The smell of turkey and stuffing fill the air.
Family and friends have gathered around ready to feast Thanksgiving style.
Everyone expects the chef to be behind some extra ordinary meal, for me it is the opposite. I sit back and watch everyone working at their favorite dish to bring to the table.
I am making the mashed potatoes this year after turning the idea for a Panko Crusted Yellow Fin Appetizer. Sometimes it is better just to leave it alone. Traditions are just that for a reason.
We will get back to Thanksgiving dinner in a little while, I decided to go back in time......
This is about who we are, and how our family has some of the biggest influence on what we cook.
Everyone I know has a recipe handed down from someone they love. From a Great Grandma or Grandpa, or from our Mothers and Fathers. Always from some old world country, where things are done the "right" way. When we make or eat these recipes it always seems to remind us of the good old times, somewhere that warms your heart and fills your stomach at the same time.
Not everyone can cook. Some people may be among this group among my readers. If you are one of these people, you still know what I am talking about you as you have eaten this food, and look forward to enjoying it when those special times occur so you can relate to this also.
Many different styles of food and cooking backgrounds have come together in this country over the last few hundred years. People worked hard to get here and bring with them a little bit of what they had to leave behind. Things that they loved. Some carried olives others carried grapes and a few just brought information stored on pieces of paper or in their memory.
These were the things that they loved to cook, and eat and when going to a new place this was very important to know if you were to continue enjoying it. These are the pieces of the pie that makes America a complete Hybrid and true culinary forge. Of course we have some dishes that are known as American like Apple Pie but many types of food have been made in the USA and we consider it Chinese food or Mexican. If you look at authentic food compared to it's American counterparts you can see the difference.. Some dishes we assume are Italian like Pizza or Pasta Primavera but they have origins from NYC. Chow mein was even invented in the states.
I know some forms of bread with toppings and even noodles with things mixed in was most likely invented 5000 years ago in China.
Some can trace our food history back to the very origins or creation but most people have been exposed to the roots of food that bind us. We all gather during special times with food that stands for what we are, who we are, and where we come from. This is a part of tradition and family heritage.
