Parisian Living

Do or Dinde: A Very French Thanksgiving in Paris

by Jessie Kanelos Weiner
Written By

Jessie Kanelos Weiner

Jessie is a Paris transplant with Chicago roots. As a food stylist, illustrator, and writer, she is continually scouring Paris with her insatiable Midwestern appetite for cheap thrills, beautiful things, and good bites. Follow Jessie’s illustrated footsteps from Chicago to Parigote at thefrancofly.com. View Jessie Kanelos Weiner's Website

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6 comments on “Do or Dinde: A Very French Thanksgiving in Paris

hahahhaha.. Do or DIndE 😀

Greetings from S CA + sounds like a wonderful Thanksgiving. Everyone you invite will be very grateful.Happy Turkey Day! xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

Bon chance!

In 1991, living in Nancy, with many “bachelor” status employees of the company my husband worked for, my bleeding heart( at the tender age of 24) decided to throw an American Thanksgiving for about 15 guys and a few families. I was excited but already understood it would be an extreme undertaking: in 1991, many American foods were still not available or popular in Europe. I had to make many things from scratch, including cranberry jelly (a HUGE MESS)and pumpkin pie. The funniest story included a expat from Canada who tried to translate “sweet potato” into French by yelling at the produce lady “YAM”. I still share that story at holidays now, a few years later. What that experience did teach me is that homemade food tastes better than any processed food stuff that is out there and there is a pride involved with not only feeding hungry friends and family but with making the traditional dishes successfully.

That said, I will never make cranberry jelly again from scratch. 🙂

We are doing a ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving for 22 people and while I thought it was a great idea at conception, I am now thinking I may have bit off more than I could chew. Yes, I can find all the ingredients but I always forget that our oven is way smaller than ours back in the US making cooking in general a little more time consuming. Sigh….

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