An Italian Thanksgiving celebration in California
Historically, our house has always been open for friends and family to join us at Thanksgiving. This has led to some very interesting international guests over the years, including Pemba, a Sherpa from Tibet. What a sweet, wonderful and appreciative guest addition to our holiday gathering!
One of our most memorable Thanksgivings was when four young, Italian Alitalia student pilots from the airline’s Bakersfield training center joined us for Thanksgiving supper. One was our young cousin Gian Luca who had seen Thanksgiving portrayed many times in movies and television. He was very excited to be in the States in November so he could take part in this famous celebration. In fact, he talked about Thanksgiving so much to all the other young Italian pilots in his class that three of them decided to accompany him to our home.
So, on Thanksgiving Day, joining our other guests were four aspiring Alitalia Airline pilots in their mid to late twenties. They arrived bringing several bottles of good Italian wine, cameras to capture the moments and great attitudes. They said that any occasion that celebrated gratitude together with friends and family while eating delicious food was fine by them!
Being typically curious Italians, they had many questions about the origins of Thanksgiving and wanted to know what the pilgrims might have realistically eaten as opposed to what everyone serves today. The young men were truly interested and involved in everything that we were doing.
We wanted to give them an authentic experience. Unlike some other Italian families, we have always tried to make traditional American food for Thanksgiving from turkey to cornbread to sweet potatoes to cranberry sauce. We have never added ravioli or pasta as many other Italians do so it is the one day we truly try to “Cook like Americans.” Well, except maybe for one thing: our turkey stuffing.
My mother first got her turkey stuffing recipe from an Italian-American lady when we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in California. This stuffing includes whole wheat bread, turkey livers, broth, onion, carrot, celery, dried porcini mushrooms and lots of parmesan cheese. I guess it’s impossible to get away altogether from Tuscan tastes that are so engrained!
Our young pilots thoroughly enjoyed the entire meal from soup to the delicious pumpkin pies made by my husband. The meal was finished off with espresso and limoncello.
The young men declared themselves officially stuffed, tired and thankful and said they felt like “Real Americans” after a Thanksgiving meal.
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