7 hours Ago
There are plenty of words to describe the spirit of Thanksgiving: family, abundance, thankfulness and, perhaps, stress. But when it comes to the foods of Thanksgiving, more often than not, there’s one word describing them: bland. Classic dishes like green bean casseroles and mashed potatoes often share the same note of soft, fatty, carbohydrate-heavy tedium.
A roasted turkey, despite its nostalgic value, can often be anticlimactic taste-wise, and the bright tanginess from a dollop of cranberry sauce is sometimes the only saving grace. As you get ready for Thursday’s big feast, it might be time to consider livening up traditions by incorporating more and potentially new spices. It may feel odd to break with a pumpkin pie recipe passed down the generations, but there’s reason for the suggestion.
There is compelling science that shows spices not only elevate your Thanksgiving meal, but also make them healthier while curbing the dreaded gluttony. With the cornucopia as the ultimate symbol of Thanksgiving, the fear of eating plenty more than usual is a common anxiety. According to a recent national survey by Orlando Health in Florida, nearly two in five Americans worry about how much they eat over the holidays.
While no one should feel guilty about overindulging during the holidays, one reason for the tendency is due to a phenomenon called sensory-specific satiety, which was discovered in the 1980s at the University of Oxford. Sensory-specific satiety is the force guiding you to eat that sweet treat even after you’ve had your fill, said Nancy Rawson, the chief impact officer at the Monell Chemical Senses Center located in Philadelphia. “Sensory-specific satiety is where you get full of one sensory experience but if there’s something contrasting that comes along, you’re like ‘Oh yeah, that looks good, I’m going to have some of that,’” Rawson said.
While sensory-specific satiety may seem like an undesirable behavior, it’s an evolutionary holdover from when our ancestors needed to ensure they ate a varied diet with enough calories to power them during metabolically energetic activities, such as hunting down a woolly mammoth while also collecting berries. That’s not to say that adding spices to your Thanksgiving meal will stay your hand from your uncle’s crowd-pleasing cornbread stuffing. But what spices may do is help you eat less by satiating you sooner.
Some studies have found when spices are included even in simple dishes, diners tend to feel fuller quicker. A 2013 study out of Denmark found when volunteers were served store-bought canned soup spiced with chili pepper, they reported feeling less hungry and fuller sooner than when they were given the same soup plain. Considering that the average American may eat as much as 3,000 calories, flavoring those creamed brussels sprouts with more than just salt and a pinch of pepper may help scale back on the overindulgence (and holiday regret).
Speaking of salt, many Americans eat too much of it: as much as 3,400 mg of sodium a day on average, far exceeding the Food and Drug Administration’s dietary recommendation of 2,300 mg, or about a teaspoon of salt. “I tell people that our taste buds are damaged when we overuse salt,” said Jaclyn Albin, an internist and director of University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center’s Culinary Medicine Program. “So, when people say, ‘I can’t taste [my food] if I don’t add enough salt.
’ I say you’re absolutely right — but the great news is our taste buds turn over faster than almost any other cell in the body. It takes about two weeks.” In addition to salt overuse, aging and some health conditions like cancer, COVID-19 and depression can dull our sense of taste as well, said Milette Siler, a culinary dietitian nutritionist in the same program as Albin.
“By about age 70, we have about half the amount of taste receptors that we did at birth. It’s just a natural part of aging,” Siler said. “For a lot of Americans with COVID and lots of other conditions that cause taste change, there’s different degrees .
.. So helping people use spice to kind of nudge that flavor back where they need it to go.
” Of course, cutting down on salt can be a hard ask. But if a dish is seasoned and spiced adequately, adding just a touch of salt will amplify without having to rely on it as the sole source of flavor. “If you haven’t done your job to build with flavor techniques like braising, roasting, sauteing and adding spice, you’re kind of blunting that [flavor],” Siler said.
With so many spices to choose from, knowing which ones will pair well with a dish can seem like an added layer of stress to an already stressful holiday. Allison Childress, an assistant professor at Texas Tech University who focuses on culinary medicine, recommends familiarizing yourself with traditional seasonal spices and herbs like nutmeg, cinnamon, sage, thyme and rosemary and playing around with how and when you use these ingredients. “We use cinnamon in sweet potato dishes and desserts but in Western culture, we don’t really use it in savory dishes,” Childress said.
“In Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, they use it in savory dishes, meat dishes and even soups. So maybe think about using [spices] in a totally out-of-the-box manner.” Sapna Punjabi, a registered dietician who specializes in seasonal culinary wellness, has her top five spices — which she calls “edible gemstones” — to use in the kitchen during Thanksgiving (or really just any holiday season).
So, consider adding these to make your Thanksgiving this year more satisfying, healthful and flavorful: • Turmeric: A deep, golden-orange spice giving curry its vivid color and derived from underground stems, or rhizomes, of the Curcuma longa plant. Curcumin is the commonly studied compound contained in turmeric, which may have the ability to reduce inflammation. Punjabi said one way she likes to include turmeric is in spiced apple cider as it imbues the drink with a luscious yellow color.
She recommends the best time to add it is when you’re warming the apple cider. • Ginger: This spice is also derived from an underground stem. It imparts a fragrant zest to both sweet and savory foods.
Punjabi recommends tossing a knob of ginger into a simmering soup or broth. Some of its health benefits include alleviating nausea and indigestion, and there’s some data to suggest it may help with inflammation in conditions like osteoarthritis and potentially controlling blood sugar levels for those with diabetes. • Cumin: This is a spice common throughout Asia and is used to add warmth and an earthy flavor to savory meat dishes and stews.
You can think about marinating your turkey with or incorporating cumin into the stuffing. Much like turmeric and ginger, cumin has purported anti-inflammatory properties. • Cardamom: Known as the “Queen of Spice” in South Asia, cardamom offers a unique flavor that is very versatile for both sweet and savory dishes.
Punjabi’s recommendation to use it in place of cinnamon in dishes like apple pie or other desserts calling for cinnamon. Cardamom may help regulate blood pressure. • Fenugreek seeds and/or powder: The herb fenugreek that these seeds are derived from are common to South Asian cooking.
Punjabi warned that the seeds themselves can be bitter so the best way to prepare them is fried and tossed onto whatever vegetables you’re serving at the Thanksgiving table. Fenugreek also has a variety of purported health benefits, such as potentially lowering blood sugar..
