What are your traditions?
Friday is always a welcomed day for most of us. It means we get to spend time with our family, work around our homes, maybe do a little shopping. For me this weekend will be spent planning for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. Some of you may be wondering do Italians celebrate Thanksgiving? Well, the truth is Thanksgiving is pretty much a truly all American tradition, we do not exactly have the Plymouth rock in Italy, it would be just another stone in a 2000 year old Roman ruin. Even the transliteral phrase in Italian for Thanksgiving, La Festa del Ringraziamento, refers to a variety of religious holidays held throughout the year for patron saints. I guess you could say we celebrate the holiday all year long.

Most Americans who live in Italy find it hard to even find the ingredients to re-create a traditional meal. Italian Thanksgiving, for most Italian Americans, then, means the inclusion of special Italian recipes to accompany the Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

Every family of Italian heritage has different culinary traditions to celebrate the holiday. Over the next few weeks I look forward to sharing some of my families traditions with you. And I would be delighted to hear from you about what makes your Thanksgiving special.

Rita Monti