Thanksgiving food traditions

By: Emma Quintal

For Thanksgiving, our family meets at my Aunt Paige’s house in Atlanta. Besides the ham, I love my grandmother’s (Nini’s) mashed potatoes, that have a pound of butter, I think. We all cook together that morning — I love the connection we all feel and how happy it makes Nini when I cook with her. I always help with the cornbread stuffing and the Brussels sprouts.

Students and teachers at Howard High School are looking forward to Thanksgiving, which is just around the corner. When polled, Mac and Cheese was a top favorite, but there were other Thanksgiving favorites too.

Like me, the principal’s secretary Aimee McFarling’s favorite dish is Brussels sprouts. “Nobody else eats Brussels sprouts in my family but me, so I always have a tiny little bowl,” McFarling said.

Social studies teacher Dinah Redding mixes classic Thanksgiving traditions with new dishes. “We always have a ham and a turkey because some people like one more than the other,” Redding said. “We make gravy from the turkey, and we have mashed potatoes. Lately we’ve been doing more roasted vegetables which are very popular with some people, not so popular with other people.” She adds apples to the mix of carrots, beets, sausage and Brussels sprouts, which “adds that sweetness” to the dish.

But like so many students, Aidan Stewart, 17, can’t wait for the Mac and Cheese at his Auntie Trice’s house. He says his whole family goes to his aunt’s house on Thanksgiving morning to get everything ready.

Stewart said the best part is when all of the adults leave to go Black Friday shopping, leaving the cousins to stay up all night playing games. “We spend the night in the same house all together, and then we just sit there and play hide and seek in the house.” He said about ten or twelve of the cousins “play games all night.”

Dekendre Atkinson said his family spends the day at his grandmother’s house near Mercer, which means organizing a big family for the gathering. He said he loves the dressing the best.

English teacher Matthew Partain is a bit of a gourmet when it comes to cooking. From his great grandmother’s cornbread stuffing, to his Watergate salad (a congealed pistachio mint concoction), to his gravy with a “little bit of Sherry or something to burn it off,” Partain and his family spend the day cooking.

They start with biscuits made from scratch, after making cornbread the day before. Partain said the cakes are important too, from their cranberry orange cake to Southern Living’s Hummingbird cake.

Whatever their traditions, Thanksgiving is a time for the people of Howard to get together with family and eat delicious food.