Thanksgiving Dinner Tips - Meal Options

Thanksgiving Dinner Tips - Meal Options - as part of the expert series by GeoBeats. For an elaborate dinner, which Thanksgiving usually is, pre-planning is the key to success. You will want to decide on a variety of interesting dishes, some that would be vegetarian. People have many different tastes, and planning for that in advance, as well as asking them prior to their arrival, will make sure that you have a lovely, successful dinner. So, you could do one of two options. One is you could serve a plated meal. That might require a waitstaff member to help serve because it is a bigger effort on your part. The dishes would be plated with the entree in the kitchen and then brought out. Or you could do a family style, which I think is more fun for a Thanksgiving event. If we are having courses, either way, whether plating or the family style meal in the big serving dishes, you would start with either a soup or a salad. You might have both, but generally the entree with the turkey or the ham for Thanksgiving is huge. So, probably one or the other, either soup or salad. If we were in Europe the salad would be served after the entree in a way of cleansing your palate. So, small dishes, lots of choices, of different things, and you might choose even a rice and a potato or a rice and a sweet potato. You might choose different versions of squash, so that you have an array of choices. They are going to be unique and different than what that person, who is your guest, might make at their own home. So, it is all lovely. If you have picky eaters, well, they will just have to work around these lovely choices. The proper etiquette for someone who does not care for something, they must accept the serving plate as it is going around the table. They cannot say, “No, thank you.” They must accept it, even if they do not want any, and then pass it on to the next person. Proper etiquette would mean that they would take at least a small bite of it and put it on their plate, and then at least taste it. They are not required to eat anything or everything. If you see someone not eating something that is on their plate, do not say, “What? Do not you like the food?” Just ignore it. It is all about grace and elegance at our lovely Thanksgiving dinner event.