What does a Persian Thanksgiving mean to you? Is Thanksgiving a uniquely American holiday or is there some room to give it some Persian flavor? While I like Thanksgiving as much as the next guy, I want to make suggestions about how to make Thanksgiving a little more Persian.

Instead of cooking the traditional Turkey, why don’t you try making Turkey Kabobs. I mean Chicken Kabob is always good so the Turkey type should pretty good too. If you do choose to make a whole turkey instead, make make a rice stuffing instead of the bread style. Replace the plain old cranberry sauce with Fesenjoon that has been remixed with some cranberry flavor.  Toss the old school mash potatoes and go for some nice Persian Salad Olivier instead. With these and other recipes, you can transform boring old Thanksgiving with some Persian flavor.

Of course Thanks giving is more than just the food or at least it is supposed to be. To start with, call the spread of food that is laid out on the table a Thanksgiving Sofreh. If you really want to, throw in some parts of the traditional Sofreh just to make it extra Persian and remind everyone of our Persian heritage. Maybe most importantly I think Persians have a special understanding of what it means to be thankful. Make it clear that we are thankful for the freedoms and opportunities we enjoy knowing that those back in Iran are denied those rights.

Hopefully this is not too much of a corruption of American or Persian culture, but is instead a mellow combo of the two. We should be grateful of our rich culture by making an American cultural institution a little more Persian. If you have any other suggestions or recipes on how you made a Very Persian Thanksgiving, make sure to share in the comment section.