Like many other festivities, the holiday of Thanksgiving
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thanksgiving:
ringraziamento
usually includes a delicious, abundant meal
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meal:
pasto
. The classic Thanksgiving menu consists of dishes like mashed potatoes
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mashed potatoes:
purè di patate
, green beans
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green beans:
fagiolini
, corn
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corn:
mais
, dinner rolls
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dinner rolls:
panini al latte
, cranberry
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cranberry:
mirtillo rosso
sauce, gravy
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SPEAK UP EXPLAINS
Gravy
"Salsa de carne." Se trata de una salsa espesa que se prepara con la grasa y los jugos de la propia carne y las verduras mientras estas se cocinan. Es un elemento básico de las gastronomías estadounidense y británica. En contextos informales, gravy se usa también para referirse a algo adicional o inesperado que resulta agradable o valioso, como un ‘chollo’ o una ‘ganga’.
, pumpkin pie
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pumpkin pie:
torta di zucca
, Brussels sprouts
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Brussels sprouts:
cavoletti di Bruxelles
, and, of course, roast turkey
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roast turkey:
tacchino arrosto
. But how did turkey become the star of the table? It all started four centuries ago…
History of the Thanksgiving Turkey
An Autumn Party
The “first Thanksgiving” took place in the Plymouth colony (in modern-day Massachusetts) in 1621. The year before, a group of English colonists known as the Pilgrims
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pilgrims:
pellegrini
had arrived there in search of a new home. Only half of them survived their first New England winter. Helped by some welcoming
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welcoming:
accoglienti
Native Americans of different tribes, they learnt some farming
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farming:
agricoltura
and fishing techniques.
In November 1621, after the Pilgrims’ first successful corn harvest
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harvest:
raccolto
, they organised a celebratory feast
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feast:
banchetto
with their Native American allies
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allies:
alleati
to thank God for it. However, no turkey was served here. According to the chronicle written by Pilgrim Edward Winslow, the menu included deer
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deer:
cervo
and “wild fowl
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wild fowl:
pollame selvatico
”, which historians interpret as ducks
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ducks:
anitre
or geese
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geese:
oche (sing. goose)
. The Pilgrims repeated the feast the following year, and thanksgiving celebrations became common practice in other New England settlements
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settlements:
insediamenti
, too.
The Wounds of a Nation
Before Thanksgiving was an official holiday, turkey had become a popular dish
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dish:
piatto
to serve on special occasions. The reasons behind this are that turkey was abundant in America, it was affordable
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affordable:
a buon prezzo
, and, unlike
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unlike:
a differenza di
cows or hens
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hens:
galline
, it was raised to be slaughtered
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to slaughter:
macellare
and eaten. Plus, it was big: one single turkey was enough to feed
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to feed:
alimentare, sfamare
a whole family.
In 1827, Sarah Josepha Hale, in her novel Northwood, described a New England Thanksgiving feast with a roast turkey “placed at the head of the table.” Hale and other supporters started campaigning
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to campaign:
fare campagna
to establish Thanksgiving as an official national holiday. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln finally accepted the proposal, asking all Americans to take it as an opportunity to ask God to help all the victims of the ongoing
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ongoing:
in corso
Civil War.
Pardoning the Turkey
Sending the U.S. President a turkey as a present had become a common thing to do by the 20th century. And this tradition gave rise
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to give rise:
dare luogo
to another tradition: pardoning the turkey.
The first president to throw a ceremony to pardon a turkey from the Thanksgiving table was John F. Kennedy, in 1963. Pardoning the turkey became an “official” act in 1989, and from then on
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from then on:
da quel momento in poi
presidents have chosen one or two turkeys every year to be sent to a farm to live instead
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instead:
invece
of becoming the Thanksgiving dinner.