An Untraditional Tradition

To be honest, Thanksgiving is probably my least favorite holiday. While I do certainly enjoy the chance to spend time with my family and friends on this day, there is little else about the celebration that I would miss if it were gone. I’ve always thought that if we really wanted to have a day in which we truly celebrated all that we were thankful for, we would do a lot more than simply eat a ridiculous amount of food and watch a barbaric sport (can you tell I’m also not a huge football fan?). So, even though I would have liked to go to my aunt and uncle’s house in Franklin, Texas, like my family does every year, I was not too terribly saddened by the fact that I would not be able to have a “traditional” Thanksgiving here in Cambodia, complete with all the turkey-laden trimmings.

Since Thanksgiving is a strictly American holiday (okay, so Canadians have a version too…) last Thursday was a regular working day here in Phnom Penh. But that did not stop the expatriate population from celebrating their beloved holiday. It just postponed it to Saturday. So, 2 days after the official festivities were celebrated in the U.S., 16 Americans in Cambodia got together to hold their own version. As you can see, we were not lacking in the food department!

Everyone pitched in to bring their favorite dishes- or “Cambodian-ified” versions of them. Graham crackers, cream cheese, fritos, corn syrup, pumpkin puree, corn meal are just a few of the items people in our group either could not find or could not justify paying outrageous prices for. So, substitutions abounded! Even still, everything turned out great! And while I did not sample any, I am told that the 4 chickens Sharon roasted were far superior to any “dry turkey” that might have been served on the other side of the globe.

My contribution was carrot-flavored hummus. Not necessarily traditional, but definitely something I love and miss from the states. Plus, it made a great vegetarian source of protein! :)

We completed the day with good conversation and a puzzle that Dennis and Sharon assure me was merely a warm-up for our 1,000-piece Christmas one.

All in all, my Cambodian Thanksgiving was a fun day because it was spent with some really wonderful people. (Of course, the fact that there was not a football in sight didn’t hurt either!)