If you're not American by birth, what do you serve for Thanksgiving dinner?

[Anonymous]

We're at home for Thanksgiving for the first time, and I think my American husband would like me to cook thanksgiving dinner, even though he insists that I don't have to. I like turkey but am not so keen on the overly sweet side dishes that my in-laws serve, and I don't really think that DH likes them either. What do you include in your dinner if you're not American? Dishes from your home country? I need some suggestions please.

[Anonymous]

moo goo gai pan

[Anonymous]

roast potatoes, brussel sprouts.

[Anonymous]

My mom was a naturalized citizen from the far east, and she would always serve or bring fried rice as a side dish for Thanksgiving. My redneck, middle of the country extended family always said it was not Thanksgiving without some fried rice. They ranked it right up there with stuffing as a must have starch for the holiday menu.

I would ask your husband which sides mean the most to him and make sure you guys have those, and then include some of your traditional foods. It makes it more fun.

Also, check out healthy online recipes and see if you can find less sweet options for some traditional sides like sweet potato. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I'm not American by birth, and don't like super sweet sides, either. That said, plenty of ways to do even the traditional dishes without making them that way.

go to www.epicurious.com lots of great recipes there. My family likes mashed sweet potatos with ginger. Not that sweet at all. Also roast brussel sprouts as a side, and there are tons of variations of this on the site. Ditto for stuffing. Cranberry sauce can be pretty tart. I've also made roast goose instead of turkey (sacrilege!!) before. Or just turkey breast and ham.

[Anonymous]

No one in my family really likes turkey and we all love beef, so we're starting a new tradition of standing rib roast.

[Anonymous]

Lots of American Latinos serve tamales, lechon, etc with their full turkey dinner. I've also know Filipino families to do this ie adodo and rice and coconut pastries.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me. My parents both immigrated from China to come for graduate school. They met here and raised their family here. Growing up, we often had blended holidays. So, our big Thanksgiving dinner was always half American and half Chinese. One year, when I was in grade school, one of my friends from the neighborhood came to play at my house in the afternoon. About 3:00 he was going home and passed through the kitchen. My mother was just pulling a large baking pan of egg noodles out of the oven. She boiled them, then baked them until they were slightly crispy and later added a chow mein topping over the noodles. The friend saw the noodles coming out of the oven and ran home and told his mom, "The X family is so poor that aren't even having turkey for Thanksgiving, just spaghetti!" The turkey was in the other oven.

So, in addition to turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, green bean casserole, stuffing and gravy, Mom usually also made a big batch of Chow Mein, a stir fried beef, fried rice, one or two Chinese vegetables (something like a gai lan or Chinese Brocolli or a Bok Choy type dish). And then other friends often brought side dishes to share since we usually had like 25-35 people.

[Anonymous]

40lbs of Korean ribs. Seafood pancakes. Fried shrimp with seasoned panko powder. Baked Korean sweet potatoes (yellow and not as sweet). Roasted chestnuts. Ghim-bap (maki rolls w bulgogi).

Nobody likes turkey and traditional sides are too sweet for us. Our English and Jewish relatives clean it up and take most of the leftovers home. My Irish, Tennessee, Texas, Brazilian, and Bolivian co-workers try to steal my leftover lunches.

NJ co-worker will just tsk tsk and say "that ain't Thanksgiving". LOL.

[Anonymous]

My vegetarian family always had Indian food for dinner.

Now that we're half veg and half meat-eaters, we do a Whole Foods thanksgiving. You can order the entire meal from there (including a veggie loaf for the main dish in addition to turkey) and everything is really delicious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at home for Thanksgiving for the first time, and I think my American husband would like me to cook thanksgiving dinner, even though he insists that I don't have to. I like turkey but am not so keen on the overly sweet side dishes that my in-laws serve, and I don't really think that DH likes them either. What do you include in your dinner if you're not American? Dishes from your home country? I need some suggestions please.

I am northern european but do an "american" dinner. Can't you make mashed potatoes, stuffing-ciabatta, onions, leeks, celery--a couple of roasted veggies-brussel sprouts, broccoli, greens? A cheesecake and fruit for dessert? Even the cranberry sauce we make isn't too sweet. I don't understand what the problem is.

[Anonymous]

We stopped doing whole turkeys because no one in the family (southern European) likes white meat - now we broil chicken legs.

[Anonymous]

I go to my MIL's and I bring apple pie.

[Anonymous]

DH is Mexican and we do the regular stuff plus tamales. We also do the yams, but without marshmallows or sugar or any added sweets. They taste much better that way.

[Anonymous]

Not born here but am a US citizen. I do a European modified Thanksgiving. No sweet side dishes, I save the sugar for dessert.

sides: Brussels sprouts, chestnut fig stuffing, mashed potatoes, simply roasted sweet potatoes. I usually start with a lobster bisque since it's usually a cooler day and then turkey and pies.