Since our house was too small to host 23 people, we held the lunch at my father-in-law's old nursery school which had been renovated and is used for events and parties. The space had rustic brick floors, wood beams and a heating stove. It was so cozy, and I decorated it with pumpkins, squashes and candles.
Here we are preparing the buffet line and carving the turkey. Italians don't have any holiday where they would ever cook a whole bird in an oven (maybe why we couldn't find a baster?), so everyone was very curious about the turkey, and especially the stuffing. Why wasn't the stuffing stuffed inside the turkey? I explained that because of contamination issues we're used to serving it outside the turkey.
Each dish had a little orange card on which I wrote the English name and an appropriate Italian translation. The surprise hit was the broccoli casserole. Some people went crazy for it. As expected, the sweet potato casserole was not as popular since Italians don't like to mix sweet and savory. People did seem to enjoy the stuffing, which was a pleasant surprise to me since it had dried cranberries in it. Probably the biggest shock was how little everyone ate. Here's a photo after everyone had gone through the line, and some people went twice. As you can see, 23 people barely ate a third of most of the dishes. Since Italian meals are usually served in courses and not buffet style, it must have seemed overwhelming to have so many dishes, so I shouldn't be surprised that they were a little timid. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I told them that my American family of SIX eats the same amount if not more! Fortunately I had brought along disposable plastic containers so I could introduce the American tradition of LEFTOVERS. I found out there is actually an Italian word for it, "avanzi", and everyone liked being able to take home the things they liked best.
There wasn't much left over pie, however. I served pecan, pumpkin, and coconut pies with whipped cream. I took an informal vote and the pecan pie won hands down, followed by coconut. The pumpkin pie was not popular at all, maybe due to the heavy spices?. More for meee! Everyone was really enamored with pecans -- they were in many of the dishes and I also served them roasted with in butter and Cajun salt for the aperitivo before the meal. No one had ever really heard of them or had them before, and one friend liked them so much I promised to bring him back some from the US. This made my southern heart burst with pride, since I associate pecans so much with growing up in the south. Finally, the Gratitude Tree. I was a little nervous that my guests would be too skeptical to write down what they were thankful for, since expressing appreciation about life is definitely an American invention. But I forgot that Italians don't like to go against the grain in social situations, so if your host asks you to write something down on a paper leaf, you do it or risk creating a "brutta figura" (bad impression). Some comments were funny, some touching, and many wrote thanks for a beautiful meal. My favorite was a three year old boy who wrote thanks for the Smithfield Ham.
The best part about sharing Thanksgiving for the first time with our friends and family was that apart from the novelty of the food, it was remarkably the same as every other Thanksgiving I've had with Americans: people sitting around stuffed and happy, that one person who drank too much, kids running around screaming, several spirited games of foosball, announcement of a new baby, and so on. Truly a holiday that crossed cultural boundaries. Happy Thanksgiving from Friuli, yall!
