The first Thanksgiving was a party, a celebration. It was people getting together to have some food, give thanks and socialize. The food they ate was the food they had. They didn’t deliberate and decide that yams and maze say thanks better than spaghetti, spaghetti just wasn’t as an option.
For many, the day has become about the food rather than the celebration. In the last several years restaurants have seen a dramatic increase in Thanksgiving Day traffic. People talk about going to restaurants because they “don’t want to bother with the mess”. What they don’t want to bother with is cooking a big time consuming expensive traditional meal, which often doesn’t work out as planned.
There are three main holiday food gone wrong media clichés. One is of the hapless inexperienced cook ruining the day because the food is inedible. Then there’s the under-appreciated cook crying in a locked bathroom because no one appreciated or liked the elaborate feast. Finally, there’s the exhausted cook, who has been up since 4:00 am, has a melt down because no one is helping drama
In these scenarios family and friends apologize, have epiphanies and discover the true meaning of the holiday complete with heartfelt speech. Most families have their own versions of one or more of these scenes, minus the apologies, speech and epiphanies. These times aren’t always looked back on fondly.
This year think about skipping the food drama. An easy nontraditional meal might get the family to spend the day together rather than a few hours in a restaurant. If given the choice this Thanksgiving a lot of people would choose spaghetti over organic root vegetables lightly glazed with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. Cook what you know, eat what you like, have a party and give some thanks.
– – Article contributed by Nicole Abbott – writer, educator and psycho-therapist.
