by Gerald Boerner
“Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action.”
— W.J. Cameron
“Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.”
— Robert Caspar Lintner
“An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day.”
— Irv Kupcinet
“Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.”
— Theodore Roosevelt
“Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings.”
— J. Robert Moskin
“The unthankful heart… discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!”
— Henry Ward Beecher
“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”
— Erma Bombeck
“What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving?”
— Erma Bombeck
“It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it.”
— Alistair Cooke
“There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.”
— O. Henry
Thanksgiving: The Thanksgiving Dinner
The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and Canada is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the traditional American version of Thanksgiving Dinner are made from foods native to the New World, according to tradition the Pilgrims received these foods from the Native Americans. However, many of the classic traditions attributed to the first Thanksgiving are actually myths introduced later.
Historical Menus
The use of the turkey in the USA for Thanksgiving precedes Lincoln’s nationalization of the holiday in 1863. Alexander Hamilton proclaimed that no "Citizen of the United States should refrain from turkey on Thanksgiving Day," but turkey was uncommon as Thanksgiving fare until after 1800. By 1857 turkey had become part of the traditional dinner in New England.[2]
Men eating a Thanksgiving dinner during World War I
A Thanksgiving Day dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 included: Pickles, green olives, celery, roast turkey, oyster stew, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, dressing, creamed asparagus tips, snowflake potatoes, baked carrots, hot rolls, fruit salad, mince meat pie, fruit cake, candies, grapes, apples, French drip coffee, cigars and cigarettes.
Normally a Thanksgiving dinner in the United States bears a good deal of resemblance to another feast served at Christmas: the centerpiece at both is most often a turkey. However, the spirits of these occasions are usually different: the family and friends present at a Thanksgiving table are not expected to give gifts to each other, for example, and the point of the meal is to reflect upon and be thankful for the things that have passed over the last year as well as reconnect with the people one holds close.
While most hosts will say a short prayer before the start of the meal, this is not obligatory and there is no overt religious significance to the holiday. (It is not uncommon for people of very different religious backgrounds to gather around the table, e.g., if one’s host is Jewish and one is a Christian there is no obligation for either to recite the grace.)
Turkey
Because turkey is the most common main dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving is sometimes colloquially called “turkey day″ or “poultry day.” In 2006, American turkey growers were expected to raise 270 million turkeys, to be processed into five billion pounds of turkey meat valued at almost $8 billion, with one third of all turkey consumption occurring in the Thanksgiving-Christmas season, and a per capita consumption of almost 18 pounds.
Most Thanksgiving turkeys are stuffed with a bread-based stuffing and roasted. Sage is the traditional herb added to the stuffing (also called dressing), along with chopped celery, carrots, and onions. Deep-fried turkey is rising in popularity, requiring special fryers to hold the large bird, and reportedly leading to fires and bad burns for those who fail to take care when dealing with a large quantity of very hot oil. In more recent years it is also true that as the wild population of turkeys has rebounded in most of the US, some will hunt and dress their turkey in the woods and then freeze it until meal preparation.
Side dishes
Many other foods are served alongside the main dish—so many that, because of the amount of food, the Thanksgiving meal is sometimes served midday or early afternoon to make time for all the eating, and preparation may begin at dawn or on days prior.
Traditional Thanksgiving foods are sometimes specific to the day, and although some of the foods might be seen at any semi-formal meal in the United States, the meal often has something of a ritual or traditional quality. Many Americans would say it is "incomplete" without cranberry sauce; stuffing or dressing; and gravy.
Other commonly served dishes include winter squash; sweet potatoes; mashed potatoes or rice (in the South and among Asians); dumplings; corn on the cob or hominy; deviled eggs; green beans or green bean casserole; sauerkraut (among those in the Mid-Atlantic; especially Baltimore), peas and carrots, bread rolls, cornbread (in the south and parts of New England), or biscuits, rutabagas or turnips; and a salad.
For dessert, various pies are often served, particularly apple pie, mincemeat pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate meringue pie and pecan pie, with the last four being particularly American.
Beverages
The beverages served at Thanksgiving can vary as much as the side dishes, often depending on who is present at the table and their tastes. Spirits or cocktails occasionally may be served before the main meal. On the dinner table, unfermented Apple cider (still or sparkling) and/or wine are often served. Beaujolais nouveau is sometimes served, as "Beaujolais day" falls one week before American Thanksgiving. For children non-alcoholic beverages are served at the table as it is generally frowned upon (and often illegal) for those below the legal drinking age to consume alcohol, though in some states it is legal for those under 21 to consume alcohol when their parents are present. Pitchers of sweetened iced tea are common throughout the South.
Background and biographical information is from Wikipedia articles on:
Thanksgiving Dinner which can be found at…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving_dinner
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