Texan Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year in the United States. What it represents to most people today is a time to be thankful for what we have. It is filled with memories of different flavors of cinnamon apple pie, turkey, cranberry sauce and in my opinion the best part, mashed potatoes and gravy. In my family thanksgiving is a strong tradition. Possibly even bigger than Christmas. Every year it is a time one can look forward to for good food, good people, and good conversation. Each member of the house hold is given specific responsibilities.

Danielle and her winning baked turkey.

 The host, my family friend Danielle is the "head chef." She over sees everyone's different responsibilities while preparing the most important part of the thanksgiving meal, the turkey. Danielle's mother, Ingrid the matriarch of the family serves as her guide. Their dynamic is very interesting. While Danielle has all of the cooking "power" she often looks to Ingrid for advice and guidance in how to make the turkey better, or if there is a specific way to mash the potatoes etc. However, while her guidance is used, Ingrid is not in charge of any main dish. Her only established responsibility is to make the cranberry sauce.

As for me and my mother, as we are family but also guests, and it is our responsibility to bring the appetizers. Our geographical location, in relation to Danielle's house dictates what food we bring, and as such, we do not cook any of the appetizers we bring. We bring food that travels easily. Furthermore, since we come from Manhattan, the lower east side to be specific, we are charged with bringing specially made, artisanal sausages and cheeses. Our access to specialty items in the city is vastly different from Danielle's home in a small suburb in New Jersey. In her community she has more access to fresh meats and vegetables, and not as much access to the specialty items. So my mom and I are made responsible for supplying that part of the meal.

The spread, courtesy of Rita and Sarah

One job that is specifically mine, is the creation of the whipped cream. In my family, we make whipped cream from scratch and since I was old enough to handle a mixer I've been making it. It was especially suited for me as I was the youngest girl in the family not allowed to touch any of the hot stoves or help with turkey. So I was in charge of whipping the cream. Since I've gotten older I've been given more and more responsibilities (I now get to make my own pies) but the responsibility to make the whipped cream is still mine. So while it was originally assigned to me because of my inability to do anything else, it became my full responsibility.

David and his proud smoked turkey

The men in my family are usually put in charge of the alcohol, and with an interesting twist, the second turkey. The main turkey, the one Danielle makes is always baked in traditional fashion. Since marrying her husband David however, another thanksgiving tradition has been added to our repertoire. We now have a turkey competition each year between the baked turkey, and David's special deep fried turkey.

The three turkeys side by side

This year, was even more special as we had three turkeys in this years competition. David's friend from Dallas Texas was put in charge of the fried turkey while David played his hand at making a smoked turkey. It was interesting to me, how the turkeys David and his friend made seemed to be more "masculine" than the traditional baked one. Both smoking and especially frying a turkey is considered to be a bit more dangerous. In Texas, I was told that during thanksgiving, houses and garages set on fire due to fried turkey accidents were a dime a dozen. There was this added level of danger to the fried turkey, making it a man's job, women and children beware.





The smoked turkey was masculine in a different way. I was given an impression that it was some sort of ode to the wild west, filled with cowboys and bad boys. These turkeys were novel, and cool. Not your average turkey and the both men were commended for it.


What I found especially interesting was the lack of appreciation for Danielle's turkey being made at the same time as all the side dishes. I felt it was almost unfair to judge Danielle's turkey against the two men, as she had been slaving over the hot kitchen stove for two days preparing her turkey and all the other dishes. Meanwhile the men were commended for any work they had done.

It was really interesting for me to experience my thanksgivings this year, with a new perspective. It was fascinating to recognize that even in a social gathering, we all had jobs, we all were working for a specific purpose, and we all were performing social roles given to us based on our gender. This is not to say any of this was wrong, but it was interesting to see how prevalent gender, and even age dictate the hierarchy within a family community, even my own.