My First Thanksgiving!

[Louweasel]

Yes, I know I'm rather old to be having a first thanksgiving, but I am british after all. Anyway, my friend has an american mum (or should that be mom?) so she is used to the whole idea, and invited some friends, including my weaselly self, around for a traditional thanksgiving dinner (after work - we don't get the day off...).

So, turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce are all familiar as we have them at christmas, but I tried lots of new things too. We had cornbread - lovely, if strangely a bit like cake! Mashed sweet potato goo - not entirely convinced. We than had pecan pie which I've had before and like very much, and the famous pumpkin pie! I must say I had some doubts about making pudding out of vegetable, but it was delicious; lovely and spicy.

So I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving too.

[Schiavona]

Thank you Louweasel! I'm sure you don't know, but there are various arguements about cornbread in this country. Some call it jonnycake, others say real cornbread is different from jonnycake and so on.

We had crab and shrimp as well as turkey. YUM!

Turkey on Thanksgiving, something else (prime rib or ham) on Christmas.

[jeff]

Hi Louweasel - it sounds like you had a good time with one of our fondest traditions. I'm really glad you enjoyed it. You'll know it's gone too far if you sit down after the meal and start watching American football!

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Glad you liked cornbread, its pretty good stuff. The sweet potato goo is my favorite though. Is it true that american cooking is better than british cooking, or is that just a rumor?

[Louweasel]

Jeff, I'd have to sit down for several hours in order to watch american football - it's only on at about 3am! Funny game - looks to me like rugby with no rules and a lot of padding!

DFP, I can't really comment on american cooking as I've never been there, and wouldn't dare presume that your nation's cuisine is represented adequately by the fast food outlets we have here! What I will say about english cooking is that it's very variable - done well it is excellent, but done badly is is awful. As opposed to say Italian cooking which on a simple level is harder to mess up, imho, anyway. The other point I would make is that (trying to say this in a non-offensive way) americans seem to be brought up to be, er, very proud of anything american, so I'm not surprised that rumour exists! Anyway, in our defense, I hold up the example of my mother who is in no way unusual in England. Her cooking is wonderful, and she has never trained or taken courses (she is a schoolteacher and housewife) and learned all her basic cookery techniques from my grandma, RIP, who was also a fantastic cook. She taught me to cook too, and although I don't come up to herstandards I am far from a disaster in the kitchen. So there are plenty of examples of good british cuisine about. One of them, controversially, being the apple pie, even though american's like to claim it as their own... My mum's apple pie makes grown men weep. I like it with custard but my dad shows his childhood living in america by putting vanilla ice cream on it.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

Jeff, I'd have to sit down for several hours in order to watch american football - it's only on at about 3am! Funny game - looks to me like rugby with no rules and a lot of padding!

DFP, I can't really comment on american cooking as I've never been there, and wouldn't dare presume that your nation's cuisine is represented adequately by the fast food outlets we have here! What I will say about english cooking is that it's very variable - done well it is excellent, but done badly is is awful. As opposed to say Italian cooking which on a simple level is harder to mess up, imho, anyway. The other point I would make is that (trying to say this in a non-offensive way) americans seem to be brought up to be, er, very proud of anything american, so I'm not surprised that rumour exists! Anyway, in our defense, I hold up the example of my mother who is in no way unusual in England. Her cooking is wonderful, and she has never trained or taken courses (she is a schoolteacher and housewife) and learned all her basic cookery techniques from my grandma, RIP, who was also a fantastic cook. She taught me to cook too, and although I don't come up to herstandards I am far from a disaster in the kitchen. So there are plenty of examples of good british cuisine about. One of them, controversially, being the apple pie, even though american's like to claim it as their own... My mum's apple pie makes grown men weep. I like it with custard but my dad shows his childhood living in america by putting vanilla ice cream on it.

That sounds like some good apple pie. I firmly believe that whatever nation had access to apples first made apple pie first. My friends who went to britain said that all of the restaraunts were terrible, but it was probably just the restraraunts. Italian food by and large is unscrewable, and if it is bad, you just put more parmesan cheese on it, and it tastes good.

[Gav]

That sounds like some good apple pie. I firmly believe that whatever nation had access to apples first made apple pie first. My friends who went to britain said that all of the restaraunts were terrible, but it was probably just the restraraunts. Italian food by and large is unscrewable, and if it is bad, you just put more parmesan cheese on it, and it tastes good.

I think your friends may have went to the wrong restaurants ... or we are culturally different. I amy be lucky, I live near several very good restaurants.

In my opinion, paying for Italian is wrong when you make better at home.

[scrapinpeg]

The other point I would make is that (trying to say this in a non-offensive way) americans seem to be brought up to be, er, very proud of anything american, so I'm not surprised that rumour exists!

It's not so much an American chauvinism, as a general impression that traditional English cuisine tends to be boiled bland or fried greasy, without the complexity of French cuisine or simple wholesomeness of Italian food. I understand the French did try to invade with sauces in the early 1800s, but were repelled.

