What did the Pilgrims eat on their first Thanksgiving?
Roast turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie are some of the seasonal dishes included in the Thanksgiving meal.The first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated in 1621, when the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth for an autumn harvest celebration.
While no records exist of the exact bill of fare, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow noted in his journal that the colony's governor sent four men on afowling mission in preparation for the three-day event:
"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company
There was a great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc., according to the famous account of the founding of Plymouth Colony.It is likely that the fowling party returned with other birds, such as ducks, geese and swans.Instead of bread-based stuffing, herbs, onions or nuts might have been added to the birds.
Did you know?People say they feel sleepy after eating a Thanksgiving meal.Turkey is often blamed because it has a somnolent effect.Studies show that the rich sides and desserts allow tryptophan to enter the brain.The post-Thanksgiving energy lull could be prevented by eating turkey without the trimmings.
Turkey or no turkey, the first Thanksgiving attendees almost certainly got their fill of meat.The Wampanoag guests had an offer of five deer.According to historians, the deer was roasted on a spit over a smoldering fire and that the colonists might have used some of the venison to make a stew.
It is likely that the Pilgrims feasted on the bounty they had earned with the help of their Native American neighbors, since the 1621 Thanksgiving celebration marked the first autumn harvest.Vegetables that may have appeared on the table include onions, beans, lettuce, cabbage, carrots and peas.Records show that corn was plentiful at the first harvest, but not in the way most people enjoy it now.In those days, the corn would have been removed from the cob and turned into a thick corn mush, which was sometimes sweetened with molasses.
The Native Americans ate many of the fruits that were indigenous to the region.The Pilgrims were familiar with cranberries by the first Thanksgiving, but they wouldn't have made sauces and relish with them.The sacks of sugar that traveled across the Atlantic on the Mayflower were nearly empty by November 1621.Cooks didn't start boiling cranberries with sugar until about 50 years later.
Historians believe that seafood was a big part of the Thanksgiving meal.In New England, muls were abundant and were easy to harvest.The colonists occasionally served a dairy product with a similar consistency to cottage cheese.The feast might have included lobster, bass, clams and oysters.Edward Winslow is a colonist.
Our bay is full of lobsters all the summer and we can take a hogshead of eels in a night with small labor, and dig them out of their beds in the winter.There are mussels at our doors.We have no oysters, but we can have them brought by the Indians.
There was no place for potatoes at the first Thanksgiving.The potato was introduced to Europeans by the Spanish around 1570.The tuber didn't double back to North America or become popular enough with the English to be taken for a ride by the Pilgrims.New England's native inhabitants are known to have eaten other plant roots such as Indian turnips and groundnuts, which they may or may not have brought to the party.
Both the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe ate pumpkins and other squashes indigenous to New England, but the colony lacked the butter and wheat flour necessary for making pie crust.The settlers didn't have an oven for baking.According to some accounts, early English settlers in North America improvised by hollowing out pumpkins, filling them with milk, honey and spices and roasting them whole in hot ashes.
The first Thanksgiving, the colonists were outnumbered by their Native American guests.The preceding winter had been a harsh one for the colonists.The first Thanksgiving was only attended by around 50 of the women who had traveled on the Mayflower.There were 22 men, just four women and over 25 children and teenagers among the pilgrims.
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Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States, and Thanksgiving 2020 occurs on Thursday, November 26.One of the first Thanksgivings was celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Native Americans.
As families around the country prepare to gather with family, eat turkey and perhaps partake in some Black Friday shopping, they might be surprised to learn how little we know about the origins of the Thanksgiving.Historians have learned a lot about the first.
Thanksgiving may be America's most beloved national holiday, but it isn't the only one.The details of the famous feast between the Wampanoag Indians and the settlers in November of 1621 are not known.We have the best account.
The reason we have so many myths about Thanksgiving is that it is an invented tradition.It does not originate in one event.It is based on the New England puritan Thanksgiving, which is a religious Thanksgiving and the traditional harvest celebrations.