Celebrating a family tradition of turkey-free Thanksgivings
The author lived in several different countries growing up. For her family, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to explore new food and cultures. Here, she visits a Korean temple in Seoul with her mother.
The Thanksgiving I grew up celebrating would make Norman Rockwell roll over in his grave. There was no traveling, no watching football games, and not even a turkey. As a military family, we were often thousands of miles away from our relatives and my mother crafted plant-based feasts that varied from one year, and location, to the next.
“The Thanksgiving I grew up celebrating included no traveling, no watching football games, and not even a turkey.”
Long before “plant-based eating” was a catch phrase, she’d remix southern classic meals to pay homage to her roots, while finding unique ways to embrace the local cuisine of the country we were living in. When we lived in Korea, for instance, she decided to replace the elaborate spread of roasted turkey and all the trimmings with a plant-based feast featuring southern meatless collard greens, dairy-free sweet potato souffle, wild-rice stuffed peppers topped with winter kimchi, and a side of Korean vegetable pajeon.
“I haven’t abandoned the holiday. I’ve just changed how I practice it. I focus on curating a meal that deepens my connection to the area that I now call home.”
Forty one years later, I, too, live thousands of miles away from family. As with my mother, it’s given me the freedom to think about how I want to celebrate. It helps that the traditional versions of Thanksgiving never registered with me. It’s hard for me to embrace the whitewashing of America’s sins and ignore the suffering that Native Americans endured.
A Tongva woman storing acorns in a granary. (Photo Source - California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California)
I haven’t abandoned the holiday. I’ve just changed how I practice it. I focus on curating a meal that deepens my connection to the area that I now call home. I live in Los Angeles, a culturally diverse city that was once home to the Tongva tribe. I’m using this year’s Thanksgiving dinner as an opportunity for our family to explore the history and culinary contributions of this indigeous tribe. In many ways, it is a way to connect the dots from the past to the present for my thirteen-year-old daughter, who is studying American History in school.
Before the Spanish missionaries arrived in the 1770s, the Tongva tribe was a peaceful group of hunter-gatherers, who foraged for acorns, chia seeds, black sage, miner’s lettuce, and prickly pear cactus. I've woven a few of these ingredients into a three-course meal with hopes of sparking meaningful conversations around our table on the tribe’s legacy.
Through this historically inspired meal, I am also, secretly, hoping to talk about environmental sustainability with my daughter by shining a light on how indigenous groups were able to find a balance between humans and nature.
Packed with ancient grains, herbs, kale and tempeh sausage, this whimsical savory stuffed pumpkin showcases ingredients once gathered and used by the Tongva tribe. See recipe.
The centerpiece of this year’s dinner is a savory stuffed pumpkin. Infused with herbs and ancient grains, this dish showcases the aromatic black sage that grows wild and rampant in the San Gabriel Valley. Touted as a sacred medicinal plant, the Tongva tribe ground up the seeds of the black sage and used the powder to flavor dishes. Following their lead, I’m using the herb to make a tempeh sausage for the stuffing.
My non-traditional Thanksgiving isn’t so much about bucking tradition, but seizing opportunities to create new ones.
