….Host a Thanksgiving for 12 in Someone Else’s Kitchen!
I found everyone’s immediate intrigue and excitement the most astonishing. Perhaps endeavoring to round up a dozen new friends on a seemingly “random” Thursday evening in a foreign country after a mere six weeks living here should have been a daunting task. I certainly anticipated it as such. However, from the minute I tentatively suggested hosting a Thanksgiving to my closer friends, their curiosity and excitement spread like wildfire! After all, I soon discovered that none of them had ever celebrated Thanksgiving before!
From start to finish, my friends were full of questions. “What do you eat?” “Do all families eat the same thing? “Which dish is the most important?” “Who usually prepares the Thanksgiving meal?” “What parts of your family do you see?” “Do you usually exchange gifts?” “Is Thanksgiving a bigger holiday in the U.S. than Christmas?” “Why is it on a Thursday?” etc…
We were a motley international crew: one Mexican, one Bulgarian, two Brits, three Australians, four Germans, and this humble American. With ingredients bought in Germany, brought from Australia, and shipped in an “emergency care package” from the USA, and prepared by a British and American “dynamic-duo”, this Thanksgiving was truly an international edition of the traditional American feast.
A question from the girl from Mexico, however, got me really thinking. As we all started to “dig-in” she exclaimed, “WHY does everyone talk about HAMBURGERS, when they talk about American food!? This is SOOOOOOOO much better!” Her question was met with chuckles of agreement throughout the group. Most of the dishes (candied sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce) were foreign to this group before this meal. And they were all impressed.
I think as Americans, the nation of the “Melting Pot”, we sometimes feel that we have very little claim to any “authentically American” culture. Most of our foods, holidays, and traditions came along with our ancestors, and iterations of them can oftentimes still be found in the “old country”, wherever that may be. However, as we sliced everyone’s first-ever pieces of Pumpkin Pie and went around the table telling everyone what we are thankful for this year, I realized just how unique our tradition of celebrating the abundance of the “good” in our life is. With good friends, good food, and good health we set aside one meal every November, to spend time with each other and give thanks, in a way that in my mind, is truly American.
