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Holiday Traditions Are Important And Should Be Passed Down

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By IMANI ASUKILE, Tribune correspondent

Published: November 23, 2007

Visit any middle-class black family for Thanksgiving, and you'll find traditional fare such as turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing on the table - much as you would at many other homes. It's hard to say where black, white and Southern cultures separate. At some point, they all become one, and food is one of those areas.

Nevertheless, one can find a distinctly black menu during the holidays.

Besides the traditional items, you can expect to find a lot of starches. Macaroni and cheese is always in season. Potato salad and cornbread dressing are typical menu options, too.
Collard greens are the vegetable of choice at most black feasts. The vegetable is so popular with blacks that they are credited with carrying it north during the great migration.

Preparing collards can be tedious, though. The leaves have to be picked away from the stems, examined for worms and patiently washed to remove the sand. In recent years, some people who enjoy collards but despise the cleaning process have started using their washing machines - without any detergent. Even so, it's time-consuming.

Traditionally, collards are seasoned with bacon grease, ham hocks, neck bones or a ham bone.

The sweet potato pie is the traditional Thanksgiving dessert. This is not to say blacks don't eat pumpkin pie or other sweets. In recent years, in fact, red velvet cake has been challenging the sweet potato pie at some gatherings.

As for the dressing, most prefer to make it from scratch, versus the prepackaged dressing that is becoming the standard. Cornbread also tends to be more popular than rolls.

Nontraditional items can include some untamed and unusual foods. Although barbecue pork ribs usually are considered picnic food, for example, some families make them for a great Thanksgiving feast.

The raccoon is a favorite of many. Coons - yes, those little ring-tailed pests that ramble through your garbage at night - can be stewed, baked, boiled or barbecued. A small pot of hog chitterlings - swine guts - can still be found at some family feasts, though they are not as popular with the Millennium Generation as they were with blacks who came of age during the Depression, World War II and the baby boomers.

Aside from the food, sports fans will enjoy the Thanksgiving Day football games. In years past, young adults would go out to the Cow Palace, outside Dade City, for an evening of entertainment. These days, Club Illusion in Lacoochee is where those who need to move around to aid the digestive process are likely to hang out. Teenagers are likely to go to the movies.

Because of busy schedules and other inconveniences, many young people minimize the joy of the holiday by purchasing prepared Thanksgiving items, especially desserts. There is no cooking like home cooking, though.

Young people have a tendency to miss out on the real spirit of cooking by looking for quick and ready solutions in the prepackaged products such as cornbread mix, where all they have to do is empty the contents into a bowl, add water, stir, put it in a pan and then the oven. A lot of the spirit of Thanksgiving is being lost because the art of cooking is not being passed on.

Because preserving such traditions is important, the African American Heritage Society of East Pasco County annually sponsors a baking contest to pass the art from one generation to another during Kwanzaa.

We have a lot to be thankful for. Learning to accept our differences is one of the biggest. Happy Thanksgiving!

Imani Asukile, a Hernando County native, is a longtime Dade City resident and one of the founders of the African American Heritage Society of East Pasco County. His column appears every other Friday. To suggest a future column, e-mail him at idasukile@yah

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