Thanksgiving, With or Without Turkey

I always like reading about the holiday foods of other cultures. Thanksgiving need not be turkey and yams, stuffing and string beans, overindulgence and burping. Tomorrow I am making lentil and barley soup and sweet potato pie. And them I am going for a hike with my husband. Simple, quiet, relaxing.

For those who are estranged from their extended families at Thanksgiving and the holiday season -- whether by geography or by choice -- the Hallmark-Card overemphasis on family during this time can be painful. One can feel decidedly unfabulous if not participating in a lively lovefest of familial adoration. Joy is where you find it, though, and for me it is spending time with my spouse, alone. I know many who prefer the company of their friends to the tensions of the family table. No family is perfect, no mode of holiday celebration is better than others. When you return to work on Monday and ask your co-workers how their Thanksgiving was, keep that in mind. Don't brag or judge. Happy Thankgiving to all.

We lived next to a German family once. We shared Thanksgiving with them. We had to have some sauerkraut with our cranberry sauce. What?

It goes remarkable well, sweet and sour and now is a tradition at our home. We always remember them with our "kruat".

I am thankful for ONE holiday without hype, tinsel amd tinny muzak, bunnies, Hallmark cards, sexy kitten costumes, fireworks or speeches.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

My paternal grandfather's family had ancestors that had been part of the Jamestown Colony, and also from Switzerland. My paternal grandmother's family were from Germany. My maternal grandfather and grandmother were both immigrants from Sicily. Our Thanksgiving holidays were also family reunions, with sometimes in excess of 50 people all sitting down to dinner at once, on long tables stretching through the dining rooms and living rooms of small suburban homes. All of us were children of immigrants. Although the original meaning of the holiday may have been blurred a bit, we were all thankful to be together and to have families to be to be with on those Thursdays at the end of November. There is nothing more 'American' than a group of immigrants sitting down at a table with their family and giving thanks for having each other at Thanksgiving.

Let's also give thanks for this great country all of us live in. Immigrants come here because of the immense opportunities it offers. Some continue to stay even giving up seeing their families back home because of these opportunities. It is truly sad that not everyone can live here no?

After the Union victory at Gettysburg, Lincoln called for a day of Thanksgiving. His 1863 proclamation says nothing about Pilgrims, but is entirely about the preservation of the Union in the face of the adversities of the war. Grant, in his 1868 proclamation, said that the nation should be thankful that “civil and religious liberty are secured to every inhabitant of the land, whose soil is trod by none but freemen.”

A wonderful Thomas Nast cartoon in Harper’s Weekly in 1869, called Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner, envisions a United States of political equality, as it celebrates the recently ratified 15th Amendment and has a multi-racial, multi-national, multi-ethnic cast of characters. The cartoon says “Come One, Come All,” and it includes a picture of the Castle Garden, the Manhattan facility immigrants passed through before Ellis Island was opened.

Due to Lincoln’s and Grant’s connection with the Thanksgiving national holiday, it was not celebrated in the former Confederate states until after the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. To achieve national (i.e., white) unity around Thanksgiving (as the Jim Crow system was being established between 1877 and 1900), the holiday was reframed as a day for family, food, football (in the 1890s) and Pilgrim stories, rather than a commemoration of the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery.

We need to recover Nast's idealism and Thanksgiving's democratic historical content.

If only it were so, that Thanksgiving is for family. I have a great number of friends, acquaintances and colleagues who have to work on Thanksgiving day. Most work in retail and the stores are open to try and cash in. One friend has to be at work at 5:30am tomorrow and work until 5:30pm, so there goes almost the entire day while he will not be with his family. Thanksgiving used to be for family, now it's an opportunity to get a head start on other retailers for "holiday" shopping. Everything now comes second to consumerism, nothing is sacred when it comes to making money. Workers are expendable, there is someone waiting to take their place if they want to spend the day with their family instead of working. These holidays have no meaning anymore.

