Asking the question What are you thankful for? is probably one of the most beautiful traditions surrounding Thanksgiving. Sure, some might think it’s funny because it has become a bit of a cliche, but just think about it: the question makes you reflect upon all of the good things that happened to you. Even if it is brief, it feels good.
It also provides an opportunity to honor everyone who was involved in making this goodness a reality. Just like United Farm Workers of America did with their now-viral Thanksgiving campaign where they asked people to share their favorite Thanksgiving dishes and responded to them by showing the work and the people behind them as a thanks for their hard work.
United Farm Workers of America, a labor union protecting farmers' rights, recently asked people to share their favorite Thanksgiving meals
So, United Farm Workers of America, a labor union that fights for farm worker rights in the United States, has recently shared a video of farmhands hard at work harvesting cabbage, and a tweet that reads: “Tell us your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and we’ll share some of what we know about the work behind the ingredients.”
This was done as part of a Thanksgiving-themed campaign to thank all of the hardworking farm workers who break their backs and work through thick and thin to make food available to millions of households nation-wide.
And when people started sharing, the union responded with pics and vids of how the ingredients are harvested in order to thank farmers that make it all possible
Soon after, people began tweeting at UFW, sharing their favorite dishes and foods. These included pineapple cranberry sauce, cranberry-orange relish, cornbread stuffing with carrots, onions, and celery, turkey stuffing, cooked yams, turnips, rutabagas, apple and sweet potato pie, and many more.
And the UFW Twitter account responded to them accordingly. Each tweet got its own video, or picture, at the very least, of how particular ingredients used for these dishes were harvested, honoring the workers who made sure these very same fruits and vegetables reach stores and ultimately people’s Thanksgiving tables.
People shared everything from actual Thanksgiving meals to just fruits and veggies that they usually use for their own Thanksgiving meals
These include pineapple cranberry sauce, cranberry-orange relish, cornbread stuffing and a bunch more!
The UFW posted videos of how food like pineapples, ginger, cranberries, carrots, celery, grapes (someone asked about wine), parsley, yams, sweet potatoes, brussels sprouts, turnips, and apples, among many others, are harvested.
Some of the videos show just how intense harvesting can be: you can see how fast and with ease people do their job—one moment, they’re picking a veggie off the ground, and the next, it’s chopped and in the bucket or any other receptacle for collecting produce. It’s like clockwork. Satisfying to watch, to say the least.
The campaign sent a powerful message throughout Twitter and beyond, reminding people that Thanksgiving meals would be nothing without the hardworking farmers
The campaign sent a powerful message throughout Twitter, drawing in many people to react and be reacted to. Besides sharing their favorite dishes, many have shared stories from their Thanksgiving celebrations and expressed their thanks to the hardworking farm workers as well as everyone else on Twitter.
This campaign also started making headlines beyond Twitter—in online news media—turning it into a pretty wholesome movement honoring the people who are, when you think about it, a huge part of everyone’s Thanksgiving. So here’s one more thing to be thankful for!
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