe.com, from 1995 through 2000, I always received emails from American expats from around the world, come November. They would be asking how they could substitute local ingredients for American ones to replicate the big feast for themselves and their friends.
Food marketing has played a part in creating some of the food traditions identified with Thanksgiving today. For your Thanksgiving pleasure, here are some of the back-of-the-box classic recipes that have earned a place on many a Thanksgiving table.
INSIGHT: Food is a powerful unifyer. When we share food customs and break bread together, we create bonds of trust and friendship.
Happy Thanksgiving!
