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After Seven Years I Finally Have a Thanksgiving Dinner

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This is my seventh year avoiding the western holidays. But maybe it’s my last. Despite my best attempts at moving halfway across the world to a communist country the holidays have finally found me. Christmas is unavoidable, and it looks like Thanksgiving, the American-only holiday, has landed as well.

I’m not complaining. It’s been seven long turkey-less years. While the joke is that Chinese people eat anything, they definitely don’t eat turkey. It’s not a native animal and hasn’t really broken into the mainstream poultry market.
So to have a turkey you need to pay big bucks and pre-plan and order one. Too much trouble for me, but not for my friend Drew who is a big Thanksgiving fan.

So what does a thanksgiving in China look like? Here’s a few pics:

American's don't like heads, but Chinese do. So turkey in China comes complete with the little head which, thankfully my friends did not cook up.
American’s don’t like heads, but Chinese do. So turkey in China comes complete with the little head which, thankfully my friends did not cook up.
Ovens are also not standard in China. If people have them, they are like this, what we Americans would call a toaster oven. So my friends shoved the 17 pound turkey in this little sucker and hoped for the best.
Ovens are also not standard in China. If people have them, they are like this, what we Americans would call a toaster oven. So my friends shoved the 17 pound turkey in this little sucker and hoped for the best.
Side dishes are also not the same as home. With a mixed guest list, we had some unique side dishes. Spicy lotus and veggie salad and some shrimp veggie dishes.
But my friend Drew, the host and a traditionalist, insisted on some of the basic dishes, such as mashed potatoes and some roasted pumpkin/squash stuff cooked by an Aussie.
This was a mixed group, but mostly foreign as it was arranged by a foreign teacher and it was such a large group of foreigners going he couldn't open the guest list to many more. About 20+ people all together. We held it in a restaurant on the campus he lives in. They were kind enough to let my friend use the kitchen freely.
This was a mixed group, but mostly foreign as it was arranged by a foreign teacher and it was such a large group of foreigners going he couldn’t open the guest list to many more. About 20+ people all together. We held it in a restaurant on the campus he lives in. They were kind enough to let my friend use the kitchen freely.
Finally the turkey came out, quite late. Maybe 9:30pm. It had been cooking in that tiny over for 6 hours and we had already eaten most of the side dishes by the time the main event came out. I lined up and was first to get a piece of my FIRST turkey in China.
But it was clear from the first cut that the bird wasn't done and dangerous to eat. So my friend cut off some of the meat and back into the ovens it went while we ate dessert and cleaned up.
But it was clear from the first cut that the bird wasn’t done and dangerous to eat. So back into the ovens (cut up to cook quicker) it went while we ate dessert and cleaned up. Some non-Americans were willing to try it anyway, but luckily those of us who have spent our whole lives being cautioned away from under cooked turkey stopped them. Pro tip: cooking a turkey in a toaster oven isn’t the best method.
When the cooked turkey breast came out about an hour later, we grabbed it with our fingers and pulled off pieces of flesh like the savages we were. By this time we had already eaten all the sides, dessert and had cleaned up (the restaurant was closing) so fingers were our only option. I was pretty stuffed by this point but the turkey I grabbed was delicious.
When the cooked turkey breast came out about an hour later, we grabbed it with our fingers and pulled off pieces of flesh like the savages we were. By this time we had already eaten all the sides, dessert and had cleaned up (the restaurant was closing) so fingers were our only option. I was pretty stuffed by this point but the turkey I grabbed was delicious.

There were some traditional elements to the party too. Before we cut the bird (which turned out to be raw) we went around saying what we were grateful for. I said badminton ‘natch. I also got into a fight before dinner with some of my co-workers. (One co-workers, who was not the host and didn’t even say he was coming until the very last minute, ended up almost tripling the guest list when he opened the invitation to seemingly everyone he knew. The host reluctantly said yes to the first 4 people added, but then students and a friends roommate was also added, I freaked out and told him no and he couldn’t invite anyone else. I found it the height of rude to be inviting people to someone else’s house for dinner, and my co-worker got all mad at me.) But arguments and tempers flaring are traditional at thanksgiving right?! At least we didn’t fight about politics.

So it was my first thanksgiving in China. And the verdict? It was okay. Personally, the curmudgeon that I am, it wasn’t worth the time and money the host spent on it. But as a guest, who contributed some plates and store bought fancy cookies and did nothing else, it was fun. I could just hang out and relax with friends and eat.

It wasn’t exactly a typical American Thanksgiving, but it was fun nonetheless.
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