My Favorite Thanksgiving Food

Fellow Hubber jencooper asks What is Your Favorite Food Dish at Thanksgiving Dinner?

A few years ago I would have answered Turkey, which, in America, has always been the Thanksgiving main course.

Turkey still is the Thanksgiving main dish as far as I am concerned as Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving without a turkey on the table.

When I was growing up, turkeys were difficult to find at times other than Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Throughout my entire childhood and as a young adult gathering at my parent's home for Thanksgiving and Christmas we always had turkey on those two holildays.

Of course, if one looked hard enough, they could find a store that had a few turkeys for sale at other times of the year.

However, in addition to the overall scarcity of turkeys at times other than Thanksgiving and Christmas, there is the fact that preparing and cooking a whole turkey is a time consuming process.

As a result, turkey was basically a special occasion food found mostly at Thanksgiving.

Seeking to expand their market beyond the November - December holiday season, turkey farmers and the meat packing companies that sold turkeys in recent decades began seeking to sell turkeys year round on a regular basis.

Knowing that people would not invest the time required to prepare and cook an entire turkey for other than special occasions, the farmers and meat packers looked for ways to make turkey preparation easier.

This involved selling the turkey in parts, like chicken. It is quite easy to simply cook a turkey breast or drumstick for a small family or individual dinner.

Being able to purchase small, meal size, turkey portions including things like turkey sausage, turkey bacon, turkey lunch meat, etc. created a year-round market for turkey.

The result has been that turkey is now a common food. I still like it and and a whole, stuffed turkey ready to be in the center of the dinner table on Thanksgiving is something I look forward to with anticipation.

Cranberries, on the other hand still retain an air of festivity for me.

Granted, canned cranberry sauce, fresh cranberries and cranberry juice are available year round in stores.

However, for me, cranberries are still something that is consumed mostly at Thanksgiving.

I look forward to slathering cranberry sauce on the turkey and stuffing on my plate at Thanksgiving.

This time of the year is also when my wife or I make cranberry bread and friends make things like cranberry chutney and other delicious concoctions containing cranberries.

All things, considered, while it is difficult to choose among the great number of traditional favorite Thanksgiving foods, I have to say that cranberries are what first come to mind when asked to name my favorite Thanksgiving food.