Thanksgiving foods that are friend to man

29Nov08

great for beer, not for Thanksgiving

I CANNOT STOP STEALING FROM JOHN HODGMAN. I am sorry, Mr. Hodgman. You are just too brilliant.

At any rate, on this holiday last year I was eating fried chicken after having spent the better part of an hour searching for a chicken joint. It was the longest time we ever spent looking for a 치킨식당, which can ordinarily be found approximately every .5 miles. (I guess it’s 0.804672 km in Korea.)

Of course, this is a false attempt to solicit my readership’s pity, as I had spent the previous weekend dining on the finest Thanksgiving dishes with the US Ambassador to Korea (true story!). Nonetheless, on that particular day it was very hard not to think about pie, even though I had eaten it only five days before.

So here is a list of foods and food-related things I am thankful for this year.

• Ovens. I had no idea how often I used ovens until they were taken away from me. A year is a long time to go without baked goods. (And a lot of other things, but in this case, baked goods.) Korean cuisine generally isn’t baked, so they’re not common. In my house in America, however, we have two.
• Desserts not made from rice. I am as fond of glutinous rice cakes as the next person (lie: I hate glutinous rice cakes), but they are not HOT, they are not GOOEY, they are not COVERED IN CRISP TOPPING or ENCASED IN PIE CRUST, they are not accompanied by cinnamon-infused apples or the delicious salty-sweetness of good cookie dough, and they cannot be sliced or scooped, thus making them difficult to eat communally. The only bonus is that they come in fun colors.
• Stuffing. My mother’s stuffing is terrific. She hasn’t made it this way all my life – I would say maybe the last third or so – but it contains within it multitudes of apples and nuts and sausage, all brought to a squishy (and yet crisp) texture by that sweet, sweet oven.
• Cheese. Cheese doesn’t play a huge role in our Thanksgiving, but I can’t express my gratitude enough times that it has come back into my life, even if it’s not relevant. Thanks again, cheese.
• Food labels I can read.
• Pecan pie with whole – not chopped – pecans. I am not thankful for chopped-pecan pie.
• And, of course, my lovely American family with whom I can share this food. I miss my Korean fams too, of course – both my host family and my family of friends – but right now, I’m pretty happy with my mashed potatoes here in the good old U S of A.

Now go make Pumpkin Pound Pudding with your leftovers.

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Tags: food, Korea, Thanksgiving