Thanksgiving Traditions

     Thanksgiving is a big deal in my family!  We all come together to cook and prepare the food and then sit down for a nice feast.  We usually have all of the “traditional” Thanksgiving foods like turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, squash casserole, cream corn, biscuits, giblets, and giblet gravy.  Now I’m not too keen on the giblet stuff but my grandma likes it! Then there is all of the desserts like sweet potato pie, apple pie, pumpkin pie, and the list goes on and on.  Now there are some items that aren’t what you would call “traditional” Thanksgiving food, such as, the casseroles, the cream corn, and some of the desserts.  In my opinion each family makes Thanksgiving their own.  It is a time of nationality and family, and each family incorporates their own twist on things. 

     In my family, the women make all the food except for the turkey.  My dad always deep fries the turkey, so we leave that up to him.  My grandma, my mom, my cousins, and aunts all come together to help make all the different dishes.  We divide things up between all of us, and we all get started cooking.  My grandma loves to cook, and ever since I was a little girl I cannot remember and day that went by that she has not cooked something!  She always cooks the dressing. She helps cook everything else but she is the only one that cooks the dressing.  Honestly, I couldn’t tell you why this is but it is just tradition.  I think many things are like that today.  We do things the way we do them because that is how they have always been done.  We don’t like to stray from the norm, so we stick to what we know! After everything has been prepared, my dad or one of my uncles carves the turkey.  Yet another thing that I cannot explain.  I do not know why the men are always the ones to carve the turkey, but that is how it has always been done. 

     After the turkey has been carved and all the food is laid out, the children line up first.  The kids have always been the first ones to eat.  Now that I have gotten older, I have to wait till my smaller cousins get through before I can dive in (which sucks by the way)! We always have Thanksgiving at my grandma’s house, which is not very big in comparison to my family; therefore, we have to eat in sets.  The kids go first, then the younger adults, and then the older people.  Now I am not saying that it is forbidden to go ahead of your “turn,” but this is the order that we have always stuck to. Once all of the kids have their plates and are sitting down, my dad says the blessing over the food acknowledging the day of Thanksgiving that we are observing by eating this feast. Throughout the day we reminisce over memories of the past and talk of what we are all thankful for.  When I think about it, it is odd how we just do things because of tradition.  We never question Thanksgiving asking when this began. Where it started? Or who started it? Recently, I read “The Invention of Thanksgiving: A ritual of American nationality,” by Janet Siskind.  She brought up many good points of how we as Americans do not know when Thanksgiving began or the real reason behind it.  Siskind says “it is impossible to be an American and be unaware of Thanksgiving,” and she is completely correct (Siskind 167).  There is not one American that does not know about Thanksgiving! So how can we all know this holiday, but not really KNOW what it is?

    Thanksgiving is a national event, and celebrating it somehow conveys the fact that you are in fact an American.  Siskind talks of how the actual first Thanksgiving Day is not even known for certain, and that Thanksgiving is basically a made up holiday. We have formed this day saying that it originates from the pilgrims first Thanksgiving feast, but it does not originate from that.  So how can we take so much pride in a holiday that we know nothing about?  I guess this shows how tradition plays a key role in our lives.  Americans have been preparing a big feast for their family in November for years and years; therefore, we continue to carry on this tradition without any hesitation.  Siskind says, “The preparation of the Thanksgiving feast is a traditional responsibility of women, the carving of the turkey usually the prerogative of the man of the house.  Women wash the dishes after the feast while men watch violent games on television.  Gender roles and family hierarchy are reaffirmed. The media and all the schools emphasize the importance at Thanksgiving time of the need to be with the family, and it is this need that is projected onto the wider screen of nationality (Siskind 185).” She says it all in this quote.  As I said earlier, the women of my family cook and the men carve the turkey.  It is crazy how strong gender roles are in our daily lives, and how important that can be on a national holiday like Thanksgiving. 

