A Seat at the Table
Thanksgiving dinners are centered around family, tradition, and food. On TV we see the “Average All American” Thanksgiving ; turkey, stuffing, dinner rolls, and pies all set up post football game. I’ve never done that nor have most folks. The hundreds of immigrants and cultures in America make every dinner table different.
This year I spent Thanksgiving at Ani’s house to talk about what her Syrian- Armenian family eats and does during a holiday that celebrates the momentary peace between indigenous people and the pilgrims.
“When we celebrate Thanksgiving, we reflect and give thanks to our ancestors”
Like Native Americans, Armenians were also victims of genocide where almost 2 million were slaughtered and expelled from their own country. Ani’s family migrated to Syria from the fallout.
Ani’s mom, a pre- school teacher, had her first encounter with Native Americans in western movies that she would watch growing up. Western movies portrayed indigenous people as “savages” and justified killing them out of fear but their story of mass murder was never told. Every Thanksgiving her school invites nearby Tribe members to talk to the kids about their culture. She emphasizes the importance of learning other cultures, especially to young kids.
Food in the Middle East is almost all the same, except certain flavors and spices are more accented based on the region. For example, Ani’s mom makes grape leaves with walnuts, tomatoes, and peppers while someone from Lebanon would swap walnuts with cinnamon.
Everything on the table is handmade. While the food is being made and prepped, Armenia fund, an all day telethon, runs in the background.
ON THE MENU:
Maza: Grape leaves, dried fruit and nuts, lavash with zataar, cheese bureg, fatayer, ghapama, labneh
Main Dishes: Turkey, rice pilaf with beef, vegetables, and nuts, mashed potatoes, corn
Dessert: Kanafeh, pumpkin pie, ghapama, baklava, chocolate cake
