# Thanksgiving ain't Thanksgiving without... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 20, 2007, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173 "2007-11-20T12:10:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/1 "2007-11-20T12:10:24Z")
creamed pearl onions. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/2 "2007-11-20T12:53:50Z")
Yum, those are good. At my house, it’s not Thanksgiving without The Purple Stuff. It’s a Danish dish, whose name is long forgotten; shredded purple cabbage cooked with equal amounts of butter, vinegar, and white sugar. Matches beautifully with turkey. (I could also say it’s not Thanksgiving without other Canadians, but I’m lucky enough to get two Thanksgivings so I’ll shut up.) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/3 "2007-11-20T12:57:58Z")
Pickles on the olive tray that no one eats. (That is, the pickles no one eats, although technically no one eats the tray, either.) But one year I tried \*not \*putting the pickles on the tray, and you woulda thought I was sodomizing puppies to hear the uproar! **GingerofTheNorth** , we make the same thing, only not for Thanksgiving, and we just call it “Red Cabbage”. Buncha unimaginative Germans! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/4 "2007-11-20T13:01:34Z")
Football. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/5 "2007-11-20T13:11:02Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] **GingerofTheNorth** , we make the same thing, only not for Thanksgiving, and we just call it “Red Cabbage”. Buncha unimaginative Germans! 😛 [/QUOTE] Ok, you totally need to have it with turkey or chicken. I’m not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/6 "2007-11-20T13:16:12Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] Ok, you totally need to have it with turkey or chicken. I’m not kidding. [/QUOTE] Oh, I believe you. I expect it’s similar to the sweet/tart cranberry taste I love with poultry. Oh, what the heck, I’ll throw it in the crock-pot, it’s not like it’s a lot of work. And this, m’dear, is why my Thanksgiving dinners are way too huge for anyone’s good! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/7 "2007-11-20T13:17:58Z")
L-Tryptophan induced food coma. ---
**Author:** ![Grossbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba8739/32.png) [@Grossbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grossbottom)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/8 "2007-11-20T13:18:24Z")
Marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. To this day I’ll have people over, or go somewhere, and it’s like they’ve never heard of it. But MotSP is a moral imperative. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/9 "2007-11-20T13:19:50Z")
Agghhhhh… that’s one of the reasons I took over cooking holiday dinners (along with that jello with carrots in it and the dry stringy turkey and cranberry glop…who decided grandmothers actually know how to cook?) . And no football. After dinner I’m thinking of watching the Cartoon Channel. And have to add sweetpotato with marshmallowes. Oh, the horror. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/10 "2007-11-20T13:21:25Z")
Green bean casserole, my wife’s sage stuffing, of course turkey… ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/11 "2007-11-20T13:41:15Z")
Pie. Pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie. Pie? Yes, please! Mmmmm… Pie! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/12 "2007-11-20T13:46:47Z")
Talking about Death. Actually, most of my conversations lead to Death and Dead Pool. it’s either that or I talk about ailments. Jesus farking Christ, I just :rolleyes: over the Old People Talk. After 19 years, it still oooks my husband out. ---
**Author:** ![Jammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df705f/32.png) [@Jammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jammer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/13 "2007-11-20T14:31:14Z")
Deviled eggs, baby!! ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/14 "2007-11-20T14:54:23Z")
Brussels Sprouts. I love the things, and always have. I seem to be in the minority on this, so growing up, it was a special holiday treat for me – well, and one of my brothers also liked them. I continue the tradition to this day – I only make brussels sprouts on Thanksgiving and Christmas and I and my daughter are the only ones who eat them, which is just fine by us! I have come to find out, though, that my family thinks that it is my homemade cranberry sauce that makes it Thanksgiving. That jellied crap-in-a-can is _never_ brought into our house, instead, I make a delightful whole cranberry sauce that is eaten alongside the turkey and then reheated to be spooned over ice cream, bread and anything else that can be found until it is gone. Whodathunkit? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/15 "2007-11-20T15:07:11Z")
[QUOTE=Cheez\_Whia] Pie. Pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, pie. [/QUOTE] Principally, pumpkin. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/16 "2007-11-20T15:23:02Z")
Pumpkin cheesecake. And birthday presents. My birthday is close to Thanksgiving (and actually falls **on** Thanksgiving some years), so I always get presents from my family after dinner. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/17 "2007-11-20T15:33:34Z")
My favorite Thanksgiving movie triple feature: _The Ice Storm Pieces of April Planes, Trains, and Automobiles_ ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/18 "2007-11-20T15:39:55Z")
[QUOTE=Phlosphr] L-Tryptophan induced food coma. [/QUOTE] Which is a myth by the way. :o > **[Does Eating Turkey Make You Sleepy?](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-big-sleep/)** > > There are plenty of reasons for feeling lethargic after a big Thanksgiving meal. Turkey probably isn't one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/19 "2007-11-20T15:44:24Z")
In an Italian household, it ain’t Thanksgiving without: antipasta and Italian meats and cheeses (Round 1) escarole soup (Round 2) lasagna or gnocchi (Round 3) Round 4: turkey ham roast beef white potatoes sweet potatoes stuffing yams cranberry sauce etc Round 5, Dessert: Italian butter cookies biscotti pumpkin pie blueberry pie apple pie ice cream chocolates And…AND…mixed nuts and nutcrackers, with a bunch of leftover Brazil nuts no one eats. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173/20 "2007-11-20T15:53:32Z")
For me, its my family’s version of trail mix; peanuts, raisins and m&ms. And of course, all the raisins wind up balle dup in napkins because no one likes raisins - but it wouldn’t be a hoilday without them… Oh, and the day after Thanksgiving is time for my traditional holiday hangover… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanksgiving-aint-thanksgiving-without/427173.md?page=2)