By Colin Kearns

By T. Edward Nickens

There may be other deeds more laden with American pomp than carving a Thanksgiving turkey—folding the Stars and Stripes comes to mind—but there aren’t many that train so keen a spotlight on a single moment, a single person, a single act with a knife in hand. The bird has been in the oven long enough to send its aroma wafting through the house, and now the gathered clan sits at the table, gawking at all the wedding china and silver that has emerged from the attic on a schedule similar to that of Halley’s comet. All eyes turn to the turkey. Cue up Norman Rockwell. And don’t screw it up.

By now you should have paved the way for a civil service. Go ahead and decide which kids get the drumsticks before you say grace—no use ruining the meal with a fistfight right out of the gate. Let folks know they shouldn’t eat till Grandma first lifts her fork. No cursing. No ketchup bottles on the table. And honestly, it’s a celebration, so if little Johnny wants to slip a whoopee cushion under Grandpap’s seat, where’s the harm?

By David Draper

For the past few years, we average Americans have watched the “locavore” food movement take off with the kind of “they’ll pay how much for one of my chickens?” amusement rural folks have for anything coming out of San Francisco. As the original field-to-table eaters, hunters have long known the conflicted satisfaction of literally getting our hands bloody in the process of procuring our own food. I admit: It’s kind of nice to see the rest of the world realize hunting is a noble undertaking.

In addition to creating Utopia one $30 chicken at a time, the foodie movement has produced some pretty good reading, including my current favorite by Jeff Crump and Bettina Schormann: Earth to Table: Seasonal Recipes From An Organic Farm. Like most cookbooks from the Chez Panisse school, it assumes there’s a friendly vegetable farmer just down the road from the reader who would love to have you come over and bother him during harvest.

By David Draper

The roasted carrots, (And what are those? Parsnips?), absolutely make this picture from Wild Chef reader Steve Peifer. Of course, the crunchy bits of onion on the mashed potatoes and the perfectly cooked venison don’t hurt either. Amazing looking meal.