By: Madison Bonner, Writer
Photography: Madison Bonner
Happy Thanksgiving, Bearcats! We hope you enjoyed your fall break.
Due to Thanksgiving break, McKendree celebrates Thanksgiving the Thursday before the actual holiday. This celebration is an annual feast known as Amesgiving, as it is held in Ames Dining Hall.
Amesgiving is a long-held tradition on campus. Ames Dining Hall was built in 1968 and dedicated to the university’s first president: E. R. Ames. The first Amesgiving was held in 1995. Since then, the staff at Ames have continued to prepare a festive meal for students every year.
Chandler Morley, the Director of Ames Dining Hall, explained that the whole staff gets involved in this event. This includes cooks such as Dave Pasterski, Addison Cummins, Justin Connelly, Justin Delker, Lori Strozier, Sam Papproth, Val Cotton and Tai Fong Chen. All of these staff members had a part in preparing and serving for this year’s Amesgiving. This is no small task – Ames prepared enough food to serve a feast for 500. Stephen Burger, Dakota Connelly, and a host of student workers cleaned the dishes, pots, and pans for the event as well.
Chandler’s favorite part of Amesgiving is bringing the campus together – residential students, faculty, staff, and commuters alike. He stated that “It’s a chance to share Thanksgiving tradition with international students and for all to share who may not make it home for the holidays.”
This year, Amesgiving was held on Thursday, November 16th. Thanksgiving food was provided during Ames’s lunch hours (11 A.M. – 1 P.M.). The menu featured 12 different dishes, not including dessert.
At first glance, Ames was set up differently than usual. The center aisle was lined with tables, which were covered in various Thanksgiving foods. Sara Eveland welcomed students at the door as the hostess. Tami Ruiz, the administrative assistant at Ames, provided the dining decorations and Ames Christmas tree.
At the beginning of the line, there were two types of salads: garden salad and baby spinach salad, both prepared by Rhonda Sims. Cranberry chutney was also offered, which could be used as a salad dressing or eaten by itself.
As a bit of a twist on the traditional dish, this stuffing was actually made with wild rice and quinoa!
Next up were some more traditional sides, the first being sweet potatoes. These were served sliced and glazed with brown sugar.
Another classic: mashed potatoes!
The staff also provided traditional stuffing.
The brussel sprouts were cooked with cranberries, adding a hint of sweetness to the dish.
The next dish was also vegetable-based: green beans amandine. Quick semantics/culinary lesson: the term “amandine” refers to a dish “prepared or garnished with sliced almonds” (Oxford Languages).
At the end of the line, a basket of rolls and packets of butter were also available.
Pictured above is Addison Cummins, who served the turkey at Amesgiving.
Justin Delker sliced and served the Amesgiving ham.
The staff also provided a variety of desserts. Among these were classic pies such as pumpkin and pecan (Chandler’s favorite!) and other sweet treats, including apple crumb pie, apple lattice pie, cherry lattice pie, carrot cake, cherry cheesecake, pumpkin gooey butter, bread pudding, chocolate meringue pie, and Ames pecan pie. These fresh-baked desserts were prepared by Mary Jane King, who has been baking at Ames for over 30 years.
We hope you enjoyed Amesgiving and will continue celebrating with us next year!
