Well, I don t think the family is as we knew it. It s just gone, and nobody has Sunday dinner anymore. When Marion wrote the Joy of Cooking in 1975, the last revision, Marion Becker, people were still having family dinner. This has all changed. People have Chinese food on Thanksgiving.
People go out to restaurants.
I also think that mothers, our mothers did not cook. In other words, people can study a book. Well, the fried turkeys, of course, is a regional specialty of South Louisiana, and one that provides a turkey that s both moist on the inside and crisp on the outside. I think that the food itself, the cooking itself has become much more of a special activity. It s become something that is very, very important to the gathering, as Mr. Tillman was talking about.