An unconventional Thanksgiving feast

Thanksgiving: is there any holiday more quintessentially American?

Every year on the last Thursday of November, families sit down to turkey, pumpkin pie and presumably to give thanks.

While specifics vary by family and region -- marshmallows on the sweet potatoes? Football or parade? - the overwhelming majority of Americans seem to follow a set pattern of reuniting with family and overeating.

But, as Schoolhouse Rock's "The Great American Melting Pot" shows, nothing in the U.S. is ever uniform. And for the students with international families, Thanksgiving can be pretty unconventional.

Ask College sophomore Andrew Choi, a first-generation American whose parents came from Korea 20 years ago and who has never celebrated Thanksgiving in the most traditional way.

"We've had reunions, but its never really Thanksgiving-y," Choi said. "My mom just cooks Korean food."

Usually swapping Kimchi for stuffing, his family tried the 20-pound turkey route once, he said, but found it too strange.

And this year, when Choi decided to visit New York City instead of commuting home to Atlanta, he found himself forsaking the traditional American fare for French cuisine.

Voluntarily or not, many students like Choi found themselves far from home this past Thursday.

College junior Emily Belfer, who is currently studying in London, felt the need to acknowledge what she was missing while across the pond.

"I had a potluck dinner with four other Penn students where we feasted on sweet potato pie, mashed potatoes, chicken, packaged stuffing, wine and cake." Belfer wrote in an e-mail. "The meal was made extra festive by paper turkey cut-out decorations that my mom brought for me when she visited a few weeks ago."

They then attended a student performance of West Side Story, "which we thought was appropriately American," wrote Belfer.

Engineering sophomore Lucy Wang found herself on the opposite side of the divide.

Originally from Canada, she celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving over Fall Break and American Thanksgiving in New York.

"For me this was more like a break than Thanksgiving," said Wang, who caught a production of "Wicked," shopped in SoHo and watched Pikachu and Hello Kitty pass by in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in honor of this day of thanks.

By Thursday night, she was too tired for any further celebration, although her roommate did attend the Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Rodin College House.

Since many students were away for the holiday, the gathering was intimate.

"[The campus] was basically deserted by 2 p.m. on Wednesday. there was no one here," College sophomore Maria Conde said.

Born in Brazil but from Nicaragua, Conde was one of the few who did stay on campus. She decided to use her brief break to cook Thanksgiving dinner for a friend who was also far from home, although it was anything but the usual.

"My definition of Thanksgiving dinner was salmon, mashed potatoes and salad," she admitted, but added that "It went over pretty well; I didn't burn anything."

How these patterns, both new and old, actually commemorate the Pilgrims' survival in the New World back in 1620 is anyone's guess. But as Choi pointed out, the key isn't in the ritual, but who you spend it with.

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