Fragrant rosemary and garlic radiate from a pan of crispy roasted chicken thighs and fennel, while fiery serrano-infused vegetables amplify the cozy fall vibes in the room. Surrounded by friends, I sip homemade sangria, my eyes glued to the television, occasionally setting my glass down to yell passionately at the screen.
This scene may lead you to believe that we gathered to celebrate Friendsgiving and watch football. Your guess isn’t too far off, though this celebration has a nerdier twist with arguably higher stakes. My friends and I, all students in UNC-Chapel Hill’s political science PhD program, convened over the recent midterm elections, our academic Super Bowl.
With Thanksgiving imminent, the aftermath of this year’s contentious referendum of the first two years of the Trump administration is still fresh in Americans’ minds as we travel across the country or cozy up inside our homes in preparation for Thursday’s feast. Perhaps those who do not study political science for a living are less likely to spend many hours a day predicting the effects of this blue wave, yet most of us either dread or eagerly anticipate politics being served alongside mashed potatoes as a quintessential Thanksgiving side dish.
Instead of getting into a down-and-dirty debate, you might be tempted to steer the conversation to the food (pretty much the real reason we put up with our family, whom we always love but may not always like, this time of year). On the surface, the topic of food appears, neutral, safe even, and separate from the hyperpolarization that now seeps from our government into our personal relationships like pan gravy. However, food may be just as political as the potentially unpleasant conversations we hold between mouthfuls of turkey, and our Thanksgiving meal exemplifies that the dishes we make not only nourish our bodies but also our sense of self.
Constructing shared social identities provides the feeling of belonging we all crave. Additionally, our cultural backgrounds serve as lenses through which we perceive our surroundings, including the political environment. An inherent component of culture, food unites us, and much like the social groups that contribute to our being, it also may foster divisions.
With an authoritarian platform focused on sameness, President Trump and some of his supporters are attempting to combat the shifting demographic composition of our country with an alarmingly overt call for nationalism. This rhetoric is problematic on many fronts, most notably that it ignores the diversity that defines American life.
Thankfully, my students and others are resisting these appeals to conform by cooking Thanksgiving dinners that allow them to recognize their ethnic identities despite increasing literal and figurative threats that escalate feelings of unease in places of worship, homes, and other safe places.
“My mom always bakes a whole chicken instead of turkey because Pakistani families don’t really eat turkeys,” says Ramishah Maruf. “She bakes it with a bunch of different spices, so it always ends up tasting like chicken tikka. I remember I used to get upset my family never had traditional American Thanksgiving dinners, but now I look forward to it.”
Substituting the conventional repertoire with culture-specific items can revive the potentially bland spread in the same way that immigrants improve our society. Replacing the entire menu is not necessary, though, as other students’ families celebrate this uniquely American holiday by combining foods from their homeland with the typical fare. Nevertheless, to call these dishes second tier would be missing the point.
Take tamales, which were cited among several students as an essential Thanksgiving food.
“Coming from a Latinx family, Thanksgiving foods go from your classic turkey and mashed potatoes to enchiladas and mole,” Kenia Gomez-Jimenez says. “We pretty much have both cultures [American and Hispanic] on the table on Thanksgiving Day, and it's amazing! You have the best of both worlds.”
Before you exchange pleasantries about the pumpkin pie in lieu of a partisan argument, consider that the plates on our Thanksgiving tables are political in their own right, challenging us to reconsider what being American means. Step out of your comfort zone and realize that families across our country from these minority groups are also celebrating this American holiday and their particular American identity. They may feature recipes from their cultural backgrounds that are not mentioned in the over-simplified, problematic “First Thanksgiving” story we learned in grade school.
But make no mistake, these dishes are just as American as the turkey.
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