Okay. So. A few things on this. Yup, I do know that couscous is not traditional, and I know that you guys are freakin' weird about Thanksgiving.
Admittedly, part of what I'm doing stems from me being quite appalled by Thanksgiving. (Like iskra suggested.) From all description, it's a holiday so unspeakably awful that one could only have affection built in via childhood reinforcement, in much the same way Australians eat Vegemite, or Americans call Hersheys 'chocolate'.
But this is not going to be 'most' US tables. Holly has picked out the menu, and she's a food wanker. (Hence Toby commenting on the drive that she'd wanted to scrap it all for a seafood extravaganza.) She was raised by rich grandparents, where it's not unlikely that they would have gourmet versions of traditional food, and in the last year she's become the sort of precocious foodie who'd choose to cook Caribbean stuffed snapper. So it seemed logical to me that she'd be doing twists on some of the traditions.
While the couscous demographic might be slim across the American population generally, I wouldn't say that's true in NYC. (For Thanksgiving, sure, but not at a restaurant or dinner party.) I'm totally okay with Dickie and/or Elizabeth balking at breaks with tradition, but (aside from Holly) the only kid at the table is Harry. And Holly might well stick spiders in his bowl, so she doesn't care if he doesn't like it.
There's also a little influence here from my experience of Christmas (which admittedly, is not straightjacketed in the menu like Thanksgiving). There's a movie idea that the Christmas family gathering is one day, but for plenty of people, it's two or three separate occasions, as you cover divorced parents and/or in-laws. You don't want the same meal three days in a row, so you change it up. This may be Thanksgiving for these four, but it's actually Saturday, and Elliot's kids did the down-the-line turkey dinner with Kathy on Thursday. So while it's weird to change the menu, it seems weird to me to stick as tightly to the menu as I did.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Couscous salad
Date: 2015-03-17 02:08 pm (UTC)Okay. So. A few things on this. Yup, I do know that couscous is not traditional, and I know that you guys are freakin' weird about Thanksgiving.
Admittedly, part of what I'm doing stems from me being quite appalled by Thanksgiving. (Like iskra suggested.) From all description, it's a holiday so unspeakably awful that one could only have affection built in via childhood reinforcement, in much the same way Australians eat Vegemite, or Americans call Hersheys 'chocolate'.
But this is not going to be 'most' US tables. Holly has picked out the menu, and she's a food wanker. (Hence Toby commenting on the drive that she'd wanted to scrap it all for a seafood extravaganza.) She was raised by rich grandparents, where it's not unlikely that they would have gourmet versions of traditional food, and in the last year she's become the sort of precocious foodie who'd choose to cook Caribbean stuffed snapper. So it seemed logical to me that she'd be doing twists on some of the traditions.
While the couscous demographic might be slim across the American population generally, I wouldn't say that's true in NYC. (For Thanksgiving, sure, but not at a restaurant or dinner party.) I'm totally okay with Dickie and/or Elizabeth balking at breaks with tradition, but (aside from Holly) the only kid at the table is Harry. And Holly might well stick spiders in his bowl, so she doesn't care if he doesn't like it.
There's also a little influence here from my experience of Christmas (which admittedly, is not straightjacketed in the menu like Thanksgiving). There's a movie idea that the Christmas family gathering is one day, but for plenty of people, it's two or three separate occasions, as you cover divorced parents and/or in-laws. You don't want the same meal three days in a row, so you change it up. This may be Thanksgiving for these four, but it's actually Saturday, and Elliot's kids did the down-the-line turkey dinner with Kathy on Thursday. So while it's weird to change the menu, it seems weird to me to stick as tightly to the menu as I did.
So, yeah. There are reasons.
Thanks wycombe.
S.