Most likely, onions do not play a significant role in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner when it comes to the food itself. When I think of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner I think about a roast turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and, of course, pumpkin pie. Onions do not even make it onto my shopping list.
Although, not on the dinner table mixed into our favorite holiday dishes, maybe onions can still make a showing at our Thanksgiving gatherings, in a metaphorical sense. Robert Farrar Capon (b. 1925-2013) was an American Episcopal priest, author, and chef. He is most well-known for his book “The Supper of the Lamb”. It is a book that is part recipe, part hospitality, fused with theology. Before preparing the lamb shank itself, Capon instructs the reader to spend time with an onion before doing anything else.
“As nearly as possible now, try to look at it as if you had never seen an onion before. Try, in other words, to meet it on its own terms, not to dictate yours to it. You are convinced, of course, that you know what an onion is. You think perhaps it is a brownish yellow vegetable, basically spherical in shape, composed of fundamentally similar layers. All such prejudices should be abandoned. It is what it is, and your work here is to find it out” (Capon, The Supper of the Lamb).
I think we can learn a lot from step one in Capon’s recipe on how to prepare a lamb shank. It serves as a reminder to slow down and give attention and care to the work we do and the people we engage with. To not cast judgment as step one, but to simply spend time in company with one another for all “such prejudices should be abandoned”. One of my favorite authors, Bob Goff, has a great saying that I try to remember in my vocational planning and personal life. He says, “When love has an agenda it is no longer love, it is just another program”. Let’s put aside the lamb shank and spend time with the onion. Let’s spend time with people that weird us out and love them deeply.
God bless you and your family this Thanksgiving.
