Global guest list for Miller Place family's Thanksgiving feast
Thanksgiving for the Hensen family of Miller Place meant celebrating an American holiday feast with an international guest list of Stony Brook University students. Credit: Elizabeth Sagarin
Dave Hensen posed a question to the guests sitting around the table Thursday at his Miller Place home: How many are celebrating their first Thanksgiving?
A handful of guests raised their hands, including Angad Singh, a native of India who earlier this fall began a graduate computer science program at Stony Brook University.
Singh said he had "found a home away from home," when it was his turn to share a reason to be thankful, taking part in a tradition the Hensen family started more than a decade ago.
Since then, Dave and Deirdre Hensen, who are veterinarians, have hosted an annual Thanksgiving celebration that brings together students involved in the Stony Brook University International Friends and Family Program. The program connects international students with local families who can serve as guides as they acclimate to new surroundings.
Through the program, the Hensens began hosting events for international students, with Thanksgiving as one of the largest. It’s a chance to share the story of the uniquely American holiday and its traditions, and provide a sense of community to the students.
"Dave and I enjoy it tremendously," Deirdre Hensen said.
On Thursday, the family hosted some of their family members and friends along with students from Bangladesh, Japan, India, Taiwan and Turkey. Many of the students who have celebrated Thanksgiving with the Hensens return each year as a tradition, even after they complete their university studies.
The Hensens prepared a turkey and traditional sides. Several guests brought dishes representing their culture.
Singh prepared a popular Indian dish called paneer, which he described as a "savory, vegetarian snack."
Another guest from India, Prabhu Goriparthi, who’s also in the graduate computer science program, said Thursday was his second year celebrating Thanksgiving at the Hensen home.
As established as the common Thanksgiving dishes are in most American households, they can be a new experience to others. Asked what he was looking forward to eating, Goriparthi answered he wanted "to try as many new dishes as possible."
He brought a chicken biryani, a mixed rice with chicken that originated in his home country.
Before everyone sat around a dinner table with 27 settings, Deirdre Hensen ushered the guests into the home's great room for a round of song. She handed out instruments like tambourines and sheets of paper with lyrics.
As she fought through tears, Hensen thanked everyone for a "very special holiday that really I think brings together diversity, a lot of different people, different languages."
"You get right down to it," she continued, "we're all human beings and we need to learn to love each other."
Later, as the guests sat down to eat, Dave Hensen read from "Gratitude Around the Table," a primer on the history of the Thanksgiving holiday and its origins "tied to the complexities of colonization." He left a copy at each place setting.
Betül Pamuk, a native of Turkey, said she knew little of Thanksgiving before arriving in the United States about a decade ago to join the Stony Brook University Physics and Astronomy Department’s doctorate program.
Pamuk recalled feeling homesick the first time she joined the Hensens for the holiday but "it felt right to be around the table with all these other people celebrating."
Now, after "many, many Thanksgivings," the Hensens have become her "American family," she said.
Pamuk’s 5-year-old son Evren volunteered to go first at the dinner table to say what made him most thankful. He told the group "one of them is my toy." The other? His parents.
"I don’t think anyone is going to beat that one," Dave Hensen said.
Dave Hensen posed a question to the guests sitting around the table Thursday at his Miller Place home: How many are celebrating their first Thanksgiving?
A handful of guests raised their hands, including Angad Singh, a native of India who earlier this fall began a graduate computer science program at Stony Brook University.
Singh said he had "found a home away from home," when it was his turn to share a reason to be thankful, taking part in a tradition the Hensen family started more than a decade ago.
Since then, Dave and Deirdre Hensen, who are veterinarians, have hosted an annual Thanksgiving celebration that brings together students involved in the Stony Brook University International Friends and Family Program. The program connects international students with local families who can serve as guides as they acclimate to new surroundings.
Through the program, the Hensens began hosting events for international students, with Thanksgiving as one of the largest. It’s a chance to share the story of the uniquely American holiday and its traditions, and provide a sense of community to the students.
"Dave and I enjoy it tremendously," Deirdre Hensen said.
On Thursday, the family hosted some of their family members and friends along with students from Bangladesh, Japan, India, Taiwan and Turkey. Many of the students who have celebrated Thanksgiving with the Hensens return each year as a tradition, even after they complete their university studies.
The Hensens prepared a turkey and traditional sides. Several guests brought dishes representing their culture.
Singh prepared a popular Indian dish called paneer, which he described as a "savory, vegetarian snack."
Another guest from India, Prabhu Goriparthi, who’s also in the graduate computer science program, said Thursday was his second year celebrating Thanksgiving at the Hensen home.
As established as the common Thanksgiving dishes are in most American households, they can be a new experience to others. Asked what he was looking forward to eating, Goriparthi answered he wanted "to try as many new dishes as possible."
He brought a chicken biryani, a mixed rice with chicken that originated in his home country.
Before everyone sat around a dinner table with 27 settings, Deirdre Hensen ushered the guests into the home's great room for a round of song. She handed out instruments like tambourines and sheets of paper with lyrics.
As she fought through tears, Hensen thanked everyone for a "very special holiday that really I think brings together diversity, a lot of different people, different languages."
"You get right down to it," she continued, "we're all human beings and we need to learn to love each other."
Later, as the guests sat down to eat, Dave Hensen read from "Gratitude Around the Table," a primer on the history of the Thanksgiving holiday and its origins "tied to the complexities of colonization." He left a copy at each place setting.
Betül Pamuk, a native of Turkey, said she knew little of Thanksgiving before arriving in the United States about a decade ago to join the Stony Brook University Physics and Astronomy Department’s doctorate program.
Pamuk recalled feeling homesick the first time she joined the Hensens for the holiday but "it felt right to be around the table with all these other people celebrating."
Now, after "many, many Thanksgivings," the Hensens have become her "American family," she said.
Pamuk’s 5-year-old son Evren volunteered to go first at the dinner table to say what made him most thankful. He told the group "one of them is my toy." The other? His parents.
"I don’t think anyone is going to beat that one," Dave Hensen said.
Joe Werkmeister covers the towns of Southampton, East Hampton and Shelter Island. He is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and previously worked as the editor of two North Fork community newspapers.
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