Shhh…Don’t Talk About the Mashed Potatoes

This post was written by Megan Kuhn, the communications director for Indiana Soybean Alliance, Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Corn Growers Association.

My grandma was in charge of Thanksgiving dinner preparation throughout my childhood. It was my job – and that of my sisters – to go over and help early on Thanksgiving day.

Grandma would turn on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and we would set the table as Grandma moved efficiently around her small country kitchen. This was a time where we not only got to spend some quality time with our grandma but also time to learn from her on how to make her oyster dressing, roll out a piecrust and cook her homemade noodles to perfection.

One year I watched my grandma pull out a box of instant mashed potatoes and I was shocked! I never realized that our Thanksgiving mashed potatoes were from a box. Since I smothered them in her homemade noodles, I must have just not cared.

Grandma turned to me as she poured the potato flakes into the pan, looked me square in the eye and made me promise NEVER to tell my cousin’s husband this secret. You see, Mike praised my grandma on her homecooking and she didn’t want to admit that she was human!

Even though my grandma quit fixing Thanksgiving dinner several years ago and passed away this spring, I have yet to tell her secret to Mike. I don’t think I ever will.

I’m thankful that I have this memory and many more of wonderful Thanksgiving days sitting at the “kids table” in my grandparents’ living room talking, laughing and eating with my family.

This post was submitted for our Thanksgiving Story Contest using the submission form on the right-hand side of the blog. Submit your entry by Nov. 19 to be entered in a drawing for $100 in groceries, courtesy of Indiana’s Family of Farmers.