Thanksgiving in Vienna is a fews weeks away. In Viennese, they refer to the occasion as ErnteDank festival and it is a day to be thankful for Austria’s abundant farm products.
Vienna celebrates Thanksgiving along with the U.S. every fourth Thursday of November although it may not be necessarily for the same reasons and manner.
While roasted turkey may be the most common feature of every Thanksgiving dinner around the world, Austria has its own special food served on this particular day. These include cheeses, breads, wursts, marmalades, cakes and sturn.
In Vienna, various hotels also offer special dinners for their guests. This is a tradition for most of them. And while it’s one of the best times for these hotels to promote their establishments and unique menu, the managers also said they want to provide Austrians an opportunity to spend a wonderful time with their family and friends.
One of the city’s popular hotels, the Marriott has been carrying on a yearly tradition of offering special cookery courses when Thanksgiving approaches apart from serving an authentic dinner to guests. Last year, its 5-star menu featured turkey stuffed with chestnuts and cranberries and different side dishes. And in keeping with the American tradition, it also served Caesar salad, Cape Cod clam chowder as well as pumpkin and lemon pie for dessert.
The Thanksgiving celebration originated in America. It started as peace reigned between the Native Americans and the Puritans from England who were in search of food and harvest supplies to prepare for winter in their new environment. The leader of the Native Americans was the one who called for a feast which his group shared with the English settlers.
