Hispanics adopt holiday customs

Like Americans, many will eat turkey; others prefer chicken, pork

November 23, 2006
BY JUAN ANTONIO LIZAMA

If there were no alternative to turkey, Ecuadorean immigrant Stalin Andrade would have little to look forward to for the Thanksgiving Day family dinner.

"I must be the turkey's best friend," he said. "I prefer a well-prepared chicken."

Like Andrade, a construction subcontractor who lives in Henrico County, many Hispanics will be substituting stuffed, roasted or charbroiled chicken for turkey this Thanksgiving Day.

That's not to say that many other Hispanics won't be bathing their turkeys with beer or wine and cooking them for a big family dinner.

Latino immigrants quickly become familiar with the Thanksgiving tradition in the U.S., but many don't adapt easily to the traditional food.

Juan Santacoloma, an immigrant from Colombia who is the Hispanic liaison for Chesterfield County government, recalled eating turkey only once in his country -- when he was about 5 years old.

"We don't usually eat turkey [in Latin America]," he said. "It's somewhat scarce and expensive."

Usually, Latinos find turkey bland and dry, Santacoloma said.

His two daughters, who were 4 and 5 years old when the family arrived in the U.S. in 2000, love turkey, he said.

"I eat a little bit and that's it," he said.

Santacoloma said he never thought he would be substituting turkey on Thanksgiving Day for chicken and pork, the staple foods at celebrations in Colombia.

But his brother-in-law, also from Colombia, told the family that they were in another land, and they should adopt the tradition.

"'You are right,'" he said. "'If we are going to stay in this country, we are going to do what the Americans do.'"

So each year since they arrived, the family and friends have had turkey for Thanksgiving Day, Santacoloma said.

For those who can afford turkey in Latin America, it is prepared during weddings and Christmas, said Martín Gonzalez, owner of La Milpa Mexican Restaurant and Market on Hull Street Road in Chesterfield County.

Gonzalez, a native of Mexico, said Thanksgiving is a busy day for his business. The restaurant will have a big cookout of charbroiled chicken, beef and pork. A number of food orders came in early, mainly from groups of men who have no family here, he said.

Happy Mart in South Richmond expects to have cooked stuffed turkeys and chickens ready by noon today.

Judith Larios, who comes from El Salvador, wife of the owner of Mi Rinc?n Latino in South Richmond, said popular items for Thanksgiving Day are banana leaves for Central American tamales and corn husks for Mexican tamales.

Latino immigrants may differ among themselves and, in some cases, from Americans on today's meal, but what they quickly catch on to is that Thanksgiving is a day for rest and for family and friends.

"This is a very family-oriented celebration," Andrade said. "It is also a very spiritual day."

Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch