Every family puts their own twist on a Thanksgiving meal. What's yours?

Food is the center of Thanksgiving with my family. Although we celebrate with a turkey, our plates look a little different than the traditional Thanksgiving meal because they reflect my dad’s Cuban roots and my mom’s Honduran heritage.

My dad came to Miami from Cuba in 1969 on Thanksgiving Day.

He walked into a feast at the Miami Freedom Tower along with my grandparents, aunts and uncles. My dad, who was 12 at the time, assumed the feast was a grand gesture welcoming his family to the United States.

In some ways, it was.  

They left everything they knew behind in Cuba and began new traditions in the U.S. They settled in New York, then found their way back to Miami when they realized winter happened every year.

On Thanksgiving, we celebrate my family being in the U.S. another year.

While we still have a big turkey at the center of the table, it’s marinated in mojo for at least 48 hours. The citrus marinade is a staple in Miami, where most of my family is now.

Instead of mashed potatoes we have boiled yuca, a root vegetable marinated in onions, garlic and more mojo.

No one could ever make boiled yucca like my grandmother. She passed away in 2020 and took the recipe with her. I am still working on forgiveness.

Despite having enough turkey to feed the entire neighborhood, my grandmother would roast pork, because there is no Cuban party without pork.

She would also make a giant pot of moro (Cuban rice and beans) and white rice. It was always better to make too much food than not enough.

Someone always brings tamales.

Flan or arroz con leche (rice pudding) always finds its way to our plates even if we don’t think we’re capable of eating any more for the rest of the year.   

It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I realized our plates look very different from a traditional plate.

I would love to know what your plates look like this holiday season. What are your traditions? Is there someone who is always dedicated to cooking one specific dish? Is there someone who can not be trusted to cook a particular dish?

What does your family bring to the party that tells a story? Email me at Jessica.Rodriguez@jrn.com.