Consider the oily gravy quality of it all: the margarine-frosted rolls and the ranch-dunked greens, the mellowing yams and the savory stuffing—O the stuffing!—a brothy bread pudding baked in a bird’s butt.
Rib-sticking fare to be sure, albeit cooked and served up at a glacial pace—how quickly a morning of stovetops piping hot gives way to an afternoon of cluttered dining tables, of clumps cooling lukewarm under the echoes of grace—O, Black Friday Eve!—what would you be without cranberry sauce?
You folks who call this annual culinary ritual your favorite feast will never convince me. You will never convince my palate that turkey and gravy taste better than pepperoni pizza, buffalo wings, and a Caesar salad to be healthy 😉
Still, every Thanksgiving dinner there is a moment…
a moment when even I relax in the face of the multi-car pileup that is the conversation; a moment when I grow amiable despite the chain gang feel of the long table, the cramped seating, and the resulting battle of the elbows; a moment when I stop dreading the looming threat of all the slimy leftovers the matriarchy will surely force me to take home—O wretched menace that I am to society!
It is the moment when a helping of sweetened-bitter red pulp—slopped onto the stuffing beneath my churlish grin—makes me pucker, snatches me away from my malaise, and forces me to confess again wholeheartedly yes, it is good when we all come together like this.
So when I hear someone say, “Oh, I don’t care for cranberry sauce. It’s not for me,” I think to myself, they’re right. It’s not for them. It’s for me.
Poet’s Note:
For another piece exploring food and religious tradition, read A Fat Mormon Tries Lent.
Featured image by Shutterbug75 on Pixabay.
I agree Jake—the sweet-tart cranberry sauce is a perfect companion to the salty blandness of the other dishes.
I enjoy the pictures you paint with words!
I decided to become a vegan about 6 months ago in order to lose weight. I miss meat and cheese. But this was the first Thanksgiving with no turkey. And yes, I did substitute buffalo tofu chicken. Not bad!
I love the cranberry sauce, too! My extended family grows about 4% of the nation’s fresh cranberries, and no Thanksgiving is complete without them 🙂
Also, on a side note, I’ve seen the Thanksgiving picture you’ve posted here several times recently, and am so confused. Is that bacon and a sausage link? With an Arby’s potato wedge instead of mashed potatoes?!?! I’m also perplexed by the thing that I assume must be a roll with a hole in the middle…
Yeah, BeeCee, honestly, the bacon strip alone perplexed me enough that I didn’t even notice the sausage till you mentioned it. I know some folks use sausage as an ingredient in their stuffing mix, but a link as a side at dinner? It’s an odd plateful, isn’t it? That said, I love Arby’s potato cakes and would allow them on my Thanksgiving menu.
Mormon Heretic and Lois, thanks for sharing your perspective as well. I hope everyone had a great holiday.
I dislike cranberries, but I love cranberry sauce with turkey. Definitely one of my favorite flavors of Thanksgiving. Thanks, Jake!
Somehow the US thanksgiving meal has at least to some extent become the British Christmas dinner. Turkey… cranberry sauce…
I have my jar of cranberry sauce ready and waiting. Contrasts beautifully with the savoury.