Thanksgiving Across The Globe

As you know, November 25th in the U.S. is our beloved Thanksgiving Day, but in Australia November 25th is just another day. The concept of Thanksgiving is a foreign one to Aussies and other non-Americans, and a holiday that certainly baffles them. However, I refused to let November 25th come and go in Sydney without celebrating one of my favorite American holidays, so I took it upon myself to make this Thanksgiving a memorable one by hosting an international Thanksgiving potluck at my house. I sent out facebook invitations to the twenty or so people I know in Sydney, and then verbally invited my ten housemates. My invitation was as follows:

We may be in Australia, but it is still Thanksgiving (one of the greatest American holiday's because all you literally do is eat and drink and eat some more) in the US, and this merry day of feasting and drinking with friends and family cannot be missed! The point of Thanksgiving is to give thanks for all that we have, and I am so thankful to have met you all in Australia. You each have made my time and experi...ence here unforgettable, so please join me for an unforgettable afternoon of feasting and fun! (It doesn't matter whether or not you're American, this about celebrating with friends and food, so be there).

This will be a BYO Thanksgiving potluck. All I ask is that each person bring their favorite holiday dish to share with everyone. Bring whatever you want! If we all bring one dish then we will have the most incredible international feast! I'm drooling just thinking about it =). Also, please invite as many people as you'd like. This is about celebrating with friends, so any friends of yours are friends of mine and welcome to join in the celebrations- as long as they bring a dish! The more the merrier!

The idea was good, and I envisioned that it would be a really great Thanksgiving if everyone actually showed up and brought something consumable with them. But my guests' attendance was not guaranteed, and so I was a tad unsure and nervous about how the event would unfold. Fortunately, weeks prior too the big day, two new people moved into my house: Joe, a really awesome gal from England, and Ian, an American from Detroit and Chicago. When I told Ian that I was hosting Thanksgiving at our place his face lit up in excitement. "Yes, that's awesome!" he exclaimed. "I have a few other American friends and we were saying how we wanted to do something for Thanksgiving. This will be really good. I'll talk to Joe about cooking a turkey." Their commitment and enthusiasm to my plan made all the difference, and I knew that at the very least there would be a few Americans gathered to celebrate Thanksgiving on the actual day (including myself, Sara and Aubrey).

All week I nagged every person I saw, asking if they were coming to Thanksgiving and reminding them to bring something to place on the table for everyone to share. Wednesday evening I cleaned the entire kitchen, dining room and living room in preparation of the next day's feast. Ernesto, another new housemate from Rome, kindly assisted me in this disgusting endeavor. I hung gold tassle from the celieing and placed a bright green sheet that Norman had given me (the Irishman was moving and didn't need it anymore) over the table to serve as a festive tablecloth (and to hide all the clutter beneath the table). Thursday, the big day, I spent most of the day preparing my holiday dishes: a sweet potato and marshmallow casserole (this is such an American dish, i felt it was necessary to appear on the table mainly for the amusement of my international guests), a spinash salad with feta cheese and candied walnuts (I figured we needed some sort of green), and brownies. Meanwhile, Joe was working hard in the kitchen preparing the turkey. I love how the non-American took charge and volunteered to cook the turkey. She did an impressive job, especially considering it was her first time roasting a whole turkey.

Joe checking the glorious turkey she made

Around 4:00 pm the guests began to arrive, each of them bringing food and/or beverages as requested. I was delighted!  Luca, my Italian roommate, made a massive bowl of pasta salad. Norman brought apple pies and ice cream. Ian's American friends came with a massive salad, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, chocolate pie, and another sweet potato casserole. Aubrey brought a banana bread and pumpkin dish. James (another new housemate who is Australian) made a tapioka-like pudding. Others brought wine, Sangria, chips and salsa, and chocolate. The feast was bigger and better than I had hoped it would be. And, most importantly, it was scrumptious! Before everyone dug into the feast, I took a moment to say a few words to everyone. It went a little something like this:

"Hi everyone. Thank you all for coming to celebrate Thanksgiving today! For those of you aren't from the U.S., welcome to your first Thanksgiving! And for my fellow Americans, I don't know about you but this is my first Thanksgiving away from home so I am glad we could all come together to celebrate. In my family it is tradition to say grace before we eat, so I'd like to do so before we feast. Dear God, thank you for bringing us all together today. I am grateful to be in Sydney and to have met so many awesome people. Thank you for the food which we are about to eat. God is neat, let's eat!" 

And after a hearty "Amen!" we all dug in, eating ourselves into food comas (as every good American should on turkey day).

Aaron and Ian (my American roomie) "carving" and tasting the turkey

The guests arriving

The feast!

 It was amusing to see my non-American roommate's reaction to our Thanksgiving. First of all, they were all wondering what exactly Thanksgiving was about. Secondly, it was the first time any of them had ever seen and eaten a full turkey. The only turkey any of them had ever eaten was sliced coldcuts on a sandwich, but never a hot, roasted turkey. Actually, it was the first time that many of them had ever eaten numerous American holiday foods. Marta was most funny. She was pacing around the kitchen all afternoon asking me, "Sarah, what is that?" pointing in wonder at the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoe casseroles laying on the table. She was so eager to try these "American" foods.

Marta trying some American foods

Nico and Tamara, two of my international roomies, enjoying the food

The verdict was unanimous: Thanksgiving was a huge success! Everyone, both American and non-American, thoroughly enjoyed the feast and company. It was nice to see everyone come together, to see the smiles on people's faces as they ate, and to hear the laughter as people from around the world bonded. My fellow American's left that evening extremely content, happy that they were able to celebrate Thanksgiving, and the non-Americans walked away huge fans of the holiday. As Marta put it, "I like Thanksgiving. Eating and drinking with friends. It is a great holiday." Indeed it is, and indeed it was. Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone back home! I hope your holiday was a great one as mine was.