Lexington, KY - Many things are up for debate when my extended family gets together for the holiday dinners this time of the year --
the location of the feast, who is bringing what side dish, sports, recent life decisions nieces and nephews have made, politics and a host of other topics --
but one subject is off the table.
Actually it is on the table, literally. It's the food. It's turkey. It's stuffing (oyster and regular). It's pickles and olives and cherry tomatoes on the relish tray. It's pumpkin pie. It's mashed potatoes, green beans, yams, deviled eggs, wild rice and gravy, which goes on everything, even the cranberry sauce. It's delicious.
And it's not up for discussion.
Though, for the past few years, I've been leading a small, but vocal, movement to incorporate new food items into the holiday menu, mostly trying to build support among the other 30-somethings who are still relegated to the "kids' table." Why should turkey have such a tyrannical stranglehold over our holiday meals, I'll start, but the argument doesn't gain much traction. The tryptophan has subdued any revolutionary spirit.
In this regard, anyway, I'm in the 1 percent. If turkey wasn't on the table, the other 99 percent would stage an Occupy The Kitchen protest.
Inevitably, the answer always comes back, when I'm musing with the family elders about the possibility of having a more diverse dinner next year, "If you want something different, why don't you just make Thanksgiving dinner next year."
Why? Because I don't want to spend the holidays alone.
So it was with great interest that I read writer and photographer Abby Laub's survey of holiday food from around the world, which was informed by cooks from local restaurants --
Sav's Grille, Old San Juan, Lexington Pasta and Sahara Mediterranean Cuisine --
all with strikingly different culinary (and cultural) backgrounds.
More importantly, the package on international holiday foods also is stocked with several recipes. And some of them don't seem that difficult to make, so maybe I will consider hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for the family sometime soon after all.
Or, more realistically, maybe I'll consider bringing a side dish.