As someone who didn’t grow up in the US, I don’t have a large family here, nor do we have any thanksgiving traditions outside of turkey or ham for dinner. But I wanted to learn some new traditions, specially some I can do with adults as my kids are in college.
Italian American so one of our traditions has been a thanksgiving lasagna that typically gets a lot of love. Sometimes we’ll make stuffed shells instead if its a smaller gathering. Meatballs for the red sauce we make are a must as that’s the family recipie where we chase how our grandma used to make the most. We get fresh loaves of Italian bread from a local bakery, we make a big antipasta, and have olive oils and a home made garlic spread for the bread. We’ve done the feast of seven fishes before but that particular tradition hasn’t been one we do every year. We still do turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, butternut squash soup, and some others too for the more traditional Thanksgiving dishes. Desserts go crazy with offerings from the bakery, as well as coffees typically with anise liquors, like Sambucca or Anisette.
If you can’t tell from the novella comment my mother and I have kind of taken over the cooking roles once her parents got too old to do it. I cherish them as a way to stay connected with my family heritage and my culture. Open kitchens are a must and cooking has always been a bit of a communal thing for us. Even when theres just one ‘cook’ in the kitchen they’re usually not alone.