by Charlotte Beal
As I write this, the country’s biggest food holiday hasn’t happened yet — but the values that consumers are exhibiting will be just as relevant on December 2 and beyond. Pretty much everyone is trying to get a good meal at a good deal, while the food-obsessed will never tire of debating which cooking methods are best.
Budget T-day menus run the gamut; even high-end consumers don’t want to appear gauche. Epicurious.com, home of Bon Appétit and Gourmet magazines, trotted out a turkey dinner for eight people under $100 using the from-scratch-and-seasonal-saves-money approach. Budget grocer ALDI, meanwhile, did a four-people-for-$30 promotion using prepared foods that were heavily processed. It’s a telling fork in the road, foreshadowing food tales in 2009.
Indeed, this year we’ve seen less chatter about types of turkey (buying pricey heritage breeds might have to go back in the closet) and more Get Real debate about things like how to make the dang thing taste good — brining, dry-brining, braising and even grilling.
Even though, at the end of the day, turkey is turkey, there are other valid reasons for the cooking rivalries, and they are the values of escape and connection: forgetting about harsh realities for one day and creating a memorable meal to celebrate family and friends and other good things in life that don’t cost a dime.
