This blog post is going live the day after Thanksgiving. On that day, is your Thanksgiving feast only leftovers and memories, or are you yet to celebrate?
Our family has celebrated Thanksgiving on “Black Friday” ever since our children started getting married 20 years ago. It allows them to celebrate with their other families and gather with our family without having to eat two large meals on the same day. It also gives me one extra day to cook.
What foods represent Thanksgiving to you? Do you follow the same menu pretty much without fail every year? I do – because I believe food traditions are both meaningful and powerfully practical. Allow me to explain…
What makes food traditions meaningful?
Food traditions connect us to our culture, our family, our community, and more. The foods we serve at Thanksgiving are likely many of the same ones we grew up eating, combined with new ones added as we combined families and came together with friends.
Growing up on the East Coast, Thanksgiving didn’t include homemade noodles. Now that I’ve joined a Midwest family, homemade noodles (eaten on top of mashed potatoes) are one of my Thanksgiving favorites. My mother-in-law learned to make them from her mother. My sister-in-law made them this year.
Think about it… The recipes we use may include ones that have been in our family for generations. Who brings what side dish or dessert may be a long-standing tradition as well. As one family member passes, the tradition of making those dishes may be passed on along with the recipes.
The way we serve the meal, whether family-style, or buffet-style, whether we carve the turkey at the table, and the time of day we eat may all be part of our traditions. Whether we watch a football game, play games after dinner, or take a family walk may also be traditions.
All these traditions add meaning to the Thanksgiving holiday and provide even more reasons to be thankful.
To summarize what makes holiday traditions meaningful…
Traditions nurture relationships and strengthen family and community bonds.
Traditions build a sense of identity and belonging.
Traditions create positive memories.
Traditions provide comfort and security.
Traditions reduce stress and anxiety.
Traditions pass along cultural values from generation to generation.
Traditions provide a purpose for gathering together.
What makes food traditions powerfully practical?
The bulleted point above – “traditions reduce stress and anxiety” – is related to the practicality of traditions. They serve to reduce decision fatigue. Imagine if every Thanksgiving you had to come up with an entirely new menu – yikes!
Aren’t you relieved that rather than deciding what to serve for the holiday meal, the menu is set? And not only is the menu set, it is also highly anticipated.
Consider what might happen if instead of turkey, dressing, cranberries, and pumpkin pie you decided to serve burgers, corn on the cob, and watermelon for Thanksgiving dinner.
A menu highly desired for the 4th of July would not cut it for “Turkey Day.” Your family and guests would be disappointed. Not because the food isn’t enjoyable, but because it’s not tradition.
Other holidays also have many traditional foods – embrace the traditions and reap the practical benefits along with the meaningful memories they create. Traditions are powerful as well as practical, making them powerfully practical.
Food traditions are powerfully practical for reducing decision fatigue year-round. That is what makes menu-planning suggestions like “Meatless Monday” and “Taco Tuesday” so popular. Think of other categories you might employ to make deciding what to serve for meals less of a burden and more of a tradition.
Check out these ideas for making traditions potentially healthier. Cherish your traditions and look for ways to create more of them.
"I don't know what it is about food your mother makes for you, especially when it's something that anyone can make — pancakes, meat loaf, tuna salad — but it carries a certain taste of memory." ~ Mitch Albom
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