Tracing the holiday to its source

Darleene Barrientos

As long as the main course doesn’t change, the first-grade students

in Diane Schoenrock’s class don’t mind if the bird’s companions on

the Thanksgiving dinner table are clams, pumpkin seeds and smoked

salmon.

The Columbus Elementary School students donned Native American

headbands and paper feathers Friday to enjoy a meal of dried fruits,

turkey, smoked salmon, clams and Native American fry bread.

As he sampled the bread, Richard Simonian, 6, said he liked the

fish, the turkey and pumpkin seeds, but did not want to sample the

dried prune or the clams. And the bread?

“It tastes like a doughnut,” he said.

That’s because the fry bread was essentially a glazed doughnut,

fried in oil, but without the sugar and flavoring of today’s

doughnuts, Schoenrock said.

With 10 years of experience having taught on a reservation in

Yakima, Wash., Schoenrock wanted to provide an authentic Thanksgiving

dinner to her students.

“We’re doing this as part of studying Native American culture,”

she said. “This is a Native American taste test, to give them a

different tasting and cooking experience. That’s why we have turkey,

salmon, dried foods and clams.”

The students had watched Schoenrock make the fry bread in a

portable frying pan before they sat down to their “dinner.”

“I like this one, because it’s yummy,” 6-year-old Pauline

Odabashian said, pointing to the turkey. “I’m looking forward to

Thanksgiving. But we don’t have salmon or clams for Thanksgiving.”

A few students were loath to sample the unfamiliar-looking clams

or dried prunes.

“No, that’s OK. You don’t have to like everything,” Schoenrock

said.

But other students, like Emelyn Milan, 6, happily sampled

everything on their plate.

“I like the turkey best. I like the salmon. It tastes like honey

dough,” Emelyn said of the fry bread. “I like everything.”