Thanksgiving in city? Skip the turkey

A small get together with friends at home is something that he eagerly looks forward to.
Thanksgivinga
Thanksgivinga

BENGALURU: Dale Boone, an American competitive eater holding 52 world records celebrated Thanksgiving last year when he went back home to Atlanta. This year he was down with weather and skipped the party on Thursday and decided to host one on Saturday.

A small get together with friends at home is something that he eagerly looks forward to.
Residing in Bengaluru for the past ten years, the world food champion believes that Black Fridays have stolen the essence of traditional Thanksgiving in America.

“I talked to my family yesterday and the Thanksgiving meal was wound up early by about 2pm for the sake of Black Friday sale,” Dale says. “The Black Friday sale was offering the new iPhone7 for $99, which is about Rs 6000,” he adds. His Thanksgiving last year was in a mall as well.

One of the things missed in Bengaluru Thanksgiving is the turkey, though Dale did not miss it quite much since he used to pre-order a 3 kilo stuffed Turkey from a store in Indiranagar. The last time he ordered was two years back, this year the service was not available, he says.

Camaron Vallepalli, who resides in Old Airport Road, has been celebrating Thanksgiving for the past ten years. “Earlier it used to be a challenge to celebrate Thanksgiving in India because we wouldn’t get the necessary ingredients and items required. But now the scenario has changed, food wise, we get everything we need and the tradition is kept true to its spirit,” said Camaron who is from Connecticut.

Though it is quite “tricky” to celebrate the occasions because Americans in India don’t get a holiday, Cameron and her family of four members have been able to pull it off well with small get-togethers.
This time she had prepared mashed potatoes, sweet potato casseroles, pumpkin pie and many others.
“I made the food I have grown up with in Thanksgiving,” Camaron said. “But instead of big Turkey we had Turkey salamis,” she laughed.

Brian Stock, who works in a startup and has been in the city for three-and-a-half-years has two Thanksgiving plans. The first one took place on Thursday night when about 35 people, mostly Americans, gathered at his house in Cooke Town for a grand Thanksgiving celebration. Chicken replaced the Turkeys but everything else was traditional. From food such as Corn Casseroles to stuffings to decorations. The other Thanksgiving that he will be attending to is on Saturday.

But there is more than the second Thanksgiving the Americans are looking forward to. A day after the Thanksgiving, Christmas plannings set foot. “We start listening to Christmas carols and start decorating from Friday,” said Camaron.

Thanksgiving is an annual holiday observed in the US on fourth Thursday in November and on Second Monday in Canada. Marked by family gatherings and celebrations, a traditional meal to commemorate a harvest festival is served.  

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