All aboard the gravy train! <\/p>\n
Good-spirited subway riders set up a full Thanksgiving feast on board a Brooklyn-bound L train Wednesday, inviting strangers to help themselves to all the fixings in a quintessentially New York tradition. <\/p>\n
A group of charitable New Yorkers crafted the \u201cFriendsgiving\u201d experience \u2014 complete with festive decorations \u2014 on the L train and manned it throughout Wednesday afternoon as straphangers filtered on and off the subway cars.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappy Thanksgiving, ladies and gentlemen!\u201d one of the party\u2019s conductors announced to the packed car as music blasted in the background.<\/p>\n
The Brooklyn-bound L train was transformed into a Friendsgiving-style buffet on Wednesday. FNTV<\/p>\n
A Thanksgiving spread featuring all the traditional fixings, including multiple succulent turkeys, was laid across two cloth-covered tables smack in the center of two subway cars. Complete strangers packed into the cars and loaded the bounty onto paper plates provided by the organizers.<\/p>\n
The subway car railings and hand bars were decked out in faux foliage and glitzy golden tassels to better set the mood.<\/p>\n
Several passengers-turned-party-goers danced along to crowd-favorite songs, with some sashaying off the subway when they reached their stop and bid adieu to their new friends.<\/p>\n
Volunteers set up multiple tables with platters of food stacked on top. FNTV<\/p>\n
Despite the soir\u00e9e\u2019s location having a reputation as a hotbed of germs and often questionable spills, volunteers serving the Turkey Day banquet were strict on hygiene and handling of the food and cutlery. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you put your spoon in there? Don\u2019t ever do that,\u201d one volunteer sternly admonished an apparent double-dipper. <\/p>\n
The food was available to all passengers who boarded the car. FNTV<\/p>\n
Whenever the subway would make a jerky stop, it was all hands on deck. Both participants and organizers would hunker down and cling to the foldable tables to prevent the platters from slipping over the edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cShoutouts to everybody who make this possible, everybody here, all the content creators, and let\u2019s all eat together!\u201d one rider praised.<\/p>\n
The buffet had multiple turkeys. FNTV<\/p>\n
The organizers weren\u2019t shy about forking over the leftovers and happily provided plastic bags for people to take home.<\/p>\n
The bizarre, but heart-warming subway celebration has become somewhat of a tradition in the Big Apple. <\/p>\n
In 2022, an L train happened to stall at Bedford Station, so the riders retreated to the L train on the opposite tracks, which, to their surprise, was set up for the Thanksgiving celebration<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other groups hosted Thanksgiving buffets on the L train in 2019 and 2022. FNTV<\/p>\n \u201cI was in a different car and when I stepped onto the platform, there were all these happy, laughing people scarfing down [mac] and cheese!\u201d a reporter with the Washington Post<\/a> praised.<\/p>\n That year, the spread was arranged by a group with Chef Bea Kitchen, a catering service in New York.<\/p>\n In 2019, stand-up comedian Jodell \u201cJoe Show\u201d Lewis spent months painstakingly organizing the day-long dining, and specifically chose the L train because he was often \u201cdreary\u201d while riding it<\/a> for his commute.<\/p>\n \u201cMy actions also show people from out of town visiting that there is flavor here in the city and New York has a heart,\u201d he told The Post that year.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t clear who was behind this year\u2019s celebration, but at least one organizer referred to the group as content creators. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t