Dear Our Lady of Thanksgiving, May I overstuff the turkey rather than myself. But, should I succumb, over-indulge, carbo-load, or drift into a burnt-marshmallow-sweet-potato sugar-induced coma, I pray, dear Lady, that I return to my senses first thing Friday morn, And NOT set sail on a decade long fat detour. Amen.

Mini-Skinny Thanksgiving Prayer Card & Essay

STUFF THYSELF?

I've been conducting some serious research on the origins of stuffing.

I am not referring to the bread and sausage kind that we cram inside the turkey and bake at 325 degrees for two to three and a half hours (depending on weight of bird) until golden brown.

No! I am talking about the stuffing of self. The 'overeat until you have to unbutton your pants' stuffing; the 'gorge until you can't breathe' stuffing. The 'be gluttonous until you have shooting pains down your arms' kind of stuffing.

While I permanently removed over 50 pounds of unwanted weight almost three years ago, I remain a FOODaholic. I still have a difficult time controlling myself, at Thanksgiving in particular, and want to know where, when, and why the over-stuffing of self at Thanksgiving began. When did the stuffing of self become the expected and accepted way to eat at Thanksgiving?

So, I set my time machine to 1621, the first Thanksgiving, where I found Governor William Bradford sending 'four men fowling' after ducks and geese. That's right folks, not only were there no turkeys present at the first Thanksgiving, but there were no pumpkin pies, breads or pastries of any kind. The flour supply had long been depleted. There were no potatoes (therefore no sweet potato casserole with marshmallows melted atop) or jugs of cider. While corn was plentiful, and while the Pilgrims and the Indians feasted and partied for three days straight, there was no indication that they corn-stuffed themselves to death. There was not one belt buckle undone. In fact, to the contrary: the Pilgrims saved a great deal of the harvest for the winter.

Upon my return to the present, I decided to seek a greater authority. I dashed off a quick email to the American Anthropology Association and inquired if they knew of any social anthropologists who specialized in 'the origins of overstuffing oneself at Thanksgiving.' Sure enough, within seconds the AAA referred me to the eminent Prof. Sidney W. Mintz, author of "Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History" (Penguin Books, 1985) and "Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Culture and the Past" (Beacon Press, 1992).

Dr. Mintz kindly answered my email and agreed to a telephone interview enabling us to have an in depth and serious conversation about the eating habits of Americans, with particular emphasis on 'Thanksgiving Stuffing.'

According to Dr. Sidney Mintz, the Thanksgiving meal 'reawakens our attachment' to our early homes, and helps 'define our cultural identity.' Dr. Mintz said that Thanksgiving provides cultural definition with its 'foods of distinction, flags we raise to say who we are.'

Clearly, we are not emerging from months of semi-starvation, nor are we replenishing our food reserves. What the over-stuffing of self says about us is that we are products of a time of abundance; the post-Depression era and celebrants of the industrial-age who have lost touch with the earliest significance of Thanksgiving. We have over-stuffed and super-sized Thanksgiving along with ourselves.

Dr. Mintz said "Thanksgiving is a way of saying I am an American and if you don't like the way I eat, tough stuff."

How will I handle this year's festivities? Will I stuff myself as well as the Turkey? I think not. I will head into Thanksgiving armed with awareness, small plates, teaspoons (no heaping portions), some corn to honor the Pilgrims and a new mantra.

"MINI-mize Me, please."

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