Hector, many of have our sorrows and losses which we deal with during the holidays and always, not just immigrants. My parents are both long gone; I "lost" my brother to schizophrenia years ago-- though I will be picking him up shortly to spend a few "thankful" days with our diminished family; my husband's bro is in a wheel chair; his parents are very old and too feeble to get out for the holiday. Am I blue? No, it's a beautiful day, the turkey is brining the stock is simmering, the cranberry sauce is made. What's to be sad about? Personally I embrace and celebrate my memories of holidays past, the blessings of the present, and my hopes for a happy and healthy future for my 19 year old son.

Nice article, reminding us that a family is first and foremost. "He that troubleth his own home shall inherit the wind".

However, the most interesting thing is always the comments. Some enjoy the meaning of the article, while others speak of guilt over taking native lands or consuming the turkeys. Others spin-off into illegal immigration.

Enjoy the day people. We are not perfect, but for one day we can smile and enjoy the company of loved ones, sharing a meal.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

I love this column. I've long thought that the Thanksgiving meal provides a perfect way for all Americans to blend foods from their personal backgrounds with traditional American foods.

One November, when I first came to live in France many years ago, a young Frenchman of my acquaintance asked me if I would be celebrating the American holiday he knew was at the end of the month. When I asked him if he knew the name of the holiday, he said that of course he did, and proceeded to tell me it was called "Hanky Panky." I managed to set him straight, but I always smile when I think about what the Puritan Pilgrims would have thought about that.

It is easy for the politically super-correct to spoil the Thanksgiving by "adding a spoonful of tar to a barrel of honey", as a Russian proverb goes, by putting the history of the first and second settlers of North America in the language of "aggressors", "conquerors" and "oppressors".

The holiday is uniquely Usan (= American), and it is not necessarily all about the family or turkey. There are many people who would observe Thanksgiving among friends or even strangers and have something different from the celebratory turkey.

Thnaksgiving is a day Just to remember, "E pluribus unum et omnes fiducia in Deum"".

Do notice that the dinner that's always on a Thursday, mimics the "last supper".
One guess who the turkey centerpiece represents.
Likewise, the "Al Smith dinner" is always on a Thursday.
Food for thought....

I'm foregoing the bird altogether this year. It's a lot of work (brining, etc.) and the taste payoff isn't worth the trouble. Really, when's the last time you went to a nice restaurant and were wooed by the turkey on the menu? If you are going to spend 3+ hours cooking a single entrée, there are much more flavorful dishes that will knock your socks off. Ditch tradition - spend that time cooking something extraordinary.

We are a melting-pot. Everyone that lives here contributes to the soup. That's the wonderful thing about this time of year. We celebrate family and traditions both old and new creating what becomes the family signature holiday. Yea America!

Happy Thanksgiving...

I am thankful, not for family (you'd have to know mine to understand), but for Apple and Facebook and Google and Microsoft--all the technological innovations that make wasting time appear productive while also providing an alternative to actual socializing.

I don't actually use social media. But it gives my teenagers somewhere else to be surly than the dinner table. Social media has probably saved more Thanksgiving dinners than Butterball's famous turkey hotline.

Thank you for this op-ed which provides perspective on the immigrant experience of Thanksgiving. America is a country of immigrants, individuals from different generations have arrived onto our shores from everywhere, coming from different circumstances. This brings so much diversity in thought, emotion and of course food for Thanksgiving. Let's celebrate and respect this diversity (as represented by all this wonderful food and not just turkey) because what it all comes down to is being able to feel thankful for family, both near and far.

Like the Fourth of July or Memorial day, Thanksgiving is the quintessential American holiday. It is not religious although it was founded on a religious principle of thanking God for survival in the first year of our country's first settlers.

I love the fact that this holiday embodies a simple act of sharing a meal, ideally with family but if not family, with good friends. But I also like the fact that Lincoln's intention was to bring a divided nation together, in the hopes of transcending differences even if just for one day.

