Cook! (and then eat it somewhere else, of course)

Below is a post that appeared around this time last year, but I'm moved to point out that for the first instance in my life, and for the last time until the year 79,00-something, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah fall at the same time.

I love Thanksgiving, a truly American holiday we can all celebrate. I won't clutter up this post with an explanation of what it's like to be an ethnic minority during a holiday everyone seems to celebrate except you, nor will I detail that the "religious freedom" the Pilgrims were seeking did not really move them to extend it to anyone else once they got here. Rather I will remind myself that the freedom I have to celebrate Hanukkah exists at least in part because of their struggle, and give thanks that I live in a nation where I can say these kinds of things mostly without fear of reprisal. So, Mayflower voyagers, I lift my festive glass of cranberry juice in your honor, and will eat my turkey with *latkes this year.

The library has a surprising collection of cookbooks. We like to have a little bit of everything here, and while the culinary selection is by no means comprehensive, it is delightful in its way. Some of the titles are historical in nature: The Medieval Cookbook; The Seasonal Hearth: The Woman at Home in Early America; something a little older still with Cooking in Ancient Civilizations; and a long-time library favorite - Cooking with Shakespeare.

Others are of regional or ethnic interest: Foods of Peru, Chile and Cuba; The World Religions Cookbook; and Culinaria France, with its gorgeous photographs and informative essays. We also have books for those of you only starting to experiment: Now You're Cooking or How to Boil Water might be just the thing for the kitchen-uninitiated. More experienced? Mastering the Art of French Cooking, the classic by American treasure Julia Child, is waiting quietly on the shelf for you to discover.

If you're more into thinking about it than actually doing it, we've got books for you too. In Defense of Food, an Eater's Manifesto, will make you think carefully about what you're putting in your body; Eat, Pray, Love lets you live vicariously through Elizabeth Gilbert as she ventured around the world and did all three; and - I'm saving the best for last here - M.F.K. Fisher's collected essays The Art of Eating is among my top five favorite books in the library, the first thing I checked out and took home when I got here.

However you spend your Thanksgiving holiday, you're going to eat something at some point. Why not take a moment to reflect on it? Vow to make next year's feast even better by helping to cook it, or at least offer a thoughtful appraisal of where it came from and why it matters.

*You didn't hear this from me, but Manischewitz boxed potato pancake mix makes a very fine latke, with the addition of a little fresh onion, if you don't have time or patience for all the shredding and squeezing.  NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW, OF COURSE.