Does The Capital Region Have Any Unique Thanksgiving Dishes?

Did you know that different regions of the United States have different menus for Thanksgiving dinner? I didn’t realize that until I moved away from home.

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner for me was turkey, ham, gravy, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens, cranberry sauce, rolls, and sweet potato pie for dessert. My grandmother made the best sweet potato pies!

My favorite side dish was always sauerkraut though. I thought everyone had sauerkraut for their Thanksgiving dinner until I visited my family in Pennsylvania. That’s when I realized that different regions had different side dishes to complement their turkey.

As I started to see more and more of the country I realized that even though we are all one country, we celebrate this holiday very differently.

Some people have corn with their meal, some people have green beans, some families replace mashed potatoes with rice. I’ve even heard of people having salmon along with their turkey.

My brother went to school in the Midwest and spent several Thanksgivings with his friends in Chicago. He told me that they had chitterlings along with the traditional Thanksgiving sides.

If you’ve spent Thanksgiving in the south you probably had sausage gravy, cheese grits, and pecan pie along with your Thanksgiving meal. In Texas fried turkey is common. In the west and the southwest, a sweet pasta dish called frog salad is a Thanksgiving must.

The main thing about Thanksgiving is to give thanks for the things that you have and to spend time with the ones that you love. Please be safe and enjoy whatever you decide to have for dinner that day.

I haven't heard or seen any in particular that defines Thanksgiving in the Capital Region are there any Capital Region-specific dishes that you serve for Thanksgiving?

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