Bowdoin Dining employees begin preparing and cooking the annual Thanksgiving meal several days in advance. The dinner itself, held the week before the actual holiday, lasts two and a half hours. Some eager students begin waiting at the Thorne Dining Hall doors an hour or so before the the 5 p.m. opening. But as we all know, Thanksgiving is over before we know it, and we are forced to wait another whole year for the feasting to begin anew.

This year’s menu included assorted dips with homemade crackers, several relishes, curried carrot soup, French onion soup, roast turkey, gravy, Maine cider glazed ham, roasted vegetable pot pie with homemade vegan biscuits, venison and root vegetable stew, a spinach and pear salad with raspberry vinaigrette, peas, butternut squash, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, oatmeal molasses rolls, corn bread, Bowdoin Organic Garden pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie, apple pie, apple crisp, and pecan pie.