As I am getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow, I am filled with immense gratitude. I have beautiful daughters, meaningful work, and an abundance of people in my life who feed my curiosity, feed my appetite, challenge me and bring me joy. Many of those people are in my family, and I am so excited to be back on my original coast, the East Coast, to be with my parents, daughters, brother, niece and nephew, sister-in-law and her parents and brother’s family. We all gathered last year for Thanksgiving too, and it felt the way it should– joyful, delicious, and at times chaotic, especially with the addition of a puppy last year!

I had the chance to be talk about Thanksgiving food three times in the past week in the media in California! One of those has been an annual tradition since the pandemic, the Thanksgiving Hotline on Air Talk with Larry Mantle, and I love the fast pace of ask-me-anything, plus the joy of being paired with the amazing Chef Noelle Carter, who formerly ran the test kitchen at the Los Angeles Times. And I gave a guest lecture today about culinary medicine, my work and passion, to the Applied Culinary Nutrition Msc program at Technological University of Dublin (yes, Ireland, but only virtually), also an annual tradition, where I get to talk about my career arc, culinary medicine, and the students taste and critique a few recipes they’ve prepared from my cookbook, Spicebox Kitchen. Their last question was, what are you making for Thanksgiving tomorrow? That got me excited. I talked about how the best Thanksgiving menu for me is a multicultural one, and fortunately my Taiwanese-Korean-Trinidadian-American family has got that covered.

I truly love Thanksgiving food, so if you type “Thanksgiving” into the search bar you can find lots of ideas. I’d like to highlight a few sides this year because besides being a little different from the usual Thanksgiving fare, they come with a side of people who have made an impact in my life.

First, Taiwanese Sticky Rice Stuffing, with a story about the immigrant Thanksgivings which played a big role in shaping my palate and my purview.

If you like creamed spinach, you’ll love callaloo, which I first wrote about in 2011 and which also appears in Spicebox Kitchen. Sadly, the Trinidadian friend who taught me how to make this, Alan, is no longer with us, but I will never forget his light and joy, nor his excellent cooking.

Roasted carrots with carrot top pesto bring nose-to-tail/stem-to-root eating to the Thanksgiving table. I was reminded of this recipe when I saw Tessa, a former patient, now herbalist, helping out at the McGinnis Ranch stall at Alemany Farmers Market. I love seeing people I know in multiple contexts, and like me, most people are pretty relaxed when they are exploring beautiful produce at the farmers’ market.

I hope you get some fresh ideas for your Thanksgiving table from this reminiscence. Thanksgiving is equal parts food and family/friends, and I hope you get your fill of both!