With Thanksgiving right around the corner, people begin to salivate at the memory of timeless dishes such as turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie.
The comforts of home mix with aromatic pleasures of the meal to create an American holiday, one that encompasses the homeyness of stepping through the door of a Thomas Kinkade cottage and entering Norman Rockwell’s dining room.
Yet this was far from the Thanksgiving meal that took place last Friday night. International students trickled into the Jefferson 26 game room for Planet Longhorn’s first-ever potluck Thanksgiving. Kitchenware clanged as students brought in different international foods.
As the night wore on, the seemingly unique American holiday of sharing food with loved ones transformed into something greater. It became a pan-cultural, universal experience of simply sharing great food. Many of the students, having lived here for a semester already, united like an old family to make and eat each others’ food. Here are some of the highlights to inspire your own international Thanksgiving meal:
To kick the meal off, the French students brought two amuse-bouches: one with tomato, feta and pesto, and the other smoked salmon with avocado. An amuse-bouche, literally meaning “a mouth pleaser,” is served at the beginning of a meal in small shot glasses as a way to entice the tastebuds. While these petite dishes featured French flavors, an easy Thanksgiving spin on the amuse-bouche from the chowhound.com forum is cream of pumpkin soup beneath cranberry gelée, savory mousse and chopped pecans.
A great variation instead of Thanksgiving ham is a Danish frikadeller. Made with ground pork, this juicy, savory meatball is made like any other meatball and is served on hearty rye bread.
“They were actually one the best dishes of the night,” said Taylor Timinsky, a Middle Eastern and religious studies sophomore. “At one point, the Austrians even joked about using one of the frikadellers for foosball, but everyone had already ate them.”
For all the gravy-lovers out there, the British have got you covered. Yorkshire Puddings, which really isn’t a pudding, are delectable cup-shaped, baked pancakes often served in pubs or for Sunday lunch. The pudding can be filled with a bit of gravy or used to help sop up the plate after the meal.
Finally, the New Zealanders brought pavlova, a fluffy, sweet dessert, to finish off the meal.
The dish, named after famous Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova after she visited Australia and New Zealand, provides the perfect light treat to juxtapose the typically heavy American meal.
“Pavlova is just meringue cream topped with some sort of summer fruit,” said Rachel Taylor, an international relations, Asian studies and developmental studies junior. “I usually have it with passion fruit, but I couldn’t find any, so I used berries instead.”
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