When it comes to Thanksgiving, the main event is families and friends coming together to enjoy a nice meal together. This is as true in fiction as it is in reality. When Thanksgiving comes around in film or in television shows, sometimes characters get to enjoy meals that make the viewers' mouths water.
Often times, characters will enjoy the traditional Thanksgiving fare. However, there are times when they’ll enjoy something a little more unique, but it could still be very appetizing. At times, movies and television shows will bring up regional dishes that are popular Thanksgiving fare in some places but unheard of in others. In fact, a hallmark that a certain dish has become a popular holiday dish is that it starts appearing in film and television representations of the holiday. All of this can help viewers get inspired by what they can whip up for their own Thanksgiving dinners.
10A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
A Charlie Brown Thanksgivingsees the Peanuts gang celebrate the November holiday. Peppermint Patty invites herself and a few friends to Charlie Brown’s house for supper. Unfortunately, Charlie Brown was already planning on going to his grandmother’s house for the holiday. With some help, notably from Snoopy, Charlie Brown is able to whip up a makeshift junk-food spread. Peppermint Patty, expecting a traditional spread, isn’t too happy, but the kids all get invited to have dinner with Charlie Brown’s grandmother.
Why it Looks Delicious
Thanks to the happy ending, the junk-food spread can be seen as a fun appetizer. The servings included buttered toast, jellybeans, popcorn, and pretzel sticks. The food is also served with a frosty pink treat topped with a cherry. Fans often interpret them as strawberry milkshakes with whipped cream, but they’ve also been seen as ice cream sodas or sundaes. In addition to this, the end reveals Snoopy also had a more traditional Thanksgiving dinner, a turkey with roasted vegetables, ready to share with Woodstock.
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9Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989)
Garfield’s Thanksgivinghas the titular cat’s owner, Jon, planning a lavish Thanksgiving dinner, so he can impress his crush, Liz. Unfortunately, convincing Liz to come over turns out to be the easy part. Jon isn’t much of a cook, and the food comes out underprepared. It also doesn’t help that Garfield sabotaged the vegetables by adding too much garlic. Fortunately, Jon’s Grandma arrives in time to save the feast with her own unique recipes.
Grandma saves the turkey by using it to make her famous croquettes, cutting it up with a chainsaw, whipping up a special white sauce, and deep-frying them. She then gives the sweet potatoes a makeover with melted butter, brown sugar, and marshmallows. Her secret cranberry sauce isn’t much of a secret: she just uses the canned stuff. However, her ultimate “pièce de résistance,” however, is the pumpkin pie.
8The Simpsons: “Thanksgiving of Horror” (2019)
The Simpsonsdecided to try outthe “Treehouse of Horror” episodeswith another holiday in “Thanksgiving of Horror.” Scary stories are shared in which the title family is reimagined as a bunch of turkeys on the first Thanksgiving and a futuristic story where Bart and Lisa must fight off a bone-eating cranberry sauce blob.
One short in particular is “The Fourth Thursday After Tomorrow,” a parody of theBlack Mirrorepisode “White Christmas.” Marge is shown to have become so tired with cooking for Thanksgiving that Homer orders an A.I. cooking device, that hosts a sentient copy of Marge inside. The new “Marge” proves to be a good cook and even grows close to Homer. A jealous Marge plots to destroy the device, but not before preparing a lavish dinner she plans to take credit for.
“Marge” manages to escape and expose her real-world counterpart, but before she does, she makes it her mission to prepare a great feast for everyone. In addition to the classic roast turkey, the spread includes fresh baked cornbread, mushrooms, and salad. Marge and Homer even briefly serve hors d’oeuvres. The adults even get to enjoy red wine with their meal.
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7The Wiz (1978)
The Wizis an African-American-centric retelling ofThe Wonderful Wizard of Ozthat opens up at Thanksgiving dinner. Early on, Dorothy, reimagined in the film as an adult woman, and Aunt Em are preparing to get things ready for a crowded dinner inside their Harlem apartment. During the meal, Aunt Em sings the song, “The Feeling That We Had,” initially to her own visiting daughter, but redirects the song to Dorothy towards the end.
Viewers get a good look at the food early on, with a large turkey being roasted, a ham being sliced up, and Dorothy placing a frosted cake, decorated with flowers, into the refrigerator. Dorothy can also be seen bringing out a jug of Rossi wine for the guests to drink. Considering how crowded the dinner was, the most appetizing element is arguably just how much food there must’ve been.
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6Gossip Girl: “The Treasure of Serena Madre” (2009)
Gossip Girlrevolves around the lives of the privileged upper-class of the Upper East Side, so it’s only natural to expect characters to go all out for the holidays. “The Treasure of Serena Madre” features a Thanksgiving dinner admist all the scheming and secrets. Serena is tasked with hosting Tripp and his wife Maureen for the holiday, complete with a dinner scene set to Jason Derulo’s “Whatcha Say.”
