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In this blog post, our blogger, Amanda, talks about the fusion of different cultures at her family’s Thanksgiving table. Read more stories from our writers in the print edition of the November 2013 issue!
There are five types of carbs on my plate. Sure, it’s Thanksgiving, and you’re not supposed to think about calories from the last Thursday in November until the last day of December—so I don’t. This is a fact of Thanksgiving: in addition to the turkey and gravy, the cranberry jelly and pumpkin pie, you also gotta have the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the stuffing, the rolls of bread, and the pot of rice—wait, rice?
Thanksgiving was a new holiday for my Filipina mother and Romanian father, so they defaulted to American food with a few of their home country’s touches. One of these was the ubiquitous pot of rice.
Typically in Filipino culture, a good meal consists of three parts: kanin (rice), ulam (rice topping), and sawsawan (dipping sauce). Sawsawan, commonly in the form of vinegar or soy sauce, serves for you to democratically flavor your own food. Ulam usually comes in the form of some meat, vegetable, or even another starch, but the kanin—that’s what makes the meal. Simple, unpretentious, right between the turkey (ulam) and gravy (sawsawan), the rice occupies a piping hot place of honor in this Eurasian American Thanksgiving.
One year I spent Christmas at another Filipino wasian’s house, although his mom was from upstate New York instead of the Balkans, so obviously she had these holiday traditions down pat. Amidst the carved ham and buttered potatoes, I was pleasantly surprised to see that ubiquitous pot of kanin. It’s a subtle acknowledgement that we are doing more than eating food. We are enjoying ourselves. We are savoring flavors and smells. We are sharing a meal. And above all, we are thankful for every moment of fellowship and abundance with our loved ones.
Happy Thanksgiving!
