My mother-in-law is hosting Thanksgiving this year, and she emailed me last weekend to ask if I had any ideas for an appetizer. My first thought was my recent Sfiha recipe – the lamb-pomegranate-mint mixture is delicious mounded on 3″ rounds of pizza dough. Perfect finger food, especially if paired by a full-bodied red wine.
But then I thought to myself, “No, Thanksgiving is as American as pumpkin-pie, so for once, let’s stick with tradition and make something with mayonnaise.” I’m still a little torn by that decision. But the fact is, I spend every day thinking of foods from the far corners of the world, and weekends hunting for ingredients not found at Ralphs. For Thanksgiving, I’m ultimately thankful for friends, family, continuity, tradition, and yes – living here in America.
And it’s not like American regions are lacking in culinary variation. Check out my friend Nealey Dozier’s Southern Food Blog, Dixie Caviar for collard green dip, cornbread dressing, and Wassail and Whiskey punch.
In fact, even Lonely Planet got in the game with a list of “Regional Thanksgiving Foods of the US” – which, I may add, has the best sentence ever on Jello salad: “let’s be honest, they all end up looking like whipped alien guts.”
Well, you know how the song goes: “Mid pleasures and palaces, though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.”
I leave you with a photo of my family’s Thanksgiving table. Don’t ask me what pickles are doing there. I have no idea.
Got a Thanksgiving recipe, photo, story, or anything else to share? Plug in your URL below and join the WanderFood Wednesday link share. Happy Thanksgiving!
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