I don't think there really is a truly American cuisine. There are a lot of regional kinds of cooking, and a lot of international styles, but no one American style. So we can't feel superior about it because it doesn't exist.

[Iwant2bafencer]

Mashed sweet potato goo - not entirely convinced.

So I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving too.

*Gasp* Not convinced about Yams?!?! That's the best part . . next to the turkey and mashed potatoes with a roll dipped in the gravy. But Not sure about Yams?! *faints*

[Phoenix]

My favorite parts of thanksgiving is the boiled pearl onions, squash, and real mashed potatoes. My mother makes pumkin pie every year ( but she let me do it this year ^_^) and it is really good. But I would have apple pie anytime . Your dad eats it with vanilla ice cream? Never heard of anyone doing that. I LOVE it the way it is .

[Iwant2bafencer]

Oooo Hot Apple Pie with Vanilla Bean ice cream melting ontop is devine.

[strongbad94]

Well,I hope that you all had a good thanksgiving.

[VorpalCat]

Yes, I know I'm rather old to be having a first thanksgiving, but I am british after all.

Huh. I know of a British lady who claims that England celebrates Thanksgiving every year ... they just do it on July 4th. Okay, to be picky, her words were more along the lines of, 'We do too celebrate on the 4th of July, we just call it Thanksgiving.' But you get the idea.

[VorpalCat]

And now that I think about it, her online name had/has 'Weasle' in it too. Verrrrrry interesting........

[esskreemr]

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It has yet to be invaded by the gaudy commercialism of Christmas and many of the other holidays. Families get together, they eat, they go home.

As for food in America, it tends to be VERY regional. America is a land of recent settlement. In addition (or as a result), our recipes have been influenced by many ethnic groups. My dad is 1/2 Italian. Nothing like lasagna or spaghetti to complement the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing...

Let's continue this food conversation. My sister is moving to England in about a month. I plan on visiting and want to know if I can get a good plate of sushi...

One thing that I find interesting are the various starch staples: Pasta, bread, rice, potatoes. Everybody seems to have their ingrained favorite without which a meal would not be complete.

[Louweasel]

Huh. I know of a British lady who claims that England celebrates Thanksgiving every year ... they just do it on July 4th. Okay, to be picky, her words were more along the lines of, 'We do too celebrate on the 4th of July, we just call it Thanksgiving.' But you get the idea.

That's weird...what she does is her own business but she doesn't speak for most English people. We don't celebrate anything on 4th July, it's just a normal day. Fairly simple really - no pilgrim fathers having a good harvest with Indians, and no independence from colonial oppressors, so why would we have either thanksgiving or 4th July? Strange woman.

We have our fireworks on 5th November, and if anyone doesn't know why, I am happy to explain...

[Louweasel]

Let's continue this food conversation. My sister is moving to England in about a month. I plan on visiting and want to know if I can get a good plate of sushi...

"Yo! Sushi" is good, or Moshi Moshi. Both of these are chains. Then there are the independent reatuarants. For takeaway, there's a fab little place in the Leadenhall market, City of London...mmm... Outside the major cities you would have more difficulty though; it depends where your sister is moving to.

Btw, my friend didn't cook mashed potatoes, she did wild rice. Is that not traditional?

And no, sorry, sweet potato goo was (right back at ya) a bit bland.

And although I'm in danger of going blue inthe face saying this, stereotypes about Englsih food and culture are merely that - stereotypes. English food properly done is not bland, greasy or tasteless.

[Schiavona]

Who said, "In Hades, the politicians are Italian, the bureaucrats are French, the police are German and the cooks are English."?

[Louweasel]

Who said, "In Hades, the politicians are Italian, the bureaucrats are French, the police are German and the cooks are English."?

Somebody who's never been to my mum's house for dinner!!

[Maeve_Mari]

"Yo! Sushi" is good, or Moshi Moshi. Both of these are chains. Then there are the independent reatuarants. For takeaway, there's a fab little place in the Leadenhall market, City of London...mmm... Outside the major cities you would have more difficulty though; it depends where your sister is moving to.

Btw, my friend didn't cook mashed potatoes, she did wild rice. Is that not traditional?

And no, sorry, sweet potato goo was (right back at ya) a bit bland.

And although I'm in danger of going blue inthe face saying this, stereotypes about Englsih food and culture are merely that - stereotypes. English food properly done is not bland, greasy or tasteless.

She must have forgotten to add the cinamon, brown sugar and melted sweet marshmallows. No way could it be called bland if made the way we do it in the trailer parks (and other fine homes) of America!

And no, wild rice is not traditional. It's not out of the question for a nice Thanksgiving Day Dinner, but it is lower on the list than Mashed Potatoes with Gravy, Sage Bread Stuffing, and Green Peas with Small White Onions. Oh, and Green Bean Casserole too!