Adjusting to Life in Spain: An Irish-Spanish-American Thanksgiving

Click here to read the previous post, Adjusting to Life in Spain: Weekend Trip to Jarandilla de la Vera (Fall)


A few weeks ago I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner by my dear friends R&E. At first I thought they meant at their home, but they soon told me it was at a pub. An Irish pub. In Madrid. I told them I would definitely be there, because this I had to see.

The invite was extended to my boyfriend A and his young son R. Both being Spaniards, they not only had never tasted an American Thanksgiving dinner, but they didn’t even know what it consisted of.

And so the adventure began….

The James Joyce Irish Pub

The Irish pub, aptly named The James Joyce Pub, is known for its “TV sports, Sunday roast lunches and regular live bands.”

 
 

Um, that doesn’t exactly scream – or even whisper – American Thanksgiving dinner. But they’ve been holding this event for several years now, and advertising what certainly sounds like a traditional T-day dinner.

 
 

What I wasn’t prepared for, when we walked into the pub, was that it actually looked, felt and sounded like a pub. I don’t know why, but I assumed they would put the pub part on pause and fill the space with dinner tables. Nope. Even the TV mounted on the wall was still playing a sports game (what sport? who knows).

 
 

It was great to see our friends R&E, plus another lovely American couple C&L, but unfortunately the pub, as I just mentioned, was still a pub, and therefore pretty loud. They had filled a corner with a couple of long tables, so we shared one of these with another family or group of friends, all of whom were Irish.

The Thanksgiving Dinner

Like any good pub, the first thing they did was ask for our drink orders. Aside from the usual alcoholic offerings, they had special Thanksgiving cocktails. 

 

I chose a Cranberry Whiskey Sour and A, not knowing which was traditionally American (none), chose the same one. With a perplexing skewer of soft candy and a burnt slice of lime, it did not immediately bring to mind a traditional whiskey sour (whiskey, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, and sometimes frothy egg white). Turns out, however, it was quite tasty. (As you can tell from the diminishing level of the cocktail throughout this series of pictures.)

 
 
 

By the way, in case you were dying to know, it’s spelled:

  • “whiskey” (with an e) → in Ireland and the U.S. (more on this cultural alliance below)

  • “whisky” (no e) → in Scotland, Canada and Japan

I asked the Irish woman seated next to me why an Irish pub was serving an American Thanksgiving dinner, and she paused for a minute and then said, “Good question. I’ve no idea.” When the waiter delivered our meals, I asked him (in Spanish) and he smiled kindly and basically replied, “Buena pregunta. No tengo ni idea.” (Good question. I have no idea.) He offered to ask the owner, but told me I’d have to come back for the answer, as the owner was not there that night. 

 

The stained glass portraits in front of the James Joyce pub’s window.

 

As I mulled over this seemingly unanswerable question, I dug into what turned out to be a surprisingly delicious dinner.

First, a goat cheese salad with roasted cranberries in red wine, walnuts and citrus vinaigrette.

 
 

This is not, in my experience, a “traditional” salad you might find at a Thanksgiving dinner. Frankly, it’s a little too fancy. In my personal observations, these family dinners tend to be what mom or grandma has been making for decades, sometimes tasty sometimes not (but invariably with the defense “This is how we’ve always done it!”). And generally, salads with dark green lettuce and interesting accoutrements like goat cheese just don’t make it to the typical American dinner table.

Next up was the star of the show: the turkey.

 
 

  • What was done right: the turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce and mashed sweet potato.

  • What was not done right: the stuffing (on the menu it says “stuffing”; on the plate is a meatball)

  • What was done…differently: the broccoli and the wedge potatoes (i.e. giant french fries) tasted good but wedge fries are not a traditional Thanksgiving dinner staple, and while I love broccoli I’ve also never seen it on a T-Day plate (don’t get me wrong; it should be, it’s just too healthy for this occasion) 

My reaction to the (originally Persian) meatball as a standard Thanksgiving side dish:

 
 

And, finally, dessert. Pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream. Simple, but good.

 
 

The consensus by A, R&E and C&L was that the food was tasty, the majority of the plate was familiar to their ideas of Thanksgiving dinner (for the Americans), and the portions were definitely American-sized. The staff was friendly and the service was good. But the environment was crowded and far too loud to have conversations that didn’t involve cupping your hands around your ears and shouting “WHAT?” 

Why Do Irish Pubs in Madrid Do American Thanksgiving?

When I got home I couldn’t stop wondering: Why are the only places that serve an American Thanksgiving dinner in Madrid all Irish pubs? So I dug in to a little research. There doesn’t seem to be any one specific reason, but this is what I learned.

Basically, Irish pubs typically already have the food, the staffing model and the foreign-customer base to pull it off profitably, while most Spanish restaurants don’t. And the American “restaurants” in Spain tend to be fast-food joints.

In Madrid, Spanish restaurants simply don’t have the incentive to serve this traditional American dinner. Thanksgiving isn’t part of Spanish tradition, so offering turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie means importing or sourcing non-standard ingredients and training staff on unfamiliar recipes – all for one day.

 

Spanish taberna versus Irish pub Thanksgiving dinner, tee hee.

 

Irish pubs, on the other hand, are structurally designed for this holiday. Their menus already overlap heavily with Thanksgiving-style food: Roast turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, pies, and roast vegetables are standard pub fare. So for them, Thanksgiving is just a special-themed roast, not a logistical nightmare.

And they seem to have become natural hubs for North American expats because they consistently offer three things: live broadcasts of U.S. and international sports, English-speaking staff and patrons, and familiar comforts like pub food, draft beer variety, and live music. They also host regular language exchange events, which attract international folks living in Madrid.

So that was my American Thanksgiving dinner in an Irish Pub in Madrid, Spain!




Click here to read the next post, Adjusting to Life in Spain: Weekend Trip to Jarandilla de la Vera (Los Escobazos)

Note: All photos taken or created (using DALL-E) by Selena Templeton, unless otherwise noted.

Selena Templeton