Dishing Out Thanksgiving With a Cultural Flair

Traditional Thanksgiving meal
Credit: Country Living 

We’re all familiar with the “Thanksgiving aroma.” Yeah! You know the strong whiff of the oven baked turkey, sweet ham, candied yams intertwined with the gooiest macaroni and cheese, creamy mash potatoes merged with the velvety smooth gravy, collard greens, hearty stuffing and cranberry sauce chilling on the side. 

Particularly in my family, the smell of Thanksgiving is a combo of Jamaican traditional and American tradition dishes trying to find a happy medium. Trust me when I say, it’s the smell of curry chicken, barbeque chicken, curry goat, rice and peas, plain white rice, mash potatoes, jerk pork, macaroni and cheese, a secret recipe fruit punch that somehow changes ever year made of every juice in the pantry and Publix ginger ale, and fried escovitch fish. Oh did I miss anything? How could I forget the turkey?

To an extent we all celebrate Thanksgiving differently within our own family and friends. Michelle Provenzano is a student at the University of Florida who is looking forward to her split Thanksgiving dinner with her father and grandmother. However, her Thanksgiving dinner is usually spent at her Italian grandmother’s house where traditional turkey, mash, stuffing and cranberries are all on the menu. She says her typical Italian grandmother will always throw in an Italian twist where marinara meatballs and chicken parmesan is essential to the Thanksgiving table.

Have you ever tried adding a twist to your Thanksgiving dinner? Or consider celebrating the holiday by emerging yourself in another’s culture? Maybe this year’s thanksgiving could be Italian, Chines or Greece themed.

In addition, eating healthy this Thanksgiving won’t hurt. Gabrielle Peterson has some healthy recipes on her blog. After all that festive eating, traditional or non-tradition, bloggers Jessica Barreto and Raphael Pires has some great tips on what to eat post all the holiday festivities.