"Thanksgiving, as it tends to be celebrated, is the most honest American holiday: all appetite, no apology. Every other event on our civic calendar asks us to remember something noble, or to mourn something tragic, or to celebrate something grand or abstract, but Thanksgiving just asks us to be hungry together, and then to eat. In any year, this would be a potently simple path to commonality;"
"But I do believe in the less lofty fact of the meal itself: I believe priority for the turkey legs should go to those under the age of six, because it makes for terrific photos, and that the bird's cook and its carver should claim their spoils-the crispiest bits of skin, the loveliest little morsels of breast and thigh-while they work, not while the meat is being served."
Thanksgiving centers on communal eating and shared appetite rather than abstract civic remembrance. The holiday offers a simple path to commonality through a collective meal. Contemporary political and social cruelty heightens the holiday's absurdity, as people feed each other amid increasing indifference and hardship. Personal belief in national myths may have faded, but belief persists in the practical rituals of the meal. Specific household rules—turkey-leg priority for young children, cooks claiming crispy bits while working, a single stiff batch cocktail, complimenting side dishes, and a formula for pie quantity—structure the celebration and preserve communal joy.
Read at The New Yorker
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]