Though originally held by colonial settlers to express gratitude for not succumbing to starvation for another year, the celebration of Thanksgiving has morphed into a lavish annual food-fest that relies on abundance rather than looming deprivation. Celebrated in various forms starting in the 1600s, 'turkey day' did not become an official holiday until 1863, when then-President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed "a day of Thanksgiving and Praise" for the nation's blessings in the midst of the US Civil War.
The centrepiece of a typical T-G dinner is of course the turkey. While it's far more common regionally than in the past, many local people are unfamiliar this most majestic of fowl. White turkey meat tends to be a bit drier and more deeply flavourful, while the skin is thicker and cooks up nice and crispy when roasted. The drippings (juices from the meat which come out during cooking) are mixed with flour to make gravy, which is commonly served in an elongated, spouted bowl adorably called a gravy boat.
Because they are larger (up to 8 kg.) the huge hollowed-out space is filled with breadcrumb stuffing, a mix of seasoned crusts/crumbs of toasted bread seasoned with thyme and served as a savoury side dish.
In a somewhat grisly holiday tradition, one of the guests--usually an uncle or other senior relative--retrieves the "wishbone" (the "Y" shaped bone found between the wings) which is dried off and then grasped at either end by two guests, each of whom makes a wish before pulling the bone apart. Whomever ends up with the larger of the two pieces supposedly gets their wish granted.
While it may sound a bit down-class these days, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows was quite the treat in its time, when the orange tubers were a novelty in northern U.S. "Yankee" states and marshmallows were made of actual organic ingredients. Another indispensable Thanksgiving side dish, mashed potatoes are considered naked if they are not slathered in the afore-mentioned gravy.
Dinner would not be complete until one kid got yelled at by a grownup for making a mashed potato volcano, filling the improvised spud-caldera with gravy "lava", then "breaching" the edge so that it inundates the "village" on the remainder of their plate. Good times.
No one was ever able to figure out whether cranberry sauce is a condiment or side dish, so each person simply deployed it according to their personal taste. In its modern form, this concoction of cranberries and sugar is more like a jelly than a sauce, allowing it to be mashed-and-mixed, paired on a fork with some dark meat or slathered on a bread roll for post-holiday turkey sandwiches--anything goes with this wildcard dish.
Many Thais have expressed bewilderment to see tinned fak thong on the shelves of local supermarket import aisles--and justifiably so. In fact, the only use for canned puree pumpkin in western cooking is the ubiquitous pumpkin pie. The spiced and sweetened mash is poured into a traditional piecrust and topped with whipped cream. The actual plating of the dessert is often accompanied by the moans of turkey-stuffed dinner guests with proclamations of I can't eat another bite, then the inevitable well, maybe just one slice, with round-crusted variants like pecan, apple and chocolate cream not uncommon at the communal table.
Finally, if cooking a turkey is too daunting a task, most international supermarkets like Tops sell them ready made with all the trimmings--just order, pick-up, unpack and Viola!, your Thailand-based Thanksgiving feast is served.
