Amanda Cohen Enlightens Us on the Topic of Canadian Thanksgiving

What can one say about Thanksgiving that hasn't been said already? Absolutely nothing. Which is why we find ourselves thinking about our friends to the north, who already celebrated Thanksgiving a month ago. Canadian Thanksgiving, like Canadian Nanaimo bars and Canadian curling, is a subject largely unexplored by the American populace -- or, worse, sorely misunderstood. So we turned to one of our favorite Canadians, Amanda Cohen, for enlightenment. The Dirt Candy chef duly obliged, and has provided us with some answers to our most burning questions.

Is Thanksgiving in Canada as a big a deal as Thanksgiving is here?

It's not that big of a deal in Canada. In fact, we really don't have any public holidays that are major deals. We see the U.S. with all of its riots and Wal-Mart workers getting crushed and fights over religious displays and we sort of feel awkward. That's not really Canada. Also, being a super-diverse country we're always very careful not to let any one culture's holiday get a leg up on anyone else's.

Is the Canadian version of the holiday similarly attended by hours of football viewing and a mandate to engage in combative shopping the following day?

Canada has a football league but we're not that crazy about it. As for shopping, Black Friday exists but we get far more excited about Boxing Day, which started out as the day you give your servants a tip but now we've made it a major shopping day. Canada: We'll tip ourselves, thanks.

How does the Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest parade (which, despite the beer allusions, is a Thanksgiving tradition) stack up to Macy's?

Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest is way better. It starts with a ceremonial keg-tapping, for one thing. Macy's Thanksgiving Parade is full of giant Garfields and Miss America winners and toy tie-ins, whereas the Kitchener-Waterloo parade has a pancake breakfast, a keg-rolling race, drunk mascots, and a hip-hop competition. It's like the parade America will get when it finally goes to college.