Smorgasbord of gratitude

Thanksgiving Day is as good an excuse to eat out as any, which is why most if not all of the big hotels and restaurants in Vietnam will be laying on the turkey later this month.
It’s an imported custom that originated with the English Puritans who settled in America in the early 1600s.
Their first winter in the New World was grim, many settlers died of starvation, and it was only when the local tribe showed them how to grow corn and catch fish that the survivors could carry on.
In gratitude, the Puritans decided to celebrate their salvation with a feast and held their first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation in 1621.
These days the custom is observed in Canada as well as the United States and Canada, though on different days. Americans do it on Thursday of the fourth week in November while in Canada the day falls on Monday of the second week.
Turkey Day in Vietnam
Thanksgiving is also called Turkey Day because that’s what dominates the dining table for the occasion.
The traditional Thanksgiving feast is turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potato, sweet potato, and beans.
This is often embellished with lobster and other seafood, watercress, wild fowl, strawberries, plums and dried fruit.
Pumpkin pie is the classic dessert and recalls the simple life of the European settlers.
Plenty of places in Vietnam augment their menus when Thanksgiving Day comes around.
One is the Parkview Restaurant at the New World Hotel, 76 Le Lai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, where chef David Rejhon is overseeing the preparations for this Thanksgiving.
Besides serving roast turkey with herbs, chicken broth, and cranberry or apple-wine sauce at the table from 6-10 p.m. on Thursday November 26, the Parkview will bag hot turkeys for customers to take home.
There will also be a Thanksgiving smorgasbord priced at VND790,000 or US$45, including Beaujolais Nouveau and other wine, Tiger beer and soft drink.
Roast turkey can be ordered in advance from November 23 through the Parkview’s “Flying Turkey” special for a price of VND1.67 million or $94 including a bottle of Obikwa Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa.
At the Caravelle Hotel, 19 Lam Son Square, District 1, the Nineteen restaurant on the ground floor will feature a buffet of turkey, meat stuffing and seafood from 5:30 to 10 p.m. on November 26.
Seventeen Saloon will be doing the same at 121 Yersin Street, District 1, HCMC on November 25 and in Da Nang on the central coast on November 26.
While dinners are eating their Thanksgiving food, the likes of Johnny Tri Nguyen and other entertainers of repute will be on stage giving their all for most of the evening.