Each year when Thanksgiving rolls around, many people start anticipating spending time with family and eating lots of food. American grocery stores traditionally stalk up on turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, pie, stuffing, ham, and so on. Foods differ from culture to culture and place to place.
“I’m Mexican, so my entire family comes from Mexico and we have an entire day where we eat and talk about life and what we’re thankful for with each other. We usually eat the traditional turkey dinner, plus some traditional Mexican dishes like tamales, pozole, and this drink called champurrado,” Samantha Gonzales ‘19 said.
“Well for me, we eat the typical: a big turkey, cranberry, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and ham. A few things we eat that might be different from other people’s Thanksgiving meals are some of our Salvadorian foods like pupusas,
Most Americans eat “traditional” such as, turkey for the main course, and compliment it with sides such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry, and pie for dessert. “Every year my family has a huge potluck at my at my aunt’s house and we all get to eat and catch up on life,” Madi Kenyon ‘19 said, “ We eat the usual turkey and mashed potatoes. My mom always makes really good rolls too.”
For those who do not eat meat or animal products, a Thanksgiving meal may look a lot different than what most people are used to. “I eat a lot of beans, mashed potatoes, bread, and we also make a lot of macaroni and cheese without meat, as well as tamales without meat that have jalapeño and cheese in them. Also, a lot of pie, the important stuff,” Israel Perez ‘19 said, who is a vegetarian.
Although there are a few cultural differences between most families in America, it is clear that the nation’s favorites include the customary foods that are staples in American culture on Thanksgiving, even for those who do not eat meat, mashed potatoes and rolls are still a must.
