Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving week and we are busy stuffing turkeys, mashing sweet potato and making pumpkin pie for our American clients. Thanksgiving is a slightly odd event for us Brits – a distinctly American harvest festival celebrating the pioneering settlers of the 17th century. The Thanksgiving banquet resembles our Christmas table but with some odd twists, as though the idea got scrambled in translation. And yes, I do know that the origins of Christmas and Thanksgiving are entirely different, and that turkeys actually originated in the Americas and were adopted, greedily, by the Brits. I mean no disrespect to our American friends, and certainly none to our charming American clients. And yet.

There’s roast turkey involved, stuffing, sprouts and gravy, along with cranberry sauce (another American import, for that matter)…but pork doesn’t seem to feature in the classic Thanksgiving meal and I do miss the deeply savoury, crunchy-sticky double whammy of chipolatas and bacon. And where, oh where are the roast potatoes? Instead there is rice (sometimes) and mashed sweet potato (mostly). I like sweet potato (we add some grated ginger sweated in butter, which gives a good edge) but again I miss the crunch and it’s all a bit – well, sweet rather than savoury.

But the worst is yet to come. Some Americans like to top their mashed sweet potato with…marshmallows. Yes, those white squidgy pillowy sweets that taste of nothing except sugar and goo. Sometimes they bake the marshmallows into the mash which at least gives a bit of interest by way of caramelization. Sometimes they just stick ‘em in. Never does the cultural chasm seem so wide.

The puddings redeem things somewhat. I’ve grown to quite like the soothing, gently spiced qualities of pumpkin pie though once a year is plenty and it’s not a patch on a good Christmas pud. Pecan pie, though, is a revelation: dark, sticky, nutty, crunchy (crunch at last!) and very very rich. An all round all American star.