     After spending some time thinking about Thanksgiving and what it truly means, it makes me wonder why we never stop to think of where it comes from and why it is so important.  Maybe this is something that should be looked into further.  Siskind concludes her article by saying that she is uncertain how much longer Thanksgiving will be around (Siskind 187).  I don’t exactly agree with her here, because I feel as though Thanksgiving will continue to be around for a long time. As I mentioned earlier, we tend to stick to the norm and to tradition. We don’t like change; therefore, it hard to think that Thanksgiving Day will ever be extinguished.  All in all, I still enjoy the family time and the food especially, so I wouldn’t mind if it sticks around, even though most of us have no idea how it relates to our nation.

I thought this represented the concept of prayer before the Thanksgiving meal very well.

Who else remembers doing this as a child? I sure do !! 

WE AREN’T PERFECT, AND OUR BODIES AREN’T EITHER!

Food comes with so many things to consider.  How healthy is it? How many calories are in it? Will this help me lose weight? Should I get another plate or not?  Society places such a huge importance on looks and body types.  If you are not skinny and stick thin, then you aren’t attractive.  Now, I am not saying that this is how everyone thinks or feels, because I have come across many guys/girls that are not interested in a stick thin person or a perfectly toned person.  However, when you turn on the tv or open up a magazine, there are all these so called “perfect” people staring back at you. 

How ironic was it that the moment I began reading articles on obesity and eating disorders that my Victoria Secret magazine came in the mail.  Now I won’t lie, I do shop a lot at Victoria Secret and spend a lot more money than I wish to admit (My perspective is, if you have a coupon, then you have to use it!).  While I love their clothing, I think another thing of their models.  Every time I look at that magazine it makes me sick, because I wish I could be that skinny. Yeah, yeah I know!  We are all made differently, but come on! I wish I could be that “perfectly” shaped.  I have always been a little on the heavier side.  I am not going to say that I am fat, but I got a lot of curves and stuff going on, so obviously I would want to be a little more slim and trim.  Why is this though?

When I think about it, the only reason that I along with millions of other girls/guys feel this way is because society has defined what the perfect person should look like.   In this part of the world a girl should be stick thin with enough butt/boobs but not too much, perfect teeth, perfect height, and so on! And the same thing for guys, they have to be the perfect height with nice teeth, defined muscles, and the list goes on and on! No wonder there are so many people with eating disorders in the world.  I could name five people off the top of my head that I know of personally that have or are suffering from an eating disorder.  I am no psychologist, but it is obvious that society places so much pressure on people to look a certain way that they have to result in being anorexic or bulimic just to try to make an attempt to look this way. 

I mean think about it; most obese people are made fun of or ridiculed at some point in their life.  I recently read an article by Margaret Meat entitled, “Why Do We Overeat?”  I must admit that she makes many good points in this article, one of which is that there is a heavy burden placed on obese people in today’s world.  Clothes are hard to find for them, furniture isn’t big enough, and so on (Mead 20).  How would you feel if you walked into a clothing store and could not find one thing to fit you or you were at the doctor’s office and had no place to sit, because the chairs were all too small?  In my opinion, that has to be hurtful and embarrassing.  Our society should consider that everyone is not the same size and that everyone is not made up of the same genes.  Some people cannot help that they were blessed with bigger genes than others.  Another good point that Mead makes is that we tend to group all fat together, and this is very true.  Any weight whether it be pregnancy weight, extra food weight, or genetic weight, we see it as all the same (Mead 20).  It should not be like this.  Fat is not just fat.  Many different things cause it and people should take the time to stop and think about that before they judge someone. 

