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Friday, November 28, 1997

Texans give thanks at turkey feasts big and small

By CHRISTY LEMIRE / Associated Press Writer

From Houston's 20,000-person Superfeast to a tiny truck stop outside San Antonio, Texans feasted on turkey with all the trimmings Thursday as they sat down to give thanks.

Thousands of volunteers started early in the morning cooking Thanksgiving meals for hungry, homeless and elderly people across the state.

They served 5,000 pounds of turkey breast, 2,500 pounds of dressing, 600 gallons of gravy, 2,500 pounds of whole cranberries, 2,500 pounds of vegetables, 40,000 slices of bread and 20,000 cups of Coca-Cola at the 13th Annual Thanksgiving Holiday Superfeast, sponsored by USA Waste Services Inc.

A second crowd of about 20,000 also chowed down at the 19th Annual Thanksgiving Big Feast at Houston's George R. Brown Convention Center.

"This is just the true meaning of Thanksgiving," said Tammy Bohon, Superfeast chairwoman and coordinator. "This is how it all really started. Everyone coming together and working side-by-side to think of and share their blessings."

An estimated 23,000 diners turned out for the annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner at the San Antonio Convention Center.

Jimenez started serving the meal in 1971 as a tribute to a few thousand of the city's older citizens and it has grown ever since.

"We just don't close the doors to anyone," director Alice Guerra said. "If someone is having a hard time or they're out of a job or there's been tragedy in the family, we don't ask any questions. We just let 'em in."

Another Texas Thanksgiving tradition continued along Interstate 35 in the tiny town of Abbott, where the Turkey Shop and Cafeteria has served the holiday meal daily for the past 25 years.

"We have really good turkeys and we have a cafeteria line with full-service meals," owner Robert Tufts said. "It's just good quality home-cooked food."

Nearly 300 truckers found a home-cooking haven in Kerrville, 58 miles northwest of San Antonio, thanks to Tara Hernandez. This is the seventh Thanksgiving Ms. Hernandez has provided dinners along Interstate 10 for those who can't go home.

Kerrville residents and businesses donated food and 100 volunteers cooked and carted meals to mile marker 514, where truckers feasted at rest stops on both sides of the highway.

Ms. Hernandez refuses donations. "This is a gift to the truckers who do what they do all year 'round, and who can't be home for Thanksgiving," she said.

Some in McAllen preferred sinking their teeth into fragrant roasted chachalaca, a cross between pheasant and quail.

"I just put the breast in the oven and broil it," said Frank Schultz, a retired farmer who has hunted and whipped up the South Texas bird for three decades. "The only spice I use on the breast is a little bit of tarragon."

The meat is low in calories and dark, the 68-year-old Schultz said. The frail birds commonly live in the southern United States and Mexico, particularly in Cameron, Hidalgo and Starr counties.

In the rural, predominantly German South Texas community of Vattman, just south of Kingsville, residents used recipes from the town's original settlers in 1913 for their church dinner.

Thanksgiving festivities included a silent auction, a skeet "turkey shoot" with a frozen turkey as first prize, a bingo game and a country dance with a band.

"All roads lead to Vattman at Thanksgiving," said Idela Strubhart, 78, who grew up in the parish. "People come from Orange Grove and Corpus Christi and Robstown."