The Thanksgiving meal barely leaves any room on the table. The turkey is even garnished with pears. Blair even offers her mother an entire wheel of artisanal Camembert cheese before incorrectly accusing her of being pregnant. Wine and champagne are chilling on the side for the guests to drink. However, the nice spread doesn’t keep Eric from insulting the sweet potatoes. That said, for some viewers, what’s truly delicious is all the cut-throat gossip and insults, which are a Thanksgiving tradition in their own way.
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5Friends: “The One With The Rumor” (2001)
Friendshad quite a few Thanksgiving stories over the years, such as “The One With The Rumor,” which gives the series its seventh Thanksgiving dinner. An old friend of Ross and Monica’s is coming over, played by guest star Brad Pitt, who remembers Rachel as a bully and isn’t too happy to see her.
Monica is shown to be a talented chef throughout the series, and so holiday feasts are her time to shine. Monica initially hesitates to prepare a turkey due to a lack of interest, but Joey convinces her otherwise, assuring her he’d eat the whole thing if necessary. Monica delivers with a 19-pound bird. In addition to this, she even prepares a small roast chicken for Chandler due to his dislike of traditional Thanksgiving food. This is all in addition to the sides filling up the table, including yams and large biscuits.
4Raising Arizona (1987)
Raising Arizonasees criminal H.I. “Hi” McDunnough,played by Nicolas Cage, and police officer Edwina “Ed” falling in love and get married. Unable to have children of their own, with Hi’s background making adoption unlikely, the two decide to kidnap a baby from a set of quintuplets. The film borders on magical realism, and Hi has various dream sequences throughout the story. One such dream in a Thanksgiving sequence.
This dream features Hi and Ed as an elderly couple as their possible future children and grandchildren visit for the holiday. With around eighteen mouths to feed, there is plenty of food to go around. All sorts of food is served, including mashed potatoes, breadsticks, and roast turkey, complete with garnishes. There are even pies already on the table, alongside the more savory dishes, presumably for the guests who prefer to dive right into dessert.
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3Spider-Man (2002)
Inthe 2002Spider-Manmovie, after Uncle Ben’s death, Peter and his Aunt May enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with Mary Jane Watson and the Osborns, Harry and Norman. Peter initially has to hide being caught in his Spider-Man costume, but he uses his new powers to hide on the ceiling until a telltale drop of blood almost gives him away. While Peter seemingly gets away, Norman starts to piece together Spider-Man’s identity.
The spread seems simple enough, with mashed potatoes, biscuits, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and a roast turkey. However, everything appears in a vibrant color. Even Norman Osborn can’t resist swiping some marshmallows off the sweet potatoes before saying grace, even after Aunt May scolds him. Color is notably used in the scene in other ways. Peter wears green to dinner, while Norman and Harry don shades of red and blue, effectively reversing their various alter-ego’s color-schemes.
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2The Blind Side (2009)
The Blind Sideis a sports drama inspired by the life of former NFL player Michael Oher, from him being taken in by the wealthy Tuohy family to his start in the NFL. Thanksgiving has an important role in the story, as the family matriarch, Leigh Anne, first takes an interest in Michael on the eve of the holiday, before inviting him to dinner.
What Makes It Great
Michael’s first Thanksgiving with his new foster family proves a poignant one. The family initially eats while watching football on television, but this changes when Leigh Anne notices Michael eating all by himself, compelling them all to eat together at the table. The kids soon hold hands with Michael to say grace. The Thanksgiving dinner is more than enough for the Tuohy family and the NFL player-in-the-making. The menu appears to combine more conventional Thanksgiving fare with more uniquely Southern traditions. Some foods that appear include deviled eggs, stuffing, salad, and biscuits.
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1Bob’s Burgers: “An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” (2012)
Bob’s Burgershas become famous for its Thanksgiving episodes over the years. Notably, family patriarch Bob Belcher adores the holiday and goes out of his way to make a special dinner for the family, from ordering a special turkey to trying out more artisanal recipes. Of course, this being an animated sitcom, things rarely go well for the Belchers on the holiday. That said, sometimes even a charred turkey can turn out to still be delicious.
“An Indecent Thanksgiving Proposal” has Bob’s plans for a family Thanksgiving dinner go awry when he is hired by their landlord, Mr. Fischoeder, to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for him and a guest, with the rest of the Belchers posing as his pretend family. However, the most appetizing thing that appears in the story isn’t exactly the meal the family eats. During a dream sequence, Bob imagines the turkey comes to life in the style ofa Studio Ghibli film, conjuring giant foods to sprout from the ground, complete with drumsticks and a slice of pumpkin pie.
