Esquire USA - 11.2019

the Big Bite

44 November 2019_Esquire

FOOD

CANCEL

TURKEY DAY

At home, at least. And

rediscover the joy

of Thanksgiving...at a restaurant.

By Jeff Gordinier

illustration: C.J. Robinson

Maybe you’re looking forward to it.
Maybe when you hear the word Thanksgiving,
your nostrils fill with the summoned scents of rose-
mary and sage, and you smile inwardly as you imagine
bowls of cranberry sauce and boats of gravy and plat-
ters of poultry being ferried around the table from one
generation to the next, with gentle elders and eager
cherubim joining hands in a fellowship of food. Nos-
talgia for the most gluttonous of Thursdays is prac-
tically a national birthright, which means that com-
plaining about our collective rite of homecoming is
like committing an act of American heresy.