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Savoring traditions
Local families will pass down heritage along with the potatoes this Thanksgiving
By Alandra Johnson / The Bulletin
Published: November 20. 2009 4:00AM PSTKellyanne Litton's Thanksgiving stuffing is nothing too fancy. There are no berries or nuts. It's got butter, onions and — the key — breakfast sausage. Some of it gets stuffed into the turkey and some is baked alongside the bird. But the stuffing is more than just a dish to this Bend mom.
It is a comfort and a connection to her own mom. Every year her mom, Marilyn Murphy, made the stuffing the exact same way. “I just started watching and learned how to do it exactly,” Litton said.
Since her mom died more than three years ago, making the stuffing helps bring back memories. “I always think about her.” So do Litton's two brothers who come over to share in the feast. Everything about their Thanksgiving has remained relatively fixed since Litton can remember. It starts with chips and dip and nuts on the table. There's turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing. Then, the next day, they all make creamed turkey on toast.
“It just feels good and it reminds us of her,” Litton said.
Food, in particular food around the holidays, is about more than sustenance. For many families like the Littons, food is about family and tradition.
Mary Gunderson, a food historian with www.historycooks .com, says food is a great connection to history and tradition. “The key thing is that holidays bring us together,” Gunderson said. “The most obvious way people come together is through food.”
Preserving memories
When her parents died, Bend resident Mary Marquiss wanted to find a way to preserve memories of them. She and her sister, Jan Newton, worked together to create a cookbook, filled with their recipes and stories and accompanied by Marquiss' art. She wanted something concrete and didn't want to lose all of those great family recipes.
Since making the cookbook and a follow-up expanded edition, Marquiss has gone on to teach numerous cookbook creation classes at Tumalo Art Co. and Central Oregon Community College. She recalls one well-traveled student who dedicated each chapter in the book to a different country; another student made a simple cookbook filled with recipes for items like sloppy joes and tacos to give to her sons when they head off for college.
Marquiss is also going to be teaching art at High Lakes Elementary School this year and will help the youngsters create a colorful, artistic cookbook as well.
“Food brings people together,” Marquiss said. In her family, food is one subject that everyone can talk about comfortably. It's a neutral topic, unlike religion or politics.
Looking through her family's cookbook, Marquiss finds plenty to talk about. There's her mother's recipe for lime Jello salad, which some family members love, while others turn up their noses. There's her brother's joke recipe about warming up a can of pork and beans on a car. There's her own recipe for gingersnap cookies, which stir up childhood memories of a neighbor who seemed to make cookies every day.
Even if people don't want to take time to create a cookbook complete with artwork, Marquiss thinks there are other options. One is to create a three-ring binder of recipes so family members can add to it over time. (Family members could ask a child in the family to create artwork for the cover.) She also thinks the topic makes a great family conversation.
Marquiss believes food is particularly good at capturing memories because it involves all of the senses. One meal may stir up memories through smells, tactile sensations, the noise of the kitchen, visual images and, naturally, taste. Preserving these recipes is a way for Marquiss to ensure younger children in the family hear the stories and learn about the tradition and history.
History
Gunderson has studied and written about pioneer family cooking, food on the Oregon Trail and most recently published “The Food Journal of Lewis and Clark.” She believes learning about our heritage can help families eat better.
She says the first Thanksgiving was something of a harvest meal, celebrating the end of the crops and looking ahead to the scarcity of winter. This is something that no longer applies to our society. Yet some of the food itself — turkey, squash, corn and beans — is still present at modern Thanksgiving celebrations.
Her favorite part about Thanksgiving is how the holiday encompasses so much. “It does really include everybody with no exception. There's a certain sweetness about it.”
Gunderson thinks that many modern Thanksgiving meals have elements of the mid-20th century. For instance, many families serve green bean casserole, or sweet potatoes with butter and marshmallow topping. “In a way, writing about Thanksgiving now, you can't ignore the influence of the late 20th century.”
For some families, the important element is consistency and eating the same food each year, whether it's homemade or purchased at a grocery store. Other families focus more on the act of cooking itself.
She sees a newer generation of people — ages 20-35 — who are trying to make Thanksgiving their own. They may not come from families with a strong food tradition and are trying to create their own.
Gunderson believes food and tradition go together naturally. “It's almost so obvious, you have to underscore it.” For instance, one family member may use the same potato masher his grandmother did.
Gunderson always thinks of her own grandfather whenever she makes pies because he liked the crust to be a certain way. “We experience that every time we go in the kitchen.” To nourish others, she says, we are drawing on our own roots.
“At the heart of it, there's something irreplaceable about preparing food for other people.”
Gunderson believes that people today are more appreciative of the time and effort that goes into meal preparation and recognize what a gift it is.
Finding your own way
For some families, such as the Littons, consistency is what makes the holiday special. Kellyanne Litton says her brother even pulls the same silly move each year. First thing he does is sneak into the kitchen, open the oven door and try to steal a bit of the stuffing before it's done cooking. She hopes her son, Wes, appreciates the traditions.
“For my son, I hope he remembers Thanksgiving Day as a consistent good home-cooked meal with family and friends gathered to be thankful, and that home is the place to come for some love and consistency when life gets crazy.”
But tradition can also come without so much consistency, like what happens at the Thanksgivings hosted by Bend mom Cheryl Howard. For the past two decades, Cheryl and her husband have hosted and invited friends to celebrate. She looks forward to interacting with all of the people, who are a wide range of ages and come from different backgrounds.
“It's always been delightful and there's a giant presentation of food.” Each year, the meal includes something different, such as the year when friends from the South made cornbread stuffing and deep-fried a turkey. Howard does like one tradition: She always sets an extra place at the table for an unexpected guest.
“It's all about the food. Food is everything,” said Howard. Her current favorite is a stuffing recipe from a chef that includes cranberries and nuts. She also loves cranberry salsa.
She believes her children enjoy the changes and the fun, not to mention the food.
“I think food is closely associated with many of my favorite memories.”
Alandra Johnson can be reached at 541-617-7860 or at ajohnson@bendbulletin.com.
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