Junior Neeva Shafiian is Persian and said how a lot of pareve dishes (food that doesn’t contain milk and meat) were included in her Thanksgiving dinner because a lot of people keep kosher and choose not to drink milk. “There are lots of beans, stew, and parsley on our table. As for dessert, we had sholeh zard which tastes like rice pudding and we get to decorate it.”
By TERESA LEE
We asked our diverse group of students to share some of their delicious cultural dishes that they include on their Thanksgiving dinner table. From savory pork soup, to sweet baklava, Jericho families enjoyed a variety of unique additions to the traditional Thanksgiving meal.
Senior Emma Distler had her uncle prepare a cheese platter and her cousin make the specialty–Stuffin’ Muffins. “They’re basically stuffing in muffin form. It consists of corn bread, bacon, cheese, and awesomeness.” As for some appetizers, Emma had mushroom turnovers, meatballs, and pavlova, a meringue dessert with a crust and soft insides. “My mom also makes her sweet potato balls with marshmallows and pineapples.”
Senior Taskin Loqman said how she prefers the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner over her Indian dishes because it’s the only day when her family has American food for dinner. “Every other night we eat Indian food: rice and curry. So it’s a nice change.”
Senior Alicia Wong said she had roast pork rice noodle soup for Thanksgiving dinner. She said that “the combination of the noodles and roast pork is amazing,” but that she’d like to eat more mashed potatoes and stuffing in the future because she gets to eat noodle soup often at home.
Senior Tracy Jung had her mom’s dumpling rice cake soup. “With my mom’s dexterous cooking skills, it took us only 15 minutes to cook it. She uses Korean soy sauce as a finishing touch to the soup.”
Senior Michelle Rangle comes from a very diverse family; she’s part Spanish, Filipino, and Chinese. She had various dishes such as bistek, kare kare, adobo, pancit palabok, flan, and ham on Thanksgiving this year. “My mom cooks some of this sometimes, so I do get the chance to eat these pretty often. I’d like to see more halo halo and tahan for future Thanksgiving dinners.”
Having ample experiences cooking and baking in the past, senior Karen Bazakos made 3 dishes for this year’s Thanksgiving. One of them was spanakopita—a Greek dish—which means spinach pie in English. “It has spinach, feta cheese, and filo dough. I also made a Greek dessert known as baklava. This dessert consists of chopped almonds, pecans, syrup, and filo dough.” Karen also had her cousin’s corn casserole which she has never had before. “It was very good, and tasted like corn bread with pieces of corn inside of it.”
Junior Neeva Shafiian is Persian and said how a lot of pareve dishes (food that doesn’t contain milk and meat) were included in her Thanksgiving dinner because a lot of people keep kosher and choose not to drink milk. “There are lots of beans, stew, and parsley on our table. As for dessert, we had sholeh zard which tastes like rice pudding and we get to decorate it.”
Freshman Michelle Lu, shared how her family tried to incorporate some healthy vegetables in their Thanksgiving dinner. “One of the dishes was mashed potatoes with cauliflower in it, so the kids would eat some of the vegetables.” She also explained how her family usually has Chinese dumplings, but she switched it up this year. “We cooked beef in a broth until it was really soft. “
Raised by a traditional Korean parent, senior Gloria Park explained how her mom “always manages to put in some kind of Korean dish every year so we don’t lose our Korean culture.” This year’s was ddukbokki, a spicy rice cake dish seasoned with Korean sauce called gochujang.
A devoted member in her church youth group, senior Gina Kang suggested having pot luck together for Thanksgiving. Her friends brought some deviled eggs, grilled peppers, barbeque wings, and Rice Krispies treats. “I liked my Thanksgiving dinner. It had more of a personal touch than the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.”
Correction: December 19, 2014
The JerEcho corrected the phrasing of the caption including Neeva Shafiian’s quote from “people are kosher” to “people keep kosher and choose not to drink milk.”
To the editor:
People are not kosher–food is kosher. People “keep” kosher. Also, milk by itself is kosher, but it violates the laws of kashrut to consume milk with meat (fish excluded).
To Whom It May Concern,
The JerEcho thanks you for your comment. We have made corrections based on your suggestions.
To the editor:
People are not kosher–food is kosher. People “keep” kosher. Also, milk by itself is kosher, but it violates the laws of kashrut to consume milk with meat (fish excluded).
To Whom It May Concern,
The JerEcho thanks you for your comment. We have made corrections based on your suggestions.