Whenever turkey time gobbles around, I’m reminded of the many feathered alternatives that I prefer to eat—most sampled in travels far and wide and all well-seasoned with nostalgia.
My least favorite Thanksgiving meal is turkey, whether wrestling the big bird down as a cook, or searching for savory, mellow morsels as a diner. While I’ve considered serving red meat, which is near and dear to me, some kind of poultry seems more fitting for this day. Perhaps because, as poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “Hope is a thing with feathers.” And hope-rewarded is, certainly, what Thanksgiving is all about.
The following are my non-turkey favorites for Thanksgiving!