Karina Rodriguez | THE RIDER
As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, students’ and professors’ stomachs are grumbling for their favorite holiday dishes.
UTRGV Writing & Language Studies Professor Lyon Rathbun talked about his favorite holiday dish.
“We usually have Thanksgiving dinner at home, and it’s usually a turkey,” said Rathbun. “We cook a big, giant turkey and it lasts for days and days. Then we boil the bones and we make a nice bone broth and make a nice stew out of that.”
He said that his ties to turkey go far back to his and his wife’s childhoods.
“Well, I guess both my wife and I grew up with turkey,” Rathbun said. “We’re both from traditional families from the San Francisco Bay Area, and turkey Thanksgiving is always traditional.”
He said that if he had to sum up how his dish makes him feel in one word, it would be grateful.
“Grateful [because of] the abundance of having a great meal with friends and family,” Rathbun said. “[I have] an appreciation for everybody who’s there and appreciation for the food. Usually, it is a day-long process of cooking and being with friends and family, and, so, it’s a good time.”
He said that turkey is relatively easy to cook.
“Baking a turkey is pretty standard,” Rathbun said. “You know, you roast it, you baste it and don’t overcook it.”
Brian Warren, an associate professor for the Theatre department, also talked about his favorite Thanksgiving dishes.
“What I do is fry a turkey,” Warren said. “You know, it is a lot better than, I think, than a traditional turkey, which is all good, but when you fry it is yummy, yummy, eat it because of my big, fat body, but I do love them.”
He said his wife does most of the cooking during Thanksgiving.
“My wife is such, you know, she’s kind of picky, and she does the cooking,” Warren said. “She doesn’t really let me in the kitchen. So, I am just starting to do little things like soups and stuff. But as far as a recipe, I would say no, I don’t have one.”
He said that a lot of his enjoyment is attached to memories the food brings him.
“I have four brothers and a sister… and a lot of extended family,” said Warren. “So, you know what happened is that I connect the feasting with all those people, and [it] brings back pleasant memories.”
