Not ready to go back to the dining hall? Relive Turkey Day with food for thought on typical and not-so-typical Thanksgiving dishes.

Emily Johnston: The thought of pumpkin pie immediately brings me back to my youth and spending the day before Thanksgiving watching my mom carefully pour the delicious mixture into a pan.

Now as an adult, the taste reminds me of that sweet tradition of my childhood. Each year, life may be uncertain, but pumpkin pie remains constant. That is why pumpkin pie is the best Thanksgiving food; it is consistently amazing.

Gabby Felitto: One of my favorite Thanksgiving foods that my mama makes every year is flan, which is a popular Latin American dessert. Flan is an egg custard with caramel on the bottom.

It’s so sweet and creamy and never fails to bring us all together. It’s definitely one of the best parts of my family’s Thanksgiving meal.

Lucy Gilbert: I chose to be a vegetarian at a very young age, mainly because I was picky and didn’t want  to eat meat. However, the rest of my family were meat-eaters who understandably didn’t want to cater to a vegetarian Thanksgiving meal. I never have the traditional Thanksgiving meal with turkey, gravy and stuffing, so I am limited to a few side dishes.

We typically have a couple of sides like corn, green beans and peas, but corn is my favorite vegetable because it has the most flavor, especially when it is crisp and seasoned well.To this day, corn remains one of my favorite side dishes on Thanksgiving.

Kyra Chevalier: Picture this: it’s Thanksgiving. You’re at your grandmother’s house. Don’t get me wrong – your grandmother is a sweet woman, and she bakes a mean pie, but her cooking, not so much.

You take a bite of the turkey that she definitely did not baste. It’s dry. Bone dry. Drier than the Sahara Desert. It feels like sand in your mouth.  Thanksgiving is ruined.

Then you spot it: a gravy boat. You’re saved. Gravy isn’t just a useful way to repurpose the pan drippings from your turkey. It’s the only condiment that can save your grandmother’s turkey from itself.

If you’re cooking your Friendsgiving turkey and not sure how it will turn out, serve it with gravy. If you made mashed potatoes then realized you’re out of butter, add some gravy. Turkey sandwiches are perfect for gravy.

Gravy is the Thanksgiving hero we need, and the one we deserve.