On Celebrating Thanksgiving as a Non-American
Honoring the native ingredients
Today is Thanksgiving, a tradition that is foreign to me but that I have decided to celebrate while I live in the United States.
Last year it was the first time for my husband Ross, who is English and for whom Thanksgiving is also foreign, and I. We stayed at home, both of us alone, and had a massive feast of farm raised turkey, green bean casserole, mash potatoes, butternut squash, homemade gravy and cranberry sauce. Two days later a friend from Spain that had recently moved to Massachusetts invited us to their apartment for a housewarming party. We brought 3 pies that I had baked the previous day. So added to the feast, we also gorged on apple, pumpkin and pecan pies.
Why, you may ask? Why make the effort to cook for days, order the turkey in advance to our farmer’s market stand, prepare enough food for two families just to eat it by ourselves, two non-Americans. The answer is complex but it has to do with understanding and appreciating the place where we live.
Our family of two is a mixed one that is also quite international. I am from Barcelona, Spain, which makes me Spanish, Catalan and Mediterranean. Ross is from north London but 20 years ago he left England to live and work in Central Asia, Australia and East and South East Asia. We met in Thailand where we lived for 4 years and then moved to Budapest for another 2,5 years before relocating to Boston. All this to say that our traditions have been morphing and modifying to accommodate each other and the places where we have lived.
My favorite holiday is Christmas, but not being religious it mostly means tradition to me. Now, when we were living in Thailand we didn’t celebrate it at all. We would just go out for a dinner, often by the beach, in shorts and flip flops. Here in Boston I am starting to collect ornaments and decorations and we are enjoying going to the farm stands to pick our perfumed balsam fir that will glow in our New England living room.
Halloween didn’t mean anything to me when I lived in Barcelona. Even if it’s now an international holiday and many decide to dress up and party, I never did. There we celebrate La castanyada (friends meet up to eat chestnuts and a sweet called panellets) and the dressing up is done for Carnaval in February. But being here in Massachusetts, you feel the excitement during the month of October as you walk the streets and see the front of the houses decorated. And for two years now I have gone out the evening of Halloween to see the children trick and treat, whose joy has been contagious.
Thanksgiving takes it a step further in awakening my interest. The tradition started very close to where I live now and it’s directly linked to the early history of the United States. And it’s not only a celebration of unity but also a celebration of the native produce of North America. A fall harvest party. How can I not join in?
For me, Thanksgiving is the time to acknowledge where we are and to be grateful for its ingredients. To honour the produce that once saved lives and that continues to give to farmers and families.
Read about the history of some fall American native ingredients and dishes:
So I will keep on buying a turkey from a nearby farm, cooking potatoes, beans, cranberries, squashes, pumpkins, corn and pecans. All American ingredients. I will learn and practice different cooking techniques to master the art of a flavourful and tender bird (last year we brined it for 2 days in a bucket in the outside porch), and of a buttery and flaky pie pastry.
I will also make an exception with apples not only because they are delicious in a pie, but also because from all the European ingredients that arrived here with the Pilgrims, they were the ones most suited for the New England weather settling in as an indigenous fruit and bringing us the cider culture.
This year we were invited to someone else’s house. Ross and I made apple and pecan pies, a side of delicata squash and cranberry sauce. Our friends are Colombian, also non-American, but we will eat turkey, potatoes and everything else that goes with it. The ingredients that once nourished the European newcomers are now also nourishing us, and we are thankful for it.
Hi Eli - fyi in case you don't already know - many Native Americans (i.e., the original peoples inhabiting what is now called the United States, for thousands of years before the European Colonists arrived) have a very different (i.e. negative) perspective on the Thanksgiving holiday. See, e.g., https://americanindian.si.edu/nk360/informational/rethinking-thanksgiving and https://www.firstnations.org/news/understanding-thanksgiving-from-our-side-of-the-table/
You’ve lived - and are living! - such an interesting life! I’m so envious of all your stays in countries around the world!