I always love to read those "man-on-the-street" columns in my local newspaper. It seems that frivolous questions rather than weighty ones inspire far livelier and intriguing responses. In the same spirit, I collar friends, relatives, and total strangers to ask them inconsequential questions on culinary matters.


Q: What does your family have for Thanksgiving dinner?


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Bruce: It's always at Carol's house (Carol is Bruce's aunt). There can be anywhere between fourteen and twenty-five people there.
Carol: And it's always the same menu.
Bruce: And Carol makes it all.
Carol: I start cooking early in the week of Thanksgiving. On Tuesday I marinate the turkey in adobo, vinegar, and garlic.
Bruce: It's a great turkey.
Carol: I have to make everyone's favorite dish. Everyone likes my oyster stuffing. Except Bruce. So I make oyster stuffing for everyone else. And I make sausage stuffing for Bruce.
Bruce: Then I'm very happy.
Carol: We always have corn pudding and macaroni and cheese.
Bruce: Everyone wants macaroni and cheese.
Carol: Stephanie has to have turnips and peas.
Bruce: Sydney and I like that Jamaican dish you make with field peas and rice.
Carol: There's always sweet potato pie and peach cobbler. And banana pudding and pound cake.
Bruce: Don't forget your broccoli salad! Carol is famous for it. People fight over that salad.
Carol: In every picture ever taken at Thanksgiving, Bruce is eating. There he is…with a fork full of something in his mouth.