Every Thanksgiving, my family bakes pumpkin and pecan pies to get into the festive holiday spirit. Pumpkin pie is a very special dish to my family because it is something we’ve made for as long as I can remember, and it has become a tradition that brings everyone together.
My mom, Shibani Joshi, grew up in Oklahoma City in a home with immigrant parents from India. It was a big deal for my mom and her younger siblings to have “American” traditions. They would often see the Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, and other items, like pumpkin or pecan pie, and they wanted to feel more American when in Oklahoma, because they felt different than the people they surrounded themselves with.
The ingredients were easily accessible on the front shelves of the grocery store aisle, and they were basic enough to use at home after the holiday ended. The items were also reasonably affordable, which was also very important.
Over the years, my mom and her sister have taken turns making the pies each year, experimenting with new flavors, like pecan pie, which, even though pumpkin pie was the tradition, pecan pie became one of our favorites, especially since not everyone in our household really enjoyed the traditional version of pumpkin pie.
Because of this, my mom and the rest of our family enjoy having different types of pie, specifically pumpkin or pecan, at each Thanksgiving meal, and it’s a simple but meaningful tradition.
