Amid all the things on my mind lately –– the amazing American Public Health Association (APHA) conference I attended in Boston, the jobs I’m applying for, the pears I’m addicted to –– my thoughts keep coming back to one upcoming and highly unique event:
Thanksgivukkah.
For those who have been living under a [Plymouth] Rock [of Ages], this year is the first time Thanksgiving and Hanukkah have overlapped since the 1800s, and the last time they’ll overlap for something like 79,000 years. It’s our only Thanksgivukkah ever, which means it’s also my only chance ever to write earnest pleas about eating local for Thanksgivukkah. Local potato (or sweet potato) latkes with local apple-cranberry sauce! Local brussels sprouts refashioned into a menorah! Local turkey fried in local, uh, oil? But in all seriousness, aside from the improbability of finding local chocolate coins or local pecans for pie, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah are two of the easiest holidays to support local farmers and get the tastiest ingredients you need. Local turkeys are hard to find if you don’t plan in advance, but you can always try calling farms listed on Local Harvest as raising turkeys. Keep in mind that farms that raise turkeys one year may not raise them another year.
I wrote this humor piece about Thanksgivukkah for jew-ish.com (although the headline is not mine).
Also, while I never usually sell anything on this site, I am just this once marketing some parody art I made for Thanksgivukkah that’s for sale in the form of greeting cards, shirts, playing cards, wrapping paper, place mats, kitchen towels, mugs, etc on my Zazzle store here. I think you get a discount through Thursday with the coupon code HOLIDAYCOUNT. Some of the designs:
Oily Night
Thanksgivukkah Dinner
American Latke
Mazel Tofurkey
(for the vegans and ironic-humored meat eaters)
Hanu(turk)kiah
Dry and Ready
Seattle Local Food 