Thank you for sharing the food traditions of those who are recently arrived in this country. I can't imagine a better first time holiday to experience in America. As I read your description of ethnic foods and adaptations of standard turkey, it reminded me that food, while the vehicle for the celebration , is not itself the main event.

Rather it's an occasion that makes me remember to be grateful for what I have rather than what I don't.

The tacky scourge of 'Black Friday' is now front and center Thanksgiving Week, which should more appropriately be named Thanksgetting. Unfettered commercialism has been allowed to gain a foothold that it will never give up.

Bravo to those businesses that buck this horrid trend.

When I was in Jr high I would head down the street to the home of my best friend on thanksgiving afternoon. His Italian immigrant parents would insist I sit down with the family. Knowing I had to go home and eat with my family later in the day I would try to demur. No luck. Mrs. D would say "sit down, you skinny, eat". First came heaps of pasta, home made bread, and red table wine for the adults. Then she would bring out the turkey blending cultures. Then home for a traditional American thankgiving. Oh I over ate that day but I had the love of two families. Lots to be thankful for.

This article alludes to the hidden historical truth of what America really is.

A land of immigrants who moved in and took over Native America land.

There is no 'apology' big enough to Native Americans to express that 'we're sorry' about taking their land and wiping out their culture with smallpox, and Americans add insult to injury by not even trying to apologize.

I understand the quintessential, cloying and half-baked American habit to 'smile' and to just 'be happy' and 'be grateful' around on Thanksgiving.

I also understand that human history the world over is a rich record of bloody and religious conquest of one group of people over another and all the land theft that went with it.

Of course it's nice to be 'thankful', but the celebratory aspect of the Thanksgiving holiday is classically and one-dimensionally American, completely ignoring the fact that Americans dine on the ruins of an earlier Native American civilization which never receives credit, recognition or respect as the first Americans and the real Americans they are.

Not a soul among us would sit still and smile if someone tried to steal our family land.

But that's the longer and unabridged history of American Thanksgiving.

Of course we can't change the past, but ignoring historical tragedy while celebrating the gluttonous byproduct of that historical tragedy seems to be in very poor taste.

Thanksgiving should be changed to 'Native American Day' to show a little respect for history and our fellow man.

Thanks so much for a very informative and insightful piece. I'll have to try some of these recipes!

Thanksgiving has been diminished and no longer has any idea that 'Giving Thanks' is something we all owe to God who gives us everything we cherish. What we eat is not even important, in fact it'd be better for our bodies and souls if instead of stuffing our bellies, we fasted instead to remind us of how many humans have no such excess to eat, but starve.

A great reminder about the true meaning of the holiday. There is much to be thankful for, and different cultures all contribute a richness that reflect the original mixing of cultures and generosity. (And everything sounds delicious!)

I celebrate Thanksgiving without turkey. Turkeys are sentient, social birds who like having their feathers stroked and gobbling along to music. It would be unfair for me to take a turkey's life to give thanks for the blessing in my own. Many companies, including Tofurky and Gardein, make great-tasting vegetarian turkey, so humans can enjoy healthy, humane meals. There's no need to stick a dead on the table.

Thank you Mr. Tobar for penning this delicious column. I'm excited to enjoy fine Mexican cuisine tomorrow in lieu of turkey, which is fine by me. Yes indeed, this holiday seems to be the most important reminder of our bonds with our families and the ritual of sharing a meal together. It's great to see a palette of multicultural enjoyment of different dishes as well.

IMMIGRANTS have made our nation great. Including those who walked from Siberia across the land bridge that has become the Aleutian Islands. We gather together to give thanks for our national treasures--our ideals of Liberty and Justice for all. It is a time also for rejoicing in family reunions. As we recall what is written on the Liberty Bell, Proclaim liberty throughout the land!