Happy Thanksgiving to everyone around the world!
Thanksgiving Day in America is a time for family and friends to gather together and give thanks for all that God has given us. Thanksgiving is traditionally a time for feasting as well. Church gathering and family gathering around a harvest table full of food is a mouthwatering event to say the least. Turkey, stuffing or dressing depending on what part of the country your from, corn or corn casserole, potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies are just some of the traditional foods for Thanksgiving Day meals.
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Traditional Foods of the season
Wikipedia tells us that "U.S. tradition compares the holiday with a meal held in 1621 by the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. This element continues in modern times with the Thanksgiving dinner, often featuring turkey, playing a large role in the celebration of Thanksgiving. Some of the details of the American Thanksgiving story are myths that developed in the 1890s and early 1900s as part of the effort to forge a common national identity in the aftermath of the Civil War and in the melting pot of new immigrants."
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Traditional Meat for the meal
In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. First and foremost, turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as "Turkey Day").
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Foods Commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner.
" Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, other fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. All of these are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. As an alternative to turkey, many vegetarians or vegans eat tofurky, a meatless turkey made of tofu."
"The less fortunate are often provided with food at Thanksgiving time. Most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving dinners."
- Stuffing: is a substance used to fill a cavity in another food item. Many foods are stuffed, including meats, vegetables, and fruits. At Thanksgiving it is traditional to stuff a turkey or chicken with "stuffing."
- Mashed potatoes with gravy (types of gravy): Mashed Potato or mashed potatoes is a common way of serving potato in many countries worldwide. It is made by mashing boiled potatoes (peeled or unpeeled) with a potato ricer, fork or similar device.
- Sweet potatoes: Often served on Thanksgiving, sweet potato dishes represent traditional American cooking and of that prepared with the indigenous peoples of the Americas when settlers first arrived.
- Cranberry Sauce: Cranberry sauce is a sauce or relish made out of cranberries, commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner in North America. There are differences in flavor depending on the geography of where the sauce is made:
- corn (maize): After the colonization of America, maize was introduced to the English-speaking world, and originally known as Indian corn, a term which was then increasingly often shortened to corn in America, but not in the UK, where the original meanings were retained.
- Pumpkin pie: Pumpkin Pie is a traditional North American sweet dessert usually made in the fall and early winter, especially for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Christmas Eve. The pumpkin is a symbol of harvest time and featured also at Halloween.
"Many other foods are served alongside the main dish—so many that, because of the amount of food, the Thanksgiving meal is sometimes served midday or early afternoon to make time for all the eating, and preparation may begin at dawn or on days prior."
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Beverages
"The beverages served at Thanksgiving can vary as much
as the side dishes, often depending on who is present at the
table and their tastes. Spirits or cocktails occasionally may
be served before the main meal. On the dinner table,
unfermented Apple cider (still or sparkling) and/or wine
are often served. Beaujolais nouveau is sometimes served,
as "Beaujolais day" falls one week before American
Thanksgiving. For children non-alcoholic beverages are
served at the table as it is generally frowned upon (and
often illegal) for those below the legal drinking age to
consume alcohol, though in some states it is legal for those
under 21 to consume alcohol when their parents are
present. Pitchers of sweetened iced tea are common
throughout the South."
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Resources: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses some material from Wikipedia/article / and other related pages. Top photo: homestead stock
