American Thanksgiving, in Prague
How To: Spend The Holiday While Studying Abroad
How is one intended to celebrate American Thanksgiving while living in the middle of Europe? With friends, of course. How else did you expect?
After six relentless short film shoots lasting two and a half weeks, the students of Slezska 60 in Prague 2 were desperately seeking a communal bonding activity to cool their nerves. Annie and Veronica had planned a spreadsheet for all 17 housemates to cook one or two traditional Thanksgiving dishes for a Friendsgiving dinner on November 30. Noah and Connor chose to man the turkey, while Madigan bought the cranberry sauce and assembled an apple crisp. Reagan spent the day looking for Czechia’s finest and cheapest cheese selection and red wine for some finger food charcuterie. No one knew what Cameron was making, and Alexandra and Miranda spent a suspicious amount of time flirting over their respective apple and pecan pies.
On the fifth floor of their 40-person apartment building, Kaylee began preparation at 10 a.m., working on her classic New-Orleans-inspired fried bread. It was damn near impossible to find frying oil in their local grocery stores, so Kaylee had to use sunflower oil as her frying base, which led to a delightful yet all too filling appetizer.
Alongside Kaylee, Veronica was also up early to make the cornbread—by far, the most sought-after meal of the day. With her trusty Google Translate app, she lurked down the grocery store aisles looking for baking powder, otherwise known as “prášek do pečiva.” Did she know how to pronounce these words? Of course not, but it did not stop her from fumbling through them while asking a clerk if they had an in stock.
But what about the turkey? By now, the rag-tag boys should have started mixing the spice rub and preheating the oven. Well, Noah was still slumped in bed, having stayed up late the night before grueling over the result of this year’s “Great British Bake-Off” winner. (Georgie was great, but we all known Dylan was born to be a chef.) Connor rushed through the door with a large plastic bag in hand, announcing, “I called and [the butcher] said some poor, old woman didn’t want her turkey. So… now it’s ours. Don’t ask questions.” Noah, shirtless and dazed, respectfully nodded and the two began work. Connor’s spice rub consisted of salt, pepper, rosemary, chili powder, maybe some cinnamon, and perhaps an egg. Towards the end of his prep, Noah seemed to forget all matter of proportions and ingredients, opting to “wing it” (pun-intended) and hope the guests won’t notice.
By 13:00, the turkey made it in the oven, shoved with spare onions, garlic, ginger, lemons—lemons? How many? Four? Sure, why not. I highly suggest trying the recipe for yourself. Use whatever is in your spice rack and the nearest citrus fruits found in the local convenience store (also known as the “potraviny!”). Annie was sweating her tokus off in the downstairs kitchen wondering why none of the ovens seemed to work properly. Her stuffing creation, a recipe found on the first Google search result which specified using fresh Texas toast, was cooking beautifully on the top, but left the bottom soft and unseasoned. If you hadn’t noticed by the lack of fry oil, the Czech Republic also lacks Texas toast of any kind. Instead, she opted for the meatiest slab of “chleba” she could get her mitts on. After slapping some knobs out of anger, the oven complied with her demands and crisped the bottom of the stuffing to a crisp 180 degrees Celsius.
However, the cultural integration expanded beyond the states back home. Cal “The Fire Demon” Mascardo was heating up a ruthless vegetable dish, past down from their grandmother’s Filipino roots. Simmering 900 grams of heavily processed tofu in a bath of sushi vinegar (spice with a dash of brown sugar) resulted in a captivating vegetarian option for dinner that complimented their scallion-fried rice. Working right next to Cal was Kazuki, stirring his signature Salmon Chowder soup while marveling his new haircut.
But the festivities had to climax. At 19:30 sharp, Noah and Annie began calling for people to start sitting. Pies were still baking in the ovens as Veronica scrambled to reheat her cornbread. Omar and Rae happily placed their joint mac ‘n’ cheese dishes on the table as Tyler put the last flaming touch on his roasted yams. Sally and Gabe had been eagerly waiting to plate their respective salad and mashed potatoes, the most grueling jobs of the night. But wait, where is the turkey? Noah seemed to run off without a word, carrying the 10-kilogram bird carcass with a cigarette-fumed redness in his eyes.
Luckily, he had simply run downstairs to heat up the beast in a spare oven. The clock ticked… Noah sat impatient, hoping his seven hours of work would pay off.
When he ran back upstairs, he was greeted with iPhone cameras and anticipation. With bated breath, the crowd stood to watch the turkey unveiling. Underneath the tin foil cover, an amber-cooked crisp layer skin enclosed a tender, juicy turkey fit for the Petr Pavel.
The students sat, shined their plates clean, and commenced with a momentous abroad Friendsgiving in the Czech Republic. With families halfway across the world, all these students had to celebrate was each other and the connections they made over the past three months. As the semester winds down, their meal was a pleasant reminder that no matter their differences, there was one unifying aspect in their lives: food.