The United States  has various cultures and traditions, that make it unique and bring its residents together. Stories of the country’s heritage and traditions, gives Americans a glimpse of who they are as individuals and as a community.

According to History.com, “In many American households, the Thanksgiving celebration has lost much of its original religious significance; instead, it now centers on cooking and sharing a bountiful meal with family and friends.”

Thanksgiving is a time for family and friends to come together; time to eat delicious foods and create memories with the people who are most important to you. All while bringing to the table what you are grateful for. 

California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State), is home to a number of different ethnicities and each of them have a unique way of celebrating this national holiday.

Food is the binding force of tradition and what better way to celebrate than with cultural food?

Cheyenne Chavez (Accounting, Senior) celebrates Thanksgiving with food cooked from scratch.

“I come from a Hispanic culture, but we celebrate Thanksgiving the traditional American way. We have turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, yams, cauliflowers, green beans, fruit, cranberries, bread, and pies; it is a feast! We make everything from scratch. Cooking is a family effort. We eat together and spend time as a family. Sometimes, we have friends celebrate with us.”

For Felipe Aguilera (Communications, Senior), the holiday season is a reason for a memorable family get together.

“My family always gets together and my dad calls it ‘el dia del pavo’ or ‘turkey day’ where we get together as a family. We make tamales from cheese and peppers to pork and chicken. My mom makes Portuguese stuffing or ‘recheio’ that my mom makes inside mason jars. We really do not have any traditions other than we always make recheio and my mom is always the one who makes it.”

Vanessa Olmos (Alumni, Business) identifies as Mexican American.

“I usually spend [Thanksgiving] with my parents, my two brothers , two sisters and nephew at my parents’ house. My mom doesn’t like to go out on this day because she likes to spend it with our family. We all work together to prepare our Thanksgiving dinner together, and listen to my mother’s favorite songs while we are in the kitchen cooking. On this day, we also love to watch our favorite movies together. If we decide to spend it with other family members, we usually spend it with my cousin from my dad’s side of the family and her family,” Olmos said.

Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without mouth-savoring food. 

Olmos explained her go to foods.

“There are many different dishes that I love to make during Thanksgiving and one of them is meat loaf because I do not like to eat Turkey. I also have to have mashed potatoes and pasta salad at our dinner table during Thanksgiving . Meat loaf, mashed potatoes, and pasta salad are the three dishes that I have to have as part of my Thanksgiving dinner,” 

For Clarissa Correa (junior,), who celebrates her Mexican heritage, the holiday’s are a time where she can gather with her entire family over warm cooked meals and great laughters.

“My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is seeing family that I don’t get to see very often,” said Correa adding, “My favorite food to have is my aunt’s secret recipe homemade dinner rolls and homemade mashed potatoes.”

Gurpreet Kaur (junior, Business) broke down how she spends her Thanksgiving.

“It is mostly about the food and getting together with family,” Kaur said.

California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) student, Aillya Taiby, spoke about how she celebrates Thanksgiving being mixed race.

“I am Afghan and Black,” Taiby said. “My favorite thing about Thanksgiving is probably the time after we finish eating, which is tea and dessert time. I feel like when family comes down from all over to our house, we have a limited time to talk before dinner is ready. The tea time is great to actually sit down and catch up with my family members while conversing over tea and desserts.”

Taiby’s favorite dish for Thanksgiving is mantu.

“[Mantu] is basically, a beef dumping that is covered with a savory yogurt, sauce and lentils,” she said.

 Nicolette Chingofor (junior, Communication Studies) also enjoys family time.

“My favorite thing to do for Thanksgiving is to spend time with my family, going to church, and talking about what we are thankful for,” Chingofor said. 
Chingofor identifies as Haitian – American.
She prefers to go a non-tradational American route when it comes to food. 
“I’m not a fan of Traditional American thanksgiving food such as (Turkey, ham, stuffing, etc). Therefore, I opt for all the caribbean dishes my family serves. To name a few, ‘Diri Kole’ rice with beans, ‘Poule en sauce’ stewed chicken, ‘Bannann’ fried plantains, or ‘Espageti’ Haitian Spaghetti,” she said. 

Amidst the traditional staple foods, a lot of families center their dinner table around cultural recipe’s that have been passed down from generation to generation. This is what makes these holiday gatherings unique and memorable.