Turkey with a Side of Fried Rice: How Asians Celebrate Thanksgiving
Written by Truc Moore
Thanksgiving can be an interesting, yet fun, holiday for Asians in the U.S. The holiday’s distinctively American origins can be alienating for some Asian immigrants who haven’t lived here very long. Others, like multi-generational Asian Americans, find the holiday to be representative of large family gatherings around turkey, ham and dishes from their Asian cultures, or they abandon the turkey completely and go with a full blown Asian feast. Still others, exhausted by the effort of cooking a large meal only to be left to do the dishes, use the long holiday weekend to head to Las Vegas with its cheaper hotel rooms and shorter Buffet lines.
Many Asian families have embraced cooking Thanksgiving dinner at home, with Thanksgiving signaling a major Asian family celebration where the table is covered with a turkey or ham (or both), stuffing and all the fixings. But how you cook the turkey and what fixings you have, is the real game changer. Growing up, my parents put their Vietnamese spin on turkey by marinating it in soy sauce and garlic, and stuffing it with glass noodles, tofu and shitake mushrooms. As for the fixings, there was always a side of fried rice and egg rolls sitting next to the bowl of mashed potatoes.
Now that I have my own family, I still continue with Thanksgiving dinner in this manner, with eggrolls and banh coun (Vietnamese fresh meat rice crepes) served as appetizers next to my deviled eggs and shrimp cocktail!
I know many other Asian families do the same thing. My Filipino friends always have pancit noodles, lumpia rolls, and ube pie at their Thanksgiving dinners. Japchae, mung bean pancakes, kimchee jeon (pancakes with meat and veggies) and kimchi are common at my Korean friends' Thanksgiving dinners. (Koreans are so lucky, they get to celebrate two Thanksgivings – Korean Thanksgiving in September and American Thanksgiving in November!) My Chinese friends make Asian sticky rice and dumplings, and one of them even uses leftover turkey to make turkey congee the next day!
For other Asian families, these large elaborate meals at home involving turkey that often was dry and bland, wasn't ideal. Instead, they ordered in or cooked large Asian feasts similar to what they enjoyed on Chinese New Year's! One Chinese friend recounts that after her family immigrated here, they tried making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. They discovered they really didn’t like turkey, and opted instead for duck, soy sauce chicken, crab, noodles and other savory and amazing Chinese dishes on Thanksgiving.
And for those Asian families that didn't want to cook, they would go out for a nice Asian meal on Thanksgiving. While many American restaurants would close on Thanksgiving, that wasn't the case for many Asian restaurants. Indeed, many Asian restaurants stay open on Thanksgiving in San Gabriel, Alhambra and Monterey Park, and are often busy and bustling with guests enjoying a large family meal together!
After gorging ourselves at Thanksgiving buffet, we have taken the kids ice skating on the Vegas Strip, did a little gambling, and then went shopping at Black Friday sales the next day at one of the many malls that cover Las Vegas. If you have a large family, mixing in Las Vegas is a great and fun way to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Yet another tradition that has sprung up for Asians celebrating Thanksgiving in Southern California, is to go to Las Vegas! Some Asian families haven't really developed a taste for turkey, and the mountain of dishes afterward that no one wanted to wash, dissuaded them from planning and cooking such large meals. So they headed to Las Vegas, a city filled with excellent Asian restaurants and All-You-Can-Eat buffets. Las Vegas has long been a holiday alternative for Chinese and other Asians in Southern California. I myself have participated in this holiday tradition, and have taken the whole family to Las Vegas where the hotels have cheaper rates and shorter lines at buffets over the long weekend. The buffets have been wonderful on Thanksgiving, and there's always turkey and all the fixings, along with unlimited crab legs and sushi.
Hopefully this article has made you hungry and excited about Thanksgiving!!! No matter how Asians and other Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, there's no arguing that Thanksgiving is the greatest equalizer when it comes to holidays. Rooted in the nostalgia of European settlers breaking bread with Native Americans, Thanksgiving reminds us that we are all immigrants to this country. There is no denying that everyone in the United States, with the exception of Native Americans, aren't originally from here. All of our ancestors were immigrants to this country. We should embrace our immigrant status this Thanksgiving, and celebrate the holiday for what it is - a very WELCOMING holiday! Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!
Truc has been employed with the County for the last 14 years. She is an attorney with County Counsel and advises the County on information technology, intellectual property, contracting, procurement and government law matters. Truc is an avid traveler, foodie, cook and USC fan. Check out her Instagram page.
