Sumbul Ali-Karamali

by Sumbul Ali-Karamali

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday when I was growing up -- the one holiday I could celebrate with all other Americans. And we didn't do any of this Indian-Pakistani-American-fusion Thanksgiving-food nonsense, either! Traditional straight-up turkey dinner, thank you. Although, being South Asian, eating a jam-like substance with turkey was an alien concept, we ate the cranberry sauce by itself and over the years tried to acquire the taste of eating it with meat. We were usually invited by family friends (a fellow professor colleague of my dad's) for made-from-scratch Thanksgiving dinner, where we were always served pumpkin pie and mince pie. These days, I cook it all myself, from scratch, everything down to the rolls, and I require pumpkin pie and mince pie even now. We often try to invite students who have nowhere to go on Thanksgiving, to pay forward all those wonderful holidays where we were taken care of and served that most American of feasts. And although covid necessitates a small gathering for us this year, I'm cooking the traditional dishes that all my life have seemed to open that (elusive) door, at least for a little while, to membership in American society. Wishing you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

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