Editorial | Get creative during your Thanksgiving dinner

On one chilly afternoon at The Pitt News office, all the editors were sitting around trying to come up with what this week’s editorial opinion would be. Knowing that we won’t have our usual meeting next week because our university so generously gives us the entire week of Thanksgiving off, we all had one thing on our minds — sleep. Well, and also all the delicious food we’ll be eating at our Thanksgiving meals.

The consensus in the room wasn’t clear. Is or is turkey not a disgustingly dry bird? Is it too bland? Is there not enough flavor? Assistant news editor Punya Bhasin insisted that the Thanksgiving bird of choice is too dry, while our editor-in-chief Betul Tuncer valiantly defended its honor, noting that most people just don’t cook it properly. Head visual editor Ethan Shulman chimed into the conversation, stating that he much prefers chicken on Thanksgiving day, notably mentioning an admiration for the rotisserie style of meat. At one point, the safety of whether or not eating turkey on Thanksgiving was mentioned by assistant copy chief Livia Daggett. They said putting stuffing inside the bird makes the stuffing less likely to reach a safe temperature. This could possibly be the answer as to why we as Americans are constantly overcooking our turkeys. Maybe Betul is correct after all.

Somewhere between our conversation on the dryness of turkey meat and Thanksgiving-related food-borne illness, the conversation turned to the random and nontraditional foods we eat during the holiday. The editor currently writing this column — Livia LaMarca, dope-ass ops editor — simply couldn’t keep track of what everyone was saying during our meeting, so she made her fellow editors put it in a list for her.

When asked what the most uncommon Thanksgiving food they eat is, culture editor Patrick Swain replied simply with “turkey.” That wasn’t really the answer we were looking for, and rest assured, the editors lambasted him for it. But fortunately, some of the other editors chimed in legitimately! 

Copy chief Allison Schaeffer mentioned olive cheese balls and even gave me the recipe to share with all of you — green olives balled in cheese and baked. Betul mentioned Turkish pilav, managing editor Pamela Smith replied with stuffed cabbage, layout editor Annika Esseku answered with Ghanaian jollof, and Livia Daggett eats a salad with the Thanksgiving feast. Opinions editor Thomas Riley responded with seven raw eggs. I’ll leave it up to interpretation whether or not they were being serious. 

I — Livia LaMarca — would love to add something to this list, but when I asked my family if we could have cheesy potatoes this year instead of the classic mashed kind, you would have thought I told them the world was ending.

Eating unconventional foods or incorporating global cuisine into your Thanksgiving meal is fairly common, but more people should do it. Lots of people love the classic Thanksgiving flavors of sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and green beans. However, there is nothing wrong with mixing it up every once in a while. In the debate on whether or not mac and cheese should be added to the Thanksgiving menu this year, we here at The Pitt News say go for it!

Thanksgiving is all about saying thank you to those you love. You get together with relatives and friends you don’t see often and show them gratitude with a good meal and a food coma right afterwards. What is served on Thanksgiving day doesn’t matter as much as spending time with your loved ones — and, of course, coming up with your plan of attack for Black Friday shopping. 

Intermingling the foods you love with the classic Thanksgiving feast is not going to cause someone’s head to explode. If anything, it’ll be the hit of the night. Eating food that you genuinely love and want to share with those you love is much more appreciated than any kind of food you feel obligated to eat. Cause let’s be real, who really wants to eat cranberry sauce out of a can?

Step outside of the box this Thanksgiving and cook the food you want to eat.