Good morning and happy Thanksgiving. This is a special holiday edition of the newsletter — our team is taking a short break. We’ll be back Monday with more of the news you need to start the week, plus a bit of joy and wonder.
‘It’s good to be thankful’
by Michel Martin, Morning Edition and Up First host
Maybe I’ve spent too much time in D.C., but when Thanksgiving rolls around I often recall something former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said at an informal dinner I attended years ago. He offered a test for any program or project: if you weren’t already doing it, would you start it now?
That idea keeps coming to mind on Thanksgiving. Even knowing the complicated and painful history behind the first 1621 gathering — and how the Wampanoag people later endured loss of land and autonomy — I still value having a day devoted to gratitude. The modern holiday has its excesses — too much food, too much shopping, stores opening too early — and those things can dim the day’s meaning.
But set all of that aside for a moment: there is something useful and humane about pausing to be thankful, to spend time with people you choose, and to mark a day that belongs to everyone here and to those who’ve just arrived. If you don’t already make time for that, maybe today is a good day to begin.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Susan Stamberg’s cranberry relish
For decades Susan Stamberg, one of NPR’s pioneering voices, made a holiday tradition of sharing her mother-in-law’s cranberry relish on the air. Since 1971 she found ways to slip that unusual recipe into NPR’s Thanksgiving coverage year after year. It isn’t the standard deep-red jelly — it includes sour cream, onion and horseradish and comes out a bright pink that some skeptics have likened to Pepto-Bismol. Stamberg always called it a beautiful bright pink and urged listeners to taste it before judging.
Stamberg died last month at age 87, but her relish ritual has become part of her legacy. Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep recently spoke with her grandchildren about the recipe, and NPR’s archives highlight many memorable moments tied to it over the years:
– 2001: Her on-air recital of the recipe nearly stopped, but tradition and patriotic spirit won out.
– 2002: Listeners and readers offered their own serving ideas, variations and reviews.
– 2005: Martha Stewart joined Stamberg to talk turkey — and the relish.
– 2007: Sportswriter John Feinstein agreed to sample it.
– 2009: Food writer Ruth Reichl cooked along and provided a photo guide.
– 2010: Rapper Coolio sampled and weighed in.
– 2011: Stamberg shared the relish with two White House chefs.
– 2015: She wrote about a 2011 Thanksgiving in Kabul where her family’s relish made a surprise appearance.
– 2016: The recipe faced its toughest critics — some NPR staffers.
– 2019: Stamberg spoke with Ocean Spray’s then-president and CEO about the concoction.
– 2020: NPR traced the relish’s most debated ingredient: horseradish.
Thanksgiving stories you may have missed
– The cost of a Thanksgiving meal is a little kinder this year: the price of a whole frozen turkey is down about 16% from last year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.
– Holidays can bring family joy and tension. To help, Life Kit and It’s Been a Minute collected 12 expert-backed strategies for keeping holiday dinners peaceful.
– If you’re thinking about mood and food, research suggests whole grains contain a type of fiber linked to better mood and lower risk of mood disorders. Consider making your stuffing with whole wheat bread this year.
– New picture book Family Feast! — the sixth collaboration from author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Frank Morrison — celebrates a family gathering around a shared meal. The story highlights food, family and love and could fit Thanksgiving or any other special meal.
– Morning Edition spent time around the country looking for traditions that might make you rethink Thanksgiving. Highlights include Julefest, a two-day celebration after Thanksgiving in southern Iowa, and a Santa Barbara Zoo custom of giving leftover Halloween pumpkins to animals.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.