A festival of togetherness and lots of good food is one of the busiest days for the Americans as they celebrate Thanksgiving today.
Thanksgiving is all about the family getting together, so while Americans from the city surely miss their families, they do celebrate it in their own way. Having made Hyderabad their home, they invite close friends and make the best of the day by having the traditional meal together.
Kristen Loehr, who is leading the U.S. Consulate’s Political and Economic Section in the city, is from Chicago. Her family’s Thanksgiving traditions include great American classics like a stuffed turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows and green bean casserole topped with crunchy fried onions. Every year, before digging into the massive feast, each member of Kristen’s family shares around the table what they are grateful for from the past year.
Katherine Hadda celebrating Thanksgiving.
U.S Counsul General Katherine Hadda shares, “I have spent almost one third of my life overseas. I always miss friends and family, especially around holidays. I find we sort of make new adoptive families wherever we go, and that creates amazing memories. Thanksgiving to me is firstly one of the best American traditions, rooted in our history, widely shared, and yet probably a little different for every family. It’s a time to reflect on life and be grateful for all that one has,” she shares. Adding, “I do love to cook special dishes on Thanksgiving. Like many Americans, we’ve built up a traditional menu of favourite dishes from family and past Thanksgiving feasts.”
Nicole, wife of Akash Suri who is in the Foreign Service, shares that they definitely miss out on having all members of their family at Thanksgiving but they do try to have at least some of them come and visit them around the holidays which makes things easier for them. “But in this lifestyle, my friends and colleagues also become family so we sometimes spend Thanksgiving with them,” she shared.
She adds, “This year, we are actually travelling to Europe for Thanksgiving and spending the holiday with friends from our past assignments.” Being a multicultural family, their table is a fusion of American, Indian, and even European dishes. Thanksgiving for them is a little reminder of their family and friends back home but also a reminder of how lucky they are to live in so many different cultures, meet new people and make some new family in every country they are posted in.
Drew Giblin, Public Affairs Chief at the Consulate, is from the American south, where there are some regional traditions that get woven together with Thanksgiving. In his family, the Thanksgiving turkey isn’t baked like in most of the country, but rather deep fried in hot oil. And in place of the standard bread-based stuffing, one of the grandmothers in Drew’s family makes a delicious oyster dressing, combining some fruits of the sea with the traditional breaded stuffing.
While few are away from their family and few are together, Thanksgiving is one such celebration that brings immense joy among all.
