What to take to Thanksgiving?

[pilates]

If you were hosting thanksgiving what would you like to receive?

Not me, DS18 as a guest.

If it’s a thank you for having me present, flowers or wine is fine. If he wants it to be thanksgiving themed, hotel chocolat do some pumpkin pie chocolates which are a lovely token gift.

If he needs to take a dish, I would suggest making a pie (pumpkin pie is very easy to make if you use a tin of pumpkin purée and a pre-made pie crust) or mac and cheese or pecan pie or brownies!

I hope he has a wonderful time celebrating, it’s a great holiday :)

Is he bringing a dish? If so a pie for dessert is quite traditional. If you mean a gift then chocs/flowers/wine will be fine.

Why is macaroni cheese a side order everywhere now! It's a main course!

I'm American and I often host Thanksgiving for my family (we take turns), but we always assign dishes for people to bring. I try to ask people to bring things that are easy to transport, so usually dessert. Our traditional desserts are pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, apple pie or pecan pie. (Thanksgiving is a big pie holiday.)

Why is macaroni cheese a side order everywhere now! It's a main course!

It's never really been a main course in the US, except for children. And it is very traditional for Thanksgiving, especially in the South and for African American families everywhere.

Yes he is going to make a dessert.

I think I’ve answered my own question with some British chocolate. What do you think?

Is he in the USA or the UK? If he’s here then he needs to go transitional American pie dessert. Weirdly, if he’s in the USA then I would say British chocolate is fine unless he’s asked to bring something specific.

So: in USA - British chocolate fine
in UK - nooooooo

I visited my friend and his family for Thanksgiving when I was 20, I packed half my luggage full of different chocolates (the sharing kind of roses, heroes, quality streets, hotel chocolat, Thorndons, Lindt). They went down a treat. Or maybe they were just being polite 😅

Another question. Do Americans eat turkey for Christmas as well as thanksgiving? Do you give gifts at thanksgiving?

No gifts at Thanksgiving; it's one reason it's my favorite holiday. Lots of Americans do not eat turkey at Christmas. In our family, we usually have ham or roast beef at Christmas. Ham is the most traditional main course for Christmas in the Southern US where I am.

If you want chocolate as part of your Thanksgiving dessert, I highly recommend Kentucky Derby pie. Lots of recipes are on the internet. It's basically pecan pie with chocolate.

I am very particular about my Thanksgiving food, so I would prefer drinks (soft or wine).

Yes he is in USA

If he’s in the US he should forget the chocolates (they have horrible chocs there) and just bring a batch of cookies, either home made or bought.

He has some British Cadbury chocolate?

Do Americans eat roast potatoes and pigs in blankets?

Mashed potatoes are traditional for Thanksgiving, though less so in the South. Roast potatoes the way they are traditionally cooked in the UK are not really common in the US, except perhaps in New England. Pigs in a blanket in the US are cocktail sausages wrapped in pastry and baked; they are popular as an appetizer for holiday dinners in the US.

There are quite a few regional and cultural differences in Thanksgiving and Christmas meals in the US.

In my culture 'Thanksgiving' is a day of mourning. So I wouldn't take anything, nor would I go, nor would I be encouraging anyone else to either.

Can't belive this day is still considered a celebration.

just bring a batch of cookies, either home made or bought

This is a good suggestion. If there are children there, they often prefer cookies to pie. And some adults want a taste of dessert, but might not want a big piece of pie. Most supermarket bakeries do a selection that are quite good; ours do a variety box of chocolate chip, macadamia nut, and oatmeal raisin.

British tea bags as well if he can get his hands on any!

Excuse my ignorance but why is it a day of mourning? I'm not really up in American History.

Yes I was wondering that pixie

It would be worth asking the hosts whether they’d like him to being a side dish. If not, cookies would be great. They’ll probably have a pumpkin pie organized.

If he brought British Cadbury’s to my house, I’d grab it from him-it may not be anything special, but it certainly beats American chocolate, IMO. 🤮

The whole premise of thanksgiving was built on genocide, torture, stealing land, enslavement, digging up sacred sites, cannibalism and rape.

There's the lovely story of cultures coming together and eating that's touted everywhere, then there's the real story where my people were murdered, and the rest frightened into being there. They didn't eat, they fasted.

The genocide carried on after the first thanksgiving as well (still carried on today actually if you've heard anything about the thousands of Indigenous children being dug up at schools they were forced to go to).

Even today people use it as a day to dress in our sacred dress, which is downright racist.

There's a lot more to the whole history of it, plenty of resources online nowadays, finally.

Its a day of mourning that has absolutely been whitewashed.

The thought of taking traditional British food to a thanksgiving dinner actually makes me feel sick.

Its not an ignorant question though, unless you have a reason to look at the history you'd never know.