I'm Frances Lamb, and this is The Splendid Table from APM, the show for curious cooks and eaters.

It's that time to talk about Thanksgiving.

But this year, I actually want to start by talking a little

bit about Halloween. See, for some reason, like even when my kid was a baby, whenever you'd say

Statue of Liberty, she would raise her right arm and pretend to hold a torch. So this year,

my wife sewed a brilliant Statue of Liberty costume for her,

you know, complete with torch and crown.

And I took her out in the neighborhood, trick-or-treating.

And I couldn't believe how many people were so psyched to see the Statue of Liberty.

I mean, it was a great costume, and she is a very cute kid, if I say so myself.

But I think people were moved by it, and one person actually shouted, yes, we need a symbol

of freedom and democracy, which, you know, is kind of an intense thing to yell at a kid,

but cool, I'm with you. And I was also a little bit like, hey, you know, we live in New York.

You could go on your roof and see the real thing.

But anyway, give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

You know, the spirit of welcome that this statue is supposed to beam out into the world.

That is what I'm thinking about this Thanksgiving. And earlier this year, I had the honor

of being a judge for the Vilchek Foundation, an organization that recognizes achievements

in science and the arts by immigrant Americans. The kind of artists they recognize changes every

year, and this year it was the culinary

arts.

And to celebrate that, the Vilchuk Foundation also released a beautiful cookbook this fall called

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