Back to the eating disorders.  When anorexia and bulimia are mentioned, what flashes through your mind?  We often times associate these disorders with privileged teenage white girls.  I never knew why we did this until I read Susan Bordo’s article, “Not just ‘a white girl’s thing’: The changing face of food and body image problems.”  Bordo talks of how there is a misconception that white girls are the only ones that deal with these eating disorders.  She says that one reason for this myth is that at the time when most of the studies were done on these disorders, the most common people that were brought in to get help were privileged white girls (Bordo 47).  This makes perfect sense given that most middle or upper-class white families were the ones that sought out help, because they had the financial means to do so.  I found it interesting to hear the stories of all of the people in Bordo’s article.  Tenisha, a black girl, suffers from anorexia and Sami Schalk, a fifteen year old biracial girl, suffers from bulimia (Bordo 46).  There is this myth that eating disorders are limited to a certain type of person, but this is not the case.  Susan Bordo does a wonderful job at explaining why this concept is most certainly a myth.  These disorders have to do with having an “addiction to perfection” as Bordo says.  Anyone can have this problem, just like anyone can become a drug addict or an alcoholic.  We have tried to put restraints and limits on anorexia and bulimia, but the fact of the matter is, that anyone can have this problem. 

Touching back on my Victoria Secret rant, so many people look at these girls with jealousy or envy, but we never stop to think, maybe there is a reason I never see anyone who looks like this just walking around.   These models have been touched up and obviously can never enjoy a slice of cake or bowl of ice cream if they look like that!  Everyone finds something wrong with his/her body.  It is part of what makes us human.  WE AREN’T PERFECT, AND OUR BODIES AREN’T EITHER!  Our society place too much emphasis on a person’s looks and it doesn’t look like that will change soon, but hopefully in time, people will realize that beauty isn’t skin deep.

(This girl has hardly any fat on her, no cellulite… the media portrays this as if it should be the "norm" when it is no where near the "norm")

(I mean no wonder girls think that they don't look good enough.. look at this girl!) 

(Anorexia: we see one thing, while she sees something bigger)

(Myth: It is not all white women, and it is not all women when it comes to eating disorders)

Rationing: A Little Less

I have never considered the luxuries that we have in society today given that we are not required to ration our food.  During times of war it is often normal for countries to ration food and other items, in order for them to go towards the war effort.  In 2014, we are all pretty spoiled when it comes to the foods that we have, at least in this part of the world.  It is not often that you come across an area in the United States that the foods you need or want are not right around the corner.

I recently heard Dr. McClelland-Nugent give a lecture on rationing food.  Her lecture was very informative of the ways food is rationed and what foods were rationed in certain times.  It is hard to believe that there have been times that you were limited to an extremely small amount of cheese or meat.  I am extremely spoiled, because I am used to going to the grocery store five miles down the road to get whatever I need.  Food is always at an easy to reach access.

I recently read Amy Bentley’s “Islands of Serenity, Gender, Race, and Ordered Meals during World War II.” Bentley talks about women trying to feed their families during World War II with only the rationed supplies that they are allowed to have.  This had to be a struggle in order to make a full meal for an entire family when they were limited in what they could use.  Bentley does mention that many people ate about the same amount of food that they did before the war; however, due to the types of foods that were rationed, the quality of the food was a lot lower.  While it seems bad that people did not have all of the food necessary to make certain things, I found it interesting that many of the poor people had more food than they normally would have due to rationing.  It is fascinating to me that in such a hard time for the country, it is actually better for some people.  I guess this goes to show that things may not always be as bad as they seem.

Last week, I was able to see what it was like to have to cook with rationed supplies. My class prepared various recipes from “Recipes to Match Your Sugar Ration.”  I found it interesting that even though many food items were being rationed, they still found ways of having sweets and desserts.  They had to fulfill their sweet tooth somehow.  I chose to make an attempt of cooking the Quick Cinnamon Coffee Cake.  At first glance I already knew that this would not turn out as a normal cake, because the recipe did not call for all of the normal cake ingredients.  I bake often, so I am accustomed to the normal dessert requirements, and this recipe did not include them.  I began mixing the ingredients and began to realize that this was going to be more of a bread than a cake given that the mixture was a doughy texture.  I was nervous while mixing, hoping that it did not turn out awful.  After baking it and sprinkling the cinnamon and sugar on top, I concluded that this was more of a bread than a cake.  This makes sense since at the bottom of the recipe it says, “Serve warm as a bread or dessert.” The coffee cake was not awful; however, it would not be my go to cake recipe.  After participating in this experience, I have come to realize that I should be more grateful of all the things that I have at my fingertips.  This was definitely a learning experience!