Blog: Curry, Latkes & Cultural Dishes Give Thanksgiving Flavor

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In the melting pot that is America, Thanksgiving traditions come alive each year in the form of family recipes that are cooked up with love. The typical Thanksgiving dinner includes a roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pumpkin pie, among other things.

But since our nation is a land that was built by immigrants, it is no surprise that other cultural foods are often incorporated into this holiday of feasting. I actually didn’t realize the full extent of that until I asked people around me what non-traditional foods their families eat for Thanksgiving.

Ravi Ramachandran, whose family is originally from India, says his family does not consume any traditional Thanksgiving foods whatsoever. His entire family is vegetarian and so they usually stick to traditional Indian foods. One of his favorite dishes is vegetable pakora, a fried snack or side dish made by taking one or two ingredients, dipping them into a special type of flour, and deep frying the whole thing. Ravi says he loves the texture of the vegetable pakora. “My grandma makes the best pakora and chutney. I can honestly say this and yellow potato curry are my favorite Thanksgiving dishes.”

Mimi Ogawa, of Japanese descent, says a big part of her family’s Thanksgiving tradition is when they make and eat sushi together. “My family always finds a way to add sushi to the meal, using whatever fish a family member just caught, and rice is added to the turkey and stuffing.”

Among those of Chinese descent, sticky rice seems to be a prevalent ethnic food that is eaten instead of stuffing. According to my own mother, who grew up in Hong Kong and makes sticky rice every Thanksgiving, it is usually made with glutinous rice, Chinese sausage, mushrooms, and pork or seafood.  Carolyn Ito remembers, “My Mom used to make a sticky rice with water chestnuts and Chinese sausage.”

Since a turkey is usually quite large, and since it is generally not used in Asian cooking, many Asian families use chicken instead. Verlan Kwan’s family sometimes steams a white wine chicken and stuffs it with sticky rice. This is also known as yau mei fan, which translates to “rice with flavor.” Often, the leftovers of the Thanksgiving turkey or chicken are used to make jook, or Chinese rice porridge.

Cathy Lee remembers her family having Chinese hot pot for Thanksgiving. “We rarely had turkey. We usually had a variety of fresh seafood, veggies, and a side of noodles with hot tea of course! It is usually a nice, long, leisurely dinner where everything gets cooked right on the table.”

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah always closely follows Thanksgiving, and it's not surprising to find some Jewish traditions incorporated into the meal. Aaron Cohen raves about his mother’s latkes—fried cakes made of grated potato, flour, and egg—that are served as a side dish alongside the turkey. “My Mom makes the best latkes I have ever tasted. She even makes her own applesauce." Then there's challah, the sweet, eggy bread that is served at Jewish holidays. The dough is braided so it has a very distinct look. Lisa Baum says, “My family always makes challah for the bread and then the day after Thanksgiving we make French toast with the challah."

I would argue that the southern part of the United States is a culture in itself. Laura Washington, who lives in Elk Grove but grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, always makes corn fritters, stewed okra and sweet potato pie for her family Thanksgiving dinner. Jerome Stevens has a sweet tooth and says that his favorite Thanksgiving foods are his mother’s pecan pie and candied yams. “She even makes a pumpkin pecan pie!” Ryan McDonald loves his mother’s cornbread dressing. “She makes it with cornbread, chicken broth, and butter. I’m sure it’s not healthy but it sure tastes good! I can’t remember a single Thanksgiving without it.”

Thanksgiving can also be a time to for multicultural families to celebrate different parts of their heritage. Sharon Parelli, who is of Korean and Italian descent, shared this: “Mom will always make kalbi beef ribs, kimchee, and japchae, a type of clear noodles made with vegetables. My father likes to make gnocchi. We do usually have turkey and my grandma makes this stuffing with ciabatta bread and pancetta. It’s awesome!”

Rachel Graziani, of Italian and Mexican descent, says that her family makes ravioli and tamales for holiday gatherings. The ravioli is made by rolling meat filling between two pieces of thin egg pasta dough, while the tamales are made with corn masa filled with cheese, either meat or veggies, and then steamed in a leaf wrapper.

It seems that it doesn’t really matter whether or not you and your family consume traditional foods for your Thanksgiving or incorporate foods from your culture. Regardless of what you consume, the point of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for all your blessings, and to celebrate the bonds of love and family through the sharing of great food. I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Jacqueline Cheung is an Elk Grove resident and the Executive Director of Go Jade Solutions.

This blog originally appeared on Elk Grove Patch.