Why I'm a Thanksgiving convert

Thanksgiving is, simply, wonderful. I’ve been celebrating it for years, thanks to my American wife. Now I do my darndest to introduce my fellow non-Americans to its joys. Call it the zeal of the convert.

First, a quick recap for those who need it. The “First Thanksgiving” was in Massachusetts in 1621. The native Patuxet tribe taught the Pilgrims how to live off the land, since they were really rather terrible at growing much of anything. The Pilgrims invited the Native Americans to join a harvest blessing feast as a gesture of gratitude.

Nowadays it’s celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, with a slap-up turkey meal for family and friends.

It’s easy to dismiss Thanksgiving as a Christmas warm-up act. It is shunned as a crass American import, stealing attention in November away from the wholesome English tradition of torching effigies of a Catholic dissident. It has also been stereotyped as an example of American consumerism, fatally associated with the ominous Black Friday spending spree that starts the following day.

At its heart, though, Thanksgiving is joyous. If anything, I argue that it is freer from commercial tack and the pressures of mega-spending than Christmas, since there are no presents, trees, cards, decorations or novelty jumpers.

Our friends have been hosting Thanksgiving dinner for years. In 2014, when my wife and I lived in a big rented house in Haringey with five friends, we had 38 for a sit-down meal by cobbling together all the tables and desks we could get our hands on into one rickety dining area that snaked through two rooms. We went too far — there was 16.5kg of potatoes and more than 80 balls of stuffing, if memory serves.

So, no, not 38. Not again. This year we celebrated Thanksgiving a little early and hosted a dinner last Saturday for a more manageable 15 (plus our new baby, dressed up in a cute pumpkin costume that will no doubt cause her glorious humiliation when she’s a teenager).

Dinner, which was served at 3pm and lasted until late into the evening, was so vast it was all I ate all day.

For mains, it was Nigella’s spiced and super-juicy roast turkey (the careful overnight brining was somewhat undermined by negligent basting); pigs in blankets; sage, onion and chestnut stuffing; butternut squash and beetroot, roasted with lots of honey and orange; kale gratin; sprouts with almonds and lemon; roast potatoes with an embarrassing amount of butter and garlic; mashed potatoes with an equally embarrassing amount of butter and garlic and cream; and mushroom and spinach wellington for the veggies.

Then there was a brief respite between courses. Everyone around the table took it in turns to announce one thing they were thankful for this year, as is tradition. From my experience the answers are usually around 60:40 of sincere to jokey ratio — though it really depends how cynical your friends are.

This year answers varied from “I’m thankful for my boyfriend” (d’aw!) to “I’m thankful for this year’s high Doctor Who viewing figures” (huh?).

Finally, dessert — a choice between pumpkin pie from Whole Foods; chewy brownies; chocolate and pecan tarts; vanilla cheesecake or Sussex cheeses.

I know my Thanksgiving evangelism won’t convince everyone. If we adopt an American holiday, they’ll say, then what’s next? France’s Bastille Day? Mexico’s Day of the Dead? Japan’s Showa No Hi?

There’s some rationale to this line of thinking. But here’s the thing: for the past few years Londoners have been unable to escape the Black Friday juggernaut. And if we already have the nastiest elements associated with the holiday forced upon us, why not embrace the fun bits too?

London’s best Thanksgiving menus by Katie Strick

Maxwell’s Bar & Grill

Roast maple-glazed turkey and pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream.

34 King Street, WC2, maxwells.co.uk

Milk Beach

A boozy American party, pairing Stateside food with the best natural American wines.

19 Lonsdale Road, NW6, milkbeach.com

PJ’s Bar & Grill

Turkey with all the trimmings, plus truffle linguine and black forest gâteau.

52 Fulham Road, SW3, pjsbarandgrill.co.uk

Beyond Bread

A decadent pecan pie with a creamy soft centre and crunchy toasted pecans on top.

Various locations, beyondbread.co.uk

Roadhouse

A Thanksgiving frat party complete with beer pong and BBQ wings.

35 The Piazza, WC2, roadhouse.co.uk

Red Rooster

Bourbon-glazed ham and a pumpkin spice espresso martini.

45 Curtain Road, EC2, redroosterldn.com