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I used to share a wonderful New York Times special feature on the traditions of American families’ Thanksgiving cooking with others. The text is still available: The American Thanksgiving. 15 families talk about a special ingredient they add to the traditional American Thanksgiving meal around turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce.
All of these families have a special family history. Like most Americans (with the exception of the indigenous peoples -‘Native Americans’) they have immigrated from some other country. Some families came decades or even centuries ago, others arrived more recently. Each of them add some diversity to their Thanksgiving meals that reflect on these different ethnic backgrounds and histories.
When I first found this article, I loved the one-minute videos in which an individual or a family member talks about the food they prepare. Unfortunately, the videos are gone. Photographs and accompanying texts are still there and they are definitely worth reading. But I do miss the videos.
More stuff:
The History Channel has a great entry on Thanksgiving with little videos and a longer text, similar to the one for Halloween. History channel also offers a 40 minute long documentary on the topic, covering myths, historical facts (as far as we can tell) and current customs.
And of course there are some sporcles to add….
Thanksgiving trivia (some quiz questions relating to historical aspects connected to the holiday. A note of caution here: Many common American historical narratives are more mythical than factual, so for a more differentiated historical review of Thanksgiving you will have to go elsewhere ;-)).