A question...

[ColdMan]

What is the typical thanksgiving food? I am working with a project in school and i got thanksgiving but i cant get any information about the typical food on thanksgiving. And i don't know from what we are having on the tables under thanksgiving because i'm from sweden and we dont celebrate thanksgiving so it's a problem. I would be wery glad if you could ansvere this question..

[shroomgirl]

roast turkey, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green salad, rolls, green vegetables, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce

That sound like a standard Thanksgiving feast? There are loads of variations but this is the generic version.

[Suzanne]

Dear ColdMan: Shroomgirl's list is quite accurate -- just be aware that the cranberry sauce is a side dish with the turkey and veg, not a sauce for the pie!

The variations come from family's ethnic traditions. An African-American family might include macaroni-and-cheese as a side, with perhaps collards or kale as the green veg; for a Southern white family, the stuffing could be made from cornbread, and they might also have pecan pie; a Jewish family might start with an appetizer of chopped chicken liver; South Asian might have chutneys and raitas as condiments; and so on. This is really an over-simplification, and in practice people of different backgrounds often incorporate the culinary delights of others, just because they taste SO GOOD! .

I think the main point of the traditional Thanksgiving meal is to show that we all share being Americans, no matter where we or our ancestors came from.

If you can find it, try to watch a movie called What's Cookin' that came out earlier this year, or last year. It is about three families -- African-American, Mexican-American, and Vietnamese-American -- celebrating Thanksgiving. You'll see what I'm talking about.

[cape chef]

Try this coldman


www.thanksgiving-traditions.com/html/food.html

cc

[Marzoli]

Greetings Coldman! What level student are you? Our high school has had several exchange students from Sweden.
Thanksgiving meals may take the form of "potluck" which means that everyone brings a dish. This often results in unexpected menu choices! The typical turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pecan pie is most usual. At my house this year, we are not having visitors, and I plan to serve my husband a Mexican menu with a steaming pot of very spicey pozole and a chilled bottle of cerveza! Not your typical menu, but it was his choice!

[ColdMan]

Well I thank you all for helpingme with this question...
And I am in 8grade.. And cape chef the website that you wrote it aint working.. only so you know.. well it is really fun to get answeres this fast so I see that its a good site..

[momoreg]

The site opened fine for me. Anyway, ColdMan, good luck with your research!

[Marzoli]

Good luck on your report! Keep in touch--if you need help on anything American, I am a teacher, after all. feel free to email me.

[brreynolds]

If you're having trouble opening the link that Cape Chef recommended, try this one: holidays.bfn.org/thanksgiving. -- no "www." (You may have to type the address in, rather than just clicking on the one in this message. I tested it, and had trouble with the shortcut.) It has a variety of information ranging from history of Thanksgiving to food and decoration items.

I vote with the folks who have told you that there are both regional and family traditions in what is eaten on Thanksgiving. (The US is too geographically, regiously and ethnically diverse to have very closely bound set of traditions for any holiday.)

Although Thanksgiving is one of our most widely observed holidays, it really began in its modern form in the 1930's. Before then, a Thanksgiving holiday was frequently declared, but it was kind of a one-off thing. As a secular holiday, and a relatively recent one, Thanksgiving tended to "borrow" traditional foods from whatever was locally available. SInce it occurs at the end of the harvest season in most areas of the US, what is locally available tends to be whatever is regionally being harvested. From there, each family develops its own recipes.