Thelma Moore's sweet potato souffle

Every year at our house, we host what we call the “Long Table Thanksgiving.” It’s a simple tradition, and it does a lot to minimize holiday stress. Everyone is welcome at the Long Table. No one is turned away. We provide the birds, and everyone else brings a side dish. Oh, and we eat at a very long table.

Guests may bring a cherished recipe from their childhood or a dish they’ve continued to perfect for every gathering. The dishes are often classic comfort food, sometimes heavy on the cream of mushroom soup, crackers or French-fried onions. There is no shortage of Velveeta. These are dishes from home, and they speak to the cooks’ memories, not their gourmet aspirations.

Marc always makes a dish or two from his mother’s worn recipe booklet, her corn pudding lightly sweet, a bygone classic. Ron will prepare the wild rice dressing he grew up with in Minnesota, reminiscing how, as a young boy, his father would take him out in a canoe and teach him how to harvest wild rice on the river, knocking it down into the boat. Others, like Andrea, Sharon, Johnny and Sean, have a staple dish we count on every year: broccoli casserole, ambrosia, spinach balls and mac ‘n’ cheese. My partner Valerie’s mom, Thelma, makes this sweet potato souffle.

From the story: A long Thanksgiving tradition in Southern California