Some people consider Thanksgiving to be their favorite holiday of the year and it’s easy to understand why.
The three F’s of Thanksgiving—food, football, and family—capture the essence of the holiday: gathering with loved ones, enjoying a great meal, and maybe watching some games while you digest.
Not to say that Thanksgiving doesn’t have its fair share of food debates.
Amongst the classic ones;
There’s Stuffing vs. Dressing. Some say the mix of bread, veggies, stock and other seasonings is “dressing” because it’s the side dish that “dresses” the turkey. Others call it “stuffing” if it’s actually cooked in the turkey. The debate of whether or not you should actually make it inside the bird should be reserved for a separate podcast, it’s too completed to be addressed to a simple commentary like this one.
Then there’s the matter of the Cranberry Sauce, are you a Can man or gal? Or do you go for the old school homemade? Personally, the gelatinous jelly that plops from the tin can is good enough for me, I only consume it twice a year anyway, but it must be cold and it must hold its shape.
Time to address the issue of Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes: do you prefer them smooth or chunky? Where do you weigh in on garlic in your mashed potatoes? Can we all agree that whose who demand we must have skin in their mashed potatoes must be immediately assigned to the kid’s table?
Finally, the Pie Battle. If it’s a traditional Thanksgiving meal, it’s got to be Pumpkin, right? Nope, not even close. The Pilgrims definitely did not eat pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving in 1621, because they didn’t have a baking oven, much less the butter and wheat flour to make crusts.
If Pumpkin is your preferred pie, that’s fine, but don’t expect to have the Pilgrims have your back on this, because they don’t. Just like the Pilgrims wearing wooden shoes or those funny hats with the buckles, Pumpkin pie at the first Thanksgiving is just a myth.
And here’s a debate about not just the food, but how you consume it. In light of a better term, for now, let’s just call it the Mixing Controversy. You do you, but this is for the person that needs, turkey, potatoes, gravy and stuffing all on your fork at the same time and consumed in a single bite. I’m not calling for a complete and total separation of foods, but this isn’t an Olympic event.
Some say that we West Virginian are always a bit behind the curve. I prefer to believe we just have our own way of doing things and will come around to changes in the culture when we are good and ready.
The region we now home actually celebrated Thanksgiving two years before Lincoln made it a national holiday in 1863, amid some of the darkest days of the Civil War.
That proclamation was issued on November 14, 1861, when Francis Pierpont, issued in Wheeling, the seat of the “Restored Government” of Virginia, made his proclamation calling on all the people of the state to observe Thursday, November 28, 1861, as a day of Thanksgiving.
The Wheeling Intelligencer noted at the time; “Today will be observed as a day of thanksgiving in many of the loyal states of the country, including the state of Kanawha. In this city, the day will be observed by an almost entire suspension of business, and most people will manifest their thankfulness in an appropriate manner.”
By the way, getting back to those pesky Thanksgiving debates, most people surprisingly tend to behave on the holiday. In fact, a new poll found that only sixteen percent of families reported discussing politics at Thanksgiving last year and only three percent argued about it. A hotter topic, pun intended, involved how long the turkey needs to stay in the oven, or complaints that it was in too long.
In any case, white meat or dark, Happy Thanksgiving!