I recently had a discussion about Thanksgiving dinners with my boyfriend, who is a Russian-Jewish immigrant. He told me that his family doesn't really celebrate Thanksgiving, so he wanted to know what exactly my family cooked for the holiday.
The ideas he shot out were for what he expected the meal to be like were very traditionally "American" foods: mac & cheese, turkey, gravy and stuffing. I responded with laughter and then corrected him on my family's menu.
As a family of Dominican immigrants, we would have the traditional turkey, for showing sake, but also very traditionally Spanish foods. Pasteles en hoja, rice and beans, and empanadas helped to fill our holiday table. This conversation got me thinking: so many American families are only first or second American. So what if the holiday menu changes up accordingly?
I suggest an international potluck. Many of us now live in big cities, so it's very likely that our friends and families have become multi-racial. You could invite a group of friends and family together -- each brings along a traditional dish-- and you have a creative and truly American Thanksgiving dinner.
If your group is a little less diverse, consider themed dinners each year. You could try a different cuisine (Mexican, Thai, Indian) each year, just order to takeout or attempt a recipe at home. Or you could simply switch up the menu so that it's either all dessert or all different types of stuffing. Something that would take your meal out of the generic and make it much more fun.
What are the ways that you've found to change up your traditional holiday meals?
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Comments (19)
My husband's family is Cuban (his parents were both born there) so when we celebrate Thanksgiving with them we eat Cuban food! Black beans, mashed yucca, roasted chicken with mojito (a lime & garlic sauce), rice, and something along the lines of cranberries and oranges pureed, also a topping for the chicken.
It's very delicious!
i also grew up with a lot of puerto ricans and we celebrate with some family friends so we'll have arroz con gandules and lechon.
yum!!!!
I'm American, and as Thanksgiving is an American holiday, we have the traditional American food.
Im mexican and we have the traditional american food.
I don't celebrate the holiday, really (I'm American by birth only, not by choice, and not proud of that fact). I mean I'll eat the non-meat stuff if offered, but that's it. I see no reason to celebrate the holiday beyond that.
I know this is weird, but I'm addicted to stuffing. =)
Fun! Though my parents are immigrants, as long as I can remember we have the usual food. Although sometimes we switch it up a bit here and there. Some years we have had ham, some years we have had rooster, a large chicken, etc. We do sometimes do arroz con gandules and when I was little we had a coconut pudding that has never made another appearance and I can't find the recipe anywhere.
IMO Thanksgiving is about giving thanks for our wonderful country and for all the good things in our lives, being with family and stuffing your face. Outside of that, cuisine is flexible.
We celebrate Thanksgiving with the Italian side of my family. The two staples of the meal are turkey and a big pan of lasagna. =)
My parents' friends have nothing but seafood on Thanksgiving: crab legs, crab bisque, shrimp salad, etc. I'd love to go over to their house for thanksgiving. They don't do it for any other reason than it's easier than making a turkey or whatever, but the wife is a chef so I don't buy that excuse.
Traditional! I usually make turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, 2 kinds of stuffing (this year it's going to be oyster stuffing & broccoli stuffing casserole), homemade cranberry sauce, homemade (usually) dinner rolls, green bean casserole, homemade pumpkin & sweet potato pies. ....Though, this year, I have the flu. So, my Thanksgiving will be on Sunday - assuming the flu has run it's course by then!! lol
Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm American and since Thanksgiving is an American holiday, it doesn't make sense to me to have anything but the traditional Thanksgiving foods. But if I were from another country, I'm sure I would incorporate some of my countries traditional foods into our Thanksgiving meal. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)
My mom usually roasts whole chicken as opposed to turkey, simply because we rarely eat the latter. This year, it's lamb stew with vegetable rice.
Our family isn't really into turkey so we have roast chicken instead and along with the mashed potatoes, we gotta have our rice!
I'm American and we didn't have exactly what was traditional. Ham, Tri-tip, mashed potatoes, stuffing of course (I'm a fiend for it), homeade biscuits and cherry pie! Very good though. I kinda like it better than going to my grandmas for dried out turkey and crappy sutffing :).
thanksgiving i pigged out!
My family is third generation American, on both sides. But we're also a mixture of Scottish, Irish, German and Estonian (One of the Baltic states, basically Russia.) Our Thanksgiving meal consists of Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, pistachio pudding, stuffing, every kind of pie you can think of, sweet potatoes and every type of food you can think of.
i made potato and onion pierogis swimming in oily sauteed onions and a colorful cabbage salad to bring to my friends' thanksgiving .. i am half ukrainian and half russian so these are both foods my family makes .. the rest of the food was pretty 'traditional'
I don't think it's a big deal that my Thanksgiving dinner is not "traditional." Thanksgiving is a decidely American holiday and since most Americans are of different cultural backgrounds, so it is only natural to incorporate other things into it. Why not do carne asada? Or cook roast beef? Fried rice? Any meal you will share with the ones you love, will be just perfect, in my book.
I do dinners featuring foods from different cuisines when observing a holiday or holy day from that culture, or a potluck when friends are getting together and we all do our own thing, show off our fave dish, But I like to keep some traditions as traditions. If I turn every holiday into an international potluck, they will lose their individuality.