Last year, around this time, I started filming my Thanksgiving experience, which resulted in me filming pretty much every Minnesota food adventure that happened after that, and thus began The Perennial Plate.
It has been an amazing year, certainly a year to be thankful for. I came to Minnesota with ideas about opening a restaurant and enlightening Midwesterners about good food. Instead I have done nothing but learn as I’ve made way through the state. So this Thanksgiving, I would like to give thanks to Minnesota and all of the farmers, hunters, fishermen, foragers, and just great people who’ve given me their knowledge, time, and friendship. And, of course, I would also like to thank the people whose support has made this possible.
This new Thanksgiving episode was just filmed at LTD Farm, where the farmer invited the consumers to help butcher their turkeys and learn about the process. It’s very touching, but also graphic. (You have been warned.)
Editor’s note: It is indeed graphic, in that it depicts death — but it’s the kind of death we should all be so lucky as to have. And for those of us who eat meat, this turkey farmer’s quiet conversation with her customer is one worth hearing before Thursday’s feast.