Keep it on this level and I'm fine with it all
Quote of note:
At Mr. Singh's table, dinner is not a political statement. Nor is it an opportunity to reflect on the impromptu harvest festival that started the whole thing more than 300 years ago.
"I can assure you, nobody is sitting down and thinking of the Pilgrims and the Indians and the corn," he said. "Neither are we spectacularly saying, 'Oh, gosh, Americans have taken over everything, and we don't care for that.' It's just a huge eating escapade."
Turkey Is Basic, but Immigrants Add Their Homeland Touches
By KIM SEVERSON
ATERSON, N.J. - For all those struggling to get Thanksgiving dinner on the table, consider the plight of Yaser Baker, a restaurateur in this city's Arabic shopping district.
First Mr. Baker had to find a turkey that was slaughtered according to Islamic dietary law, a challenge because some local halal butchers decided not to sell turkeys this year. Then he had to adapt the traditional American recipe to Arabic tastes, which meant bathing it in lemon and olive oil and stuffing it with rice, beef and pine nuts.
Finally he had to brace for reaction from his Muslim neighbors, some of whom are either too devout or too upset about the war in Iraq even to acknowledge Thanksgiving.
But for Mr. Baker, Thanksgiving is all about the bird.
"Believe me, I don't look at it as an American holiday or a holiday that is not for Muslims," said Mr. Baker, a Palestinian and naturalized American who has been in the United States for 24 years. "I live in America. You tell me to eat turkey, I'm going to eat turkey."
