11.22.06
Happy Thanksgiving!
I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I just got back from the market to pick up all the turkey fixin’s, and boy was the market a zoo! There’s gonna be a lot of eating tomorrow! We’ll be doing the gobble, gobble along with the rest with the usual turkey and ham. That made me wonder how “turkey” came to be so popular during Thanksgiving. I googled it, and came up with a site that states that the first Thanksgiving meal likely was much different from what we think today as a “traditional” thanksgiving spread. According to this link, this is what they think was likely eaten:
Foods That May Have Been on the Menu
~Seafood: Cod, Eel, Clams, Lobster
~Wild Fowl: Wild Turkey, Goose, Duck, Crane, Swan, Partridge, Eagles
~Meat: Venison, Seal
~Grain: Wheat Flour, Indian Corn
~Vegetables: Pumpkin, Peas, Beans, Onions, Lettuce, Radishes, Carrots
~Fruit: Plums, Grapes
~Nuts: Walnuts, Chestnuts, Acorns
~Herbs and Seasonings: Olive Oil, Liverwort, Leeks, Dried Currants, Parsnips
What Was Not on the Menu
Surprisingly, the following foods, all considered staples of the modern Thanksgiving meal, didn’t appear on the pilgrims’s first feast table:
~Ham: There is no evidence that the colonists had butchered a pig by this time, though they had brought pigs with them from England.
~Sweet Potatoes/Potatoes: These were not common.
~Corn on the Cob: Corn was kept dried out at this time of year.
~Cranberry Sauce: The colonists had cranberries but no sugar at this time.
~Pumpkin Pie: It’s not a recipe that exists at this point, though the pilgrims had recipes for stewed pumpkin.
~Chicken/Eggs: We know that the colonists brought hens with them from England, but it’s unknown how many they had left at this point or whether the hens were still laying.
~Milk: No cows had been aboard the Mayflower, though it’s possible that the colonists used goat milