Ellie Perrier

Traditional Thanksgiving dinner is kind of boring. That’s not to say it’s bad per se, but as far as celebratory dinners go, roast turkey is nowhere near the best humanity’s collective culinary traditions have to offer. Despite this, the traditional lineup continues to dominate the popular aesthetic imagery and practice of the holiday. This may be due to a combination of nostalgia and negative cultural reactions to changing traditions. I believe, however, every Thanksgiving dinner should be an excuse to make different foods, recipes and experiences with your loved ones.

My family hasn’t had a traditional Thanksgiving in years, and we’re all happier for it. My dad is allergic to poultry, so turkey has always been off the table. While the sides have always been traditional Thanksgiving’s strongest attributes, we still used my dad’s limitation as an excuse to mix things up every year and keep Thanksgiving interesting. Some particular highlights over the years include beef Wellington, chiles rellenos, steak Oscar, a carne asada nacho bar and a barbeque feast of pulled pork, ribs and sausages.

In this light, Thanksgiving can be what you make of it. You can experiment with dishes and culinary cultures totally unfamiliar to you, or you can stick to comfort food. Either way, the goal is to make each Thanksgiving gastronomically unique and memorable. Part of the reason each Thanksgiving stands out to me so strongly is because I associate each experience with a feast unique to that year. Instead of just blending into one amorphous blob of “Thanksgiving memories,” specific moments from each holiday are easier to hold onto.

Again, this is not to say traditional Thanksgiving meals are bad. While turkey can often turn out dry, this isn’t an inevitability. Delicious, juicy, perfectly slow-roasted turkey is eminently possible with an appropriately skilled home cook running the show. Traditional sides can also be great. I love mashed potatoes and mac and cheese in particular, and pies are always a strong highlight. My point is nobody should feel obligated to make food they don’t find interesting. If you love traditional Thanksgiving dinner, then by all means, continue to cook it every year. Just because I like something different doesn’t mean you have to.

Ultimately, I think a holiday entirely constructed around a single meal should not be restricted by mindless adherence to tradition for tradition’s sake. The cultural myth of Thanksgiving is already suspect enough. The imagined fantasy of pilgrims and Native Americans happily sharing food has been used to paper over the brutal colonization and ongoing genocide of Indigenous peoples. If this traditional aspect of the holiday can be correctly judged as worthy of discarding, I see no reason to keep allegiance to turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce either.

For me, Thanksgiving has a singular defining personal and cultural theme. At its core, the holiday is about sharing a ton of good food with friends and family. This is the essence of the holiday, the aspect worth protecting and preserving, and we should feel no obligation to cling to the aesthetic symbology of turkeys and pilgrims when a better, more meaningful and tastier substance is possible.