Turkey in Praha!

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Ah, the holidays, a time for love and fellowship. A time for us to spread joy to our fellow man and … well… if you are American, eat like there is not tomorrow. I have been here in Prague for two consecutive Thanksgivings and I can state with the utmost sincerity that we Americans have definitely cornered the market on gluttony. If there is a holiday, you can bet that there will be a huge spread to go along with it. Whether it is candy at Halloween or the traditional turkey at Thanksgiving, we include mountainous amounts of food in all of our celebrations.

Celebrating a traditional American holiday in a different country can be a little bit troublesome. For obvious reasons they do not celebrate Thanksgiving here in Prague. Why would they? That means there are no 20 pound frozen Butterball turkey’s overflowing in every supermarket. That means there are no cans of cranberry sauce or pumpkin for your pumpkin pie. There is no cool whip and no Frenches onions for that green bean casserole. There is no in store display that has everything you need all in one convenient spot. So what is an expat to do? Well, you have to embrace the true meaning of the holiday and be thankful for what you do have. That, and have mom send you some necessary supplies.

This year my friends and I went all out. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, corn chowder, fruit salad and green bean casserole. We even had cake for dessert.

I had my mom send me a can of cranberry and some Velveeta cheese. I make a killer macaroni and cheese, and Velveeta is a crucial ingredient. I was ecstatic when I also located some cheddar cheese. Prague seems to be the land of all white cheeses, so I was in shock when I saw cheddar. I also found a Turkey at the Tesco. It was not a huge Butterball, but it was big enough for our little family. The trick is to make the most of what you have, and what we had was plenty.

When I looked at our bounty set out on the table I felt a little proud and happy. I think it was the first time that Thanksgiving was really about being THANKFUL. I mean, how thankful do you need to be when you have an abundance of food at your finger tips 24 hours a day? Do you really feel thankful for what you have or for the fact that you have a long weekend and turkey sandwiches enough to last a week? Here in Prague I felt truly thankful. I was thankful for having a group of friends who I didn’t know before I moved here that I now consider family. I was thankful for the meal we ate and all contributed to. And, finally I was thankful that we could embrace the spirit of this holiday in our own way even with out mom’s apple pie. We did alright. We did better than alright - we rocked it.

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