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  Home Page » Features » Food » Culinary Anthropology Take A Deeper Look Into Thanksgiving Tradition

Culinary anthropology: Take a deeper look into Thanksgiving tradition

by Kayla Wexelberg
Special to the Herald As we approach Thanksgiving, a holiday based on food consumption, one question comes to mind: Why do we claim food as our life force? Is it just that it gives us nutrients and fats to survive, or is it much more than that? Food surrounds us in every shape and form. It embodies love, it fuels our economy and it shapes our landscape. Food is not just what we are made up of nutritionally, but culturally as well.

Countries much older than the United States have stories and histories embedded in their dishes. India, for example, did not use the chile they are so well-known for until the Spaniards inhabited the area. Chile, and various other spices, are now local staples in Indian kitchens.

As one of the largest American harvests of the year, Thanksgiving is meant to bring a community together, allowing people to share in a cultural and historic tradition. However, because of technological advances over the last several decades, there has been a shift in American food culture.

“The challenge comes down to how we spend our time," said Katrina Blair, founder and co-owner of Turtle Lake Refuge in Durango. “We spend more time driving, on the computer and less time growing food."

Blair said we have gone through a transition into this fast pace, which allows less time for enriching our food culture.

Amber Fisher, graduate of Nutrition Therapy Institute in Denver, comments on what foods the average American typically consumes: “The acronym for the Standard American Diet is SAD. The SAD diet consists of something you can buy in a grocery store, processed foods, etc. All these lead to heart disease and cancer. Quality has gone down, and the traditional meals that our grandparents made have fallen to the wayside."

Food customs get passed down from generation to generation, keeping our heritage alive. It is up to us to pass those traditions on. Thanksgiving is one of the last standing cultural holidays where Americans put attention on food as a historical artifact.

Processed foods have become a staple in the family meal, threatening our culinary heritage. For example, some children no longer eat at the table, but upstairs in front of a computer.

In the last five years, there has been an effort to preserve food culture. Various groups in the U.S. have developed a local focus - and Durango happens to be one of them.

Several organizations here have joined Fisher and many others in this effort. The farmers market is one example. During the growing season, the market offers a place for the community to gather around food, connecting buyers to their local farmers.

Blair's Turtle Lake Refuge, which focuses on educating the public about the health benefits of locally grown foods, delivers fresh, organically grown sprouts to all 10 public schools in Durango.

The Durango Garden Project has set up several community gardens in Durango, one located at Needham Elementary School.

Southwest Marketing Network is a networking engine that connects organizations and people with the mission of creating a stronger food movement.

The pioneers of this effort are young men and women in their 20s and 30s, who walk around downtown in hip jeans and tight-fitting plaid. These young souls are active members of our food community, keeping our history alive and well by shifting the cultural pace to connect to the land.

“My generation is the one that is either going to lose (farming) or save it. We need to learn these skills and preserve land while we still can," said Fisher. “If I want to protect wild lands, I need to protect farmlands. For me, if I don't learn how to can food, who's going to know how?"

Durango's Food Not Bombs has taken food culture to a more radical level. The group recovers food that would otherwise be thrown out and serves meals every Sunday.

The Durango FNB founders say that aside from creating a sense of community around the act of sharing food communally, one of the major missions of Food Not Bombs is to reduce the amounts of edible food waste produced by our culture on a perpetual basis. Durango FNB was founded by, and continues to be run by, youth volunteers. Its meals attract a large diversity of age groups, but young people are the majority.

A weekly potluck in Durango, including a Thanksgiving meal, brings this young, active community together with a focus on health and local foods.

Robert Foster, a senior at Fort Lewis College, explains the significance of the communal potlucks: “To me, it is like a surrogate family; sitting down at the dinner table and sharing a home-cooked meal."

As the days get shorter and the air gets colder, we come to one of America's favorite holidays - Thanksgiving. When you sit down at your dinner table with all your loved ones, sharing a historic meal, ask yourself: What does this holiday tradition mean to you? What role does Thanksgiving play in building community and preserving American culture? Most importantly, how does that relate to you, and the future of American food?

Kayla Wexelberg is a journalist and culinary ethnographer. She has spent more than five years studying food cultures in Turkey, India, Thailand, Taiwan and Australia. In the U.S., she has focused on the ever-changing food culture and emerging trends.