Editor’s note: A version of this story was published in 2021. Thanksgiving is, of course, America’s ultimate eating holiday. Families and friends will soon gather, one of the most gluttonous meals of ...

As soon as it became safe for me to cook on the stove unsupervised—say 12 years old?—I began to fry bacon. I’d do my best to stretch out the wobbly strips so they wouldn’t overlap or curl up too much ...