One small thing. Unless a family is from the Levant or North Africa, vegan, or simply not interested in a traditional Thanksgiving menu, it is unlikely that couscous salad would appear on most US tables at TG. Maybe Holly is just throwing in her own eccentric twist on the menu. Otherwise, the couscous salad eating demographic is pretty slim on any other day of the year, let alone on TG.
In general people here are rigidly resistant to deviating from the standard menu of heavy fare. I think part of it is that children like the relatively bland main courses and the once-a-year multiplicity of rich desserts that they know and like. Adults may just like it because it reminds them of a family holiday when they themselves were kids.
Thanksgiving is historically about celebrating a gift of unexpected plenty under circumstances of austerity. In religious families, I think the repetition of this menu has become to some degree an unwritten religious ritual. Even with the increasing public discourse about healthy diets, Thanksgiving has long been a marathon of eating a variety of heavy, rich food that is the equivalent 3 normal meals at one sitting. Couscous? Not so much.
So, if at least Dicky and Elizabeth don't balk at the couscous salad, I would be very surprised, unless Maureen, or even Kathleen, kick them under the table if they detect any funny faces coming on. Even so, it might trigger a contagious and inexplicable eruption of giggling that could turn into a general riot of uncontrolled laughter. The sort of thing that can happen when everyone is trying to pretend that there isn't a farting elephant in the middle of the room and the little kids aren't buying it.
Couscous salad
In general people here are rigidly resistant to deviating from the standard menu of heavy fare. I think part of it is that children like the relatively bland main courses and the once-a-year multiplicity of rich desserts that they know and like. Adults may just like it because it reminds them of a family holiday when they themselves were kids.
Thanksgiving is historically about celebrating a gift of unexpected plenty under circumstances of austerity. In religious families, I think the repetition of this menu has become to some degree an unwritten religious ritual. Even with the increasing public discourse about healthy diets, Thanksgiving has long been a marathon of eating a variety of heavy, rich food that is the equivalent 3 normal meals at one sitting. Couscous? Not so much.
So, if at least Dicky and Elizabeth don't balk at the couscous salad, I would be very surprised, unless Maureen, or even Kathleen, kick them under the table if they detect any funny faces coming on. Even so, it might trigger a contagious and inexplicable eruption of giggling that could turn into a general riot of uncontrolled laughter. The sort of thing that can happen when everyone is trying to pretend that there isn't a farting elephant in the middle of the room and the little kids aren't buying it.