Turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, rice and beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, lemonade, apple pie and peach cobbler will all be on the menu at a Thanksgiving dinner taking place in a college apartment right here in Tallahassee.
Three friends have planned their own Thanksgiving dinner away from home, and invited anyone else who decides to stop by. Jeremy Latimore, a third-year social work student from Chicago, will host the dinner at his home in Hillside Apartments.
“We are going to have all of the things our moms would make if we were back home,” Latimore said.
The cost of a roundtrip flight home was $800 for Michael Young-Harris, a second-year history student from Minneapolis. Travel expenses were too steep to only remain home for a few days, helping Harris make the decision to celebrate Thanksgiving with his friend Latimore, who is in a similar situation. He considered it impractical to purchase a $600 ticket, and decided to enjoy Thanksgiving in Tallahassee instead.
Even among friends Thanksgiving traditions can be made like football, great food and a sweet potato pie competition. The dinner even includes a contest to see with who is going to make the best sweet potato pie.
While each student boasts the title of “king of the kitchen,” Harris said his pie will definitely win because he competes with his grandmother at home.
“We will definitely be watching football while we eat,” Derrick Standifer, Harris and Latimore’s close friend and a third-year history education student from Atlanta, said.
“[My parents and I] both wish I could go home, but it is a sacrifice we have to make,” Latimore said.