This harvest break, countless UO students will be returning home to see their families and enjoy classic (or not so classic) Thanksgiving meals. This year, the Daily Emerald spoke to some of them to learn about the food they make and enjoy for the holiday. The following dishes are their family favorites.
Christian Garcia Badillo
Favorite Dish: Tamales
“Me and my family like to make tamales. It’s part of my culture,” Badillo said. “I grew up like that, and it reminds me of all the family I have in Mexico. It’s kind of like we can all be together again.”
Tanner Gill
Favorite Dish: Cranberry Sauce
“The dish that I think is most special at Thanksgiving is cranberry sauce. It’s my great grandma’s recipe, and I make it every year for the family,” Gill said. “I remember as a kid eating it a lot at every function that we had, and now she’s getting older and she can’t really make it so we’re kind of passing on the tradition, which I think is really special.”
Julia Smith
Favorite Dish: Sweet Potato Casserole
“Every year my grandma makes a sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top and pecans mixed in, with brown sugar,” Smith said. “It was my favorite as a kid because it was sweet, and it was nice to have the sweet and the savory together. My grandma always made it, so it was kind of special to me in that way.”
Sam Dody
Favorite Dish: Blended Leftovers
“We have a tradition where after Thanksgiving, we’ll take all the leftovers we have and we’ll put them in a blender, to make a weird gravy out of all of it,” Dody said. “Then we’ll take a drumstick or something and we’ll dip it in that. Usually it doesn’t taste very good, but it’s a lot of fun. We do it every year, and I guess it’s just important because it’s something the whole family can do and have fun with it.”
Eleanor Potter
Favorite Dish: Cheesy Cauliflower
“My family likes to make a really cheesy dish. It kind of reminds me of my family from Michigan,” Potter said. “Even though I’ve never been there, it gives me a little taste of what they grew up with.”
