Thanksgiving is the day when family members gather in the kitchen to prepare an incredibly large meal with an array of delicious components, all the while playfully teasing one another and bickering over various family-related foibles.

It all culminates in the entire family unit sitting down for an hours-long eating marathon around a long dining-room table—or a makeshift puzzle consisting of a row of smaller tables. While this is indeed a special day, it sounds like an ordinary Sunday for most Italian-Americans.