The many ways to celebrate Thanksgiving
Eater’s ‘Home for the Holidays 2022’
My favorite online food information source, Eater, has a seasonal series of the above name and theme. So far, Bettina Makalintal has counseled us to let go of ironclad tradition and have a different kind of meal every Thanksgiving, Hillary Dixler Canavan extolled the glories of branded and boxed foods, especially the simple comfort of Jiffy corn muffin mix, and Amy McCarthy has warned that “Your Holiday Dinner Is In Trouble!” due to shortages of turkey, crab and even butter.
Jaya Saxena, in the introductory piece for the series, writes: “Thanksgiving is usually hailed as a time to lean into comfort food. In the public imagination, ‘comfort food’ is pretty narrowly defined, but it becomes even more so around a holiday with such colonialist roots. The dishes that are supposed to bring you comfort around Thanksgiving are things like mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and turkey with gravy — regional Northeastern cooking that’s shed any connection to Indigenous American cuisine in favor of a pretty white history.”
Decolonizing Thanksgiving
The messages from Bettina, Hillary, Amy and Jaya all resonate with me for several reasons. I have had a disruptive history in relation to Thanksgiving.