Ask most Americans what Thanksgiving is "about" and they'll probably answer "turkey," but young Americans from immigrant families offer more complex interpretations (not to mention menus). Learning to observe this holiday is for many a passage into American culture -- though they may transform it. we asked three young, second-generation immigrants to describe their Thanksgiving table. The writers are on the staff of YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about Bay Area teens produced by Pacific News Service.

SOY SAUCE, GARLIC, AND GREAT CONVERSATION

BY BONNIE WONG, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

Thanksgiving in my family is always at my dad's house. We have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and of course, my parents. We can easily count more than 25 heads.

My mom and I start the day at 9 a.m. My mom shops at the May Wah grocery store to buy fresh vegetables, meats, herbs and fruit. I pick up the American goodies at Safeway.

Back home, we go up the stairs with 50 pounds of groceries in each hand -- we can hear my father and grandpa watching college football from a mile away.

Later, while my mother entertains my grandparents and friends, I'm in the kitchen preparing the food. I start with the 30-pound turkey. I don't cook it the American way -- I use soy sauce and cloves of garlic. By 8 p.m., the table will have garden salad, garlic bread, peas and corn, mashed potatoes, yams, honey roasted ham with pineapple chunks, lasagna, roast beef, a pot of steamed rice, cranberry sauce, tater tots and finally, the turkey.

To me, this day is part of my American culture. I don't think my grandparents feel this way -- to them, China is home and Chinese food is real food. My parents and grandparents don't like food that is creamy, because to them, it tastes old --. they like animal organs, shark fins, and sea cucumber-- delicacies that cost an arm and a leg, and that Americans would find disgusting.

So while the new generation gorges at Thanksgiving, my grandparents and parents nibble at their food because it tastes foreign.

I enjoy the meal, but I still consider Chinese food as my culture's kind of food -- even though I was born here and a part of me is Americanized. I wonder how the third generation will feel?

The reward for me is to have the family together enjoying the food that I've prepared, having great conversation, which I believe is the purpose and the spirit of the holiday. In my family, we do not tell each other "I love you," or "I know I'm blessed to have you in my life," but we know we love each other because we feel it in our hearts.

COVETING THE NEIGHBORS' TURKEY

By NISHAT KURWA

Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in India, my parents' native country, but when they came to the U.S. they starting taking advantage of this opportunity to get the extended family together. When I was little, we'd either fly to my aunt's house or her family would come to us. Dinner was served without much fuss, fanfare or football, and included about half as many courses as my friends would describe.

We veered away from the traditional some years, making Cornish game hens instead of turkey, and Indian curries for the gravy. I never really knew what exactly was "supposed" to be on a Thanksgiving table until around the sixth grade, when I started comparing our meal with those of my American friends.

Our family's small appetite never required more than a modest spread, but as my brother and I got older, we would pressure my mom a little more each year. "Why don't WE eat mashed potatoes?" and "Mom, I'M going to make an apple pie this year if you're not." She started making a few more dishes to keep the peace, but I don't think even we really knew why we wanted them.

Now that my brother and I are older, what our friends eat on holidays doesn't interest us much, and my aunt's family is in Hawaii, so the extended family gathering is no more. My parents and brother and I eat together most nights and we're close, but our interest in Thanksgiving has faded -- as it is, the holiday meal is just special because it's a day off for the family to relax together.

EVERYTHING WE LIKE -- EVEN EACH OTHER

By SUSANA PALMA

On Thanksgiving, my family and I don't have the traditional turkey and...

Actually, I don't really know what a traditional Thanksgiving consists of! We just prepare all of our favorite foods -- enchiladas, burritos, tacos, corn, mashed potatoes, chips and salsa, tamales, macaroni and cheese (my personal favorite), Stove Top stuffing, candied yams, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, atole (a thick, sweet beverage), apple cider and Mexican hot chocolate. We don't care if the food goes together as long as we like it.

My dad, my sister and I prepare the meal. It takes all day so we get up early. It's nice to feel like a family.

Tamales are the hardest things to make. We have to soak the corn husks overnight, so they'll be soft, then we make the masa (corn meal), stuff it with meat, and put it in the oven.

Actually, Thanksgiving is the only day that we eat together at the table like a family. On a normal day, we each eat when we want to, and where -- if we don't feel like eating at the table, we eat in the living room or in our own rooms. We rarely eat together because we argue a lot.

Thanksgiving is important to us not because of the pilgrims but because it's the only day of the year that my family really makes the effort to be a family--meaning be nice, listen, communicate and understand one another.