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On Thanksgiving, I always know what it means to be an American; my potatoes come with marshmallows and my turkey with a customer support center. Even the way the cranberry sauce makes that little farting noise as it shakes out of the can possesses an American uniqueness. Another facet Americans call their own is the stress that comes with this holiday; Lord knows Aunt Phyllis is about to lose it and sacrifice one of those anonymous screaming kids to the pulsing vein in her forehead. But alas, football is on for the entire day and all the food is free!
And unlike some stiff restaurant or personal culinary experiment, we all know what to expect of the meal ahead of time. For those lucky enough to have a family that can, there is a happy meal and a proud cook. For those who will be on our own for Thanksgiving, there awaits one of the last truly authentic American experiences of choking down dry turkey and overcooked green beans swimming in an undiluted can of Campbell’s condensed cream of mushroom soup.
If you’re not going back home this year, you have a golden opportunity to forge a new path for your very own Thanksgiving. You shouldn’t use a Chinese takeout menu. Even if you’ve never cooked a thing in your life besides macaroni and cheese, you should try to cook on Thanksgiving. Nothing beats the feeling of warm food and pleasant company.
If you want to break new culinary ground, the food magazines are saturated with “new” Thanksgiving ideas, though I’m not quite sure turkey day traditionalist are ready for a Portuguese-Quebecois fusion menu.
I ate one of my best Thanksgivings one year in college with two of my roommates, which they still often talk around this time of year. We ended up buying most of our food and heating it up, but I did bake one thing, which is what they always bring up. It was a loaf of cinnamon bread I made out of a box. A one-step recipe of “just add water” filled our rooms with the most intoxicating smell of cinnamon and sugar. It made our dingy, roach-infested dorm room feel somewhat comfortable.
