« Paris may have been burning this week | Main | Feeling Bloated? »

November 22, 2005

Tofurkey anyone?

"Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie" by Kathleen Curtin, Sandra Oliver and the Plimouth Plantation is a wonderful look at how this holiday has come to be a unique American celebration over 300 years in the making.

What we think of as the first "Thanksgiving" was really a "Harvest Home", a celebration of a successful harvest. Puritans only celebrated three holidays, Sabbath, Thanksgiving and my personal favorite, Humiliation and Fasting. In fact, the first "Thanksgiving" wasn't celebrated until 1623 and that was for the end of a drought with nary a cranberry in sight.

This book takes a look at all of the things that we associate with a successful holiday table and tells the stories behind them. From a 1627 recipe for a steamed pumpkin, to the thing that I dreaded the most and still gives me nightmares, green bean casserole, the authors take it all on and have illustrated it with some fun and quirky Thanksgiving images. Yes, even that Tofurkey gets a mention.

All of us here at The Front Desk, wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by JenniferD at November 22, 2005 02:06 PM

Comments

Posted by: Dublin Hotel at March 20, 2006 12:40 PM