At every holiday gathering during my childhood, my family had a kids’ table where I sat, along with my older brother, Stewart, younger sister, Kirsten, and cousin, Ryan, and the adult table, where the parents and grandparents sat and where we were (okay, we felt) forbidden from sitting. The kids’ table at my grandparents’ (my late mom’s parents) was a small round glass top straight out of the 1970s; the seats were white wrought iron with peach floral cushions (matching the peach bathroom down the hall) and in pristine condition, considering their age. On Christmas Day, from the hours of 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., the kids’ table was a makeshift appetizer table, covered in store-bought (my grandma didn’t make things from scratch) hot apps and snacks, including marble cheddar with salty “vegetable” crackers, mini quiche, sausage puffs, and peculiar cream cheese blends like pineapple and salmon to spread on whatever we liked. It was a hodgepodge and a tradition that, though I’ve changed the spread entirely to suit my tastes now, is still happening at every family Christmas dinner.
For you, snacks may be midnight home-from-the-bar requisite, afternoon sustenance when lunch just wasn’t enough (or worse, skipped), a light lunch to pick at with good friends and conversation, pre-dinner treats at a holiday gathering, or layered and made into a meal. Snacks defy rules, boundaries, and dietary norms—this statement, all the more true when pumpkin is involved. From the hungry to the hangry, this chapter is dedicated to those of us who served hard time at the kids’ table.
MAPLE ROASTED PUMPKIN CROSTINI WITH AVOCADO, FETA, AND BALSAMIC GLAZE
HALLOUMI PUMPKIN PARCELS WITH POMEGRANATE AND BLACK SESAME
VEGETABLE BROWN RICE SUSHI WITH GINGER PUMPKIN DIPPING SAUCE
POPPY SEED PUMPKIN AND MANGO SALAD ROLLS
HONEYED PUMPKIN, FIG, AND TAHINI BITES