Making Memories While Entertaining This Thanksgiving

I can make a case for any Thanksgiving moment being wonderful. Of course, I’m always grateful to gather with friends and family on the holiday, but I also treasure the little things that make us laugh and make the day matter.

Like giving pastry brushes an egg-wash workout on all that pie crust. Conspiring with my cousin to shake on a bit more seasoning while Granny’s back is turned. Skipping next-day leftovers for eating red curry at a Thai restaurant.

Every year food brands face the challenge to come up with new concepts for Thanksgiving. We look for ways to shorten cooking time; we wrestle over ways to remix potatoes and green beans; we try to incorporate different countries and cultures while balancing reliable, comforting, or regional recipes. We ask how we can prepare turkey in ways that are exciting and delicious without adding to the social pressure of creating the perfect Thanksgiving.

​​Far too often Thanksgiving is presented as a high-stakes problem to be solved instead of a relaxing invitation. It’s easy to get caught up in those warnings of long lines at the grocery store and airport, or those talking points and memes advising how to manage that one exhausting relative. But Thanksgiving, at its most elemental, is entertaining. While we can never completely alleviate holiday stress, we can prepare to host the gathering with our attention on joy.

For this year’s take on Thanksgiving, we decided to write only about the moments we love.

That focus gave us a compelling list of reasons to love Thanksgiving that echo the gratitude we express when we gather at the table for the holiday. We came up with 55 reasons, including ordering takeout, taking a long walk, and eating pie for breakfast.

We hope you enjoy this issue and share your own reasons why you love the holiday in the Epicurious app.

Thanksgiving TV

A Meme
“Greens, potatoes, tomatoes… You name it!” It’s not Thanksgiving until you hear Shirley Caesar’s rundown of our favorite dinner options.

A Musical, The Wiz
Diana Ross and Michael Jackson star in the 1978 adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. The film opens with a Thanksgiving Day scene before Dorothy eases on down the yellow brick road.

A Movie, Knives Out
The whodunit starring Daniel Craig has become a bit of a holiday tradition since premiering Thanksgiving weekend in 2019.