Thanksgiving Day (or as it was known in our house, The Day When Mommy Cries) is now upon us and you either have or soon will eat a meal certain to equal or surpass the annual nutritional intake of a good sized Bengali village. I have not returned to my ancestral lands for today’s annual celebration of all things caloric but instead will be spending the day with husband and a good sized group of extended family and scatterings here in LA . It was during a discussion of this ad hoc gathering that I came to realize that while the components of the traditional Thanksgiving meal are fairly standard, turkey, stuffing (or “ dressing” if your dad wore a tie to work), sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and the obligatory vegetables, the composition of said components varies greatly and opinions regarding this composition occupy a space in the holder’s heart somewhere between religious belief and the love of a first born child. While strong opinion abounds concerning almost every aspect...
Art and culture from the end of America