This is decidedly *not* a Hot News time of year. We cast around, thought about bringing you news of Pizza Hut's new mind-reading menu technology, decided that was a little too Minority Report; pondered over McDonald's branching out into churches, felt it was a little, um, non-newsy, had a cup of coffee and a biscuit and messed about on Twitter for a bit before nearly falling off our Health-and-safety-designated ergonomic chairs with excitement. Trending all over: #Happythanksgiving. In the UK. Like, hello, it's a new foodie holiday *Screams. Falls off ergonomic chair again*.
Actually, it's a very real thing. For years and years we've disparaged the US custom: Why subject yourself to turkey twice in 5 weeks? What exactly are they giving thanks for - the Brits for chucking them out? The Native Americans for conveniently dying of Old World cold viruses and leaving them their land? George W Bush? Oreos? (Well, hang on a minute...) Curmudgeonly, aren't we? One day a year the "other lot" take time out to celebrate and give thanks for everything around them and they choose to do that with a food blow-out the likes of which will not be equalled for another full year. Suddenly, in the last few years - and boy, have we been slow on the uptake - we've woken up to the fact that this is a really GREAT idea!
Waitrose released figures this week that now one in six of us are choosing to celebrate Thanksgiving. It's not actually clear if that's from timely (and frankly too-organised) turkey sales (up 95% in the last five years) or people buying the requisite trimmings as well. It can't be just a love of turkey; God knows the mags and blogs have to work hard enough every year to convince us of the magnificence of this - um - Native American bird, so is it down to something else?
It could be the sides. Dammit, isn't everything chosen because of the sides? We used to make gak faces at the thought of all that sweetness, but now pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, cornbread all feature regularly in books and blogs and it's come to feel second nature (although perhaps we're still drawing the line at that marshmallow malarkey). Is it community? Christmas is traditionally about the family, but if you can only stand yours once a year, then Thanksgiving is an excellent time to share a similar feast with people you like, gathering up any waifs and strays that generally float around this time of year, but without having to spend money on presents. Is it just that November is dull, grey, dank and Christmas still feels a bit far away and this is like firing the most amazing starting cannon, exploding into the festive period in a shower of stars and cranberries? Or is it that nearly 200,000 Americans now actually live here but can't bear to be departed from their dearest holiday?
It doesn't really matter how or why. What remains is that this is a holiday we can embrace with all our stomachs, even if perhaps not completely our stout unemotional British hearts, and if we can find it within ourselves even to make a little room for a bit of thankfulness for what's around us (like this blog, brought to you twice a month with blood, sweat, tears and gin), it don't half put us in the mood for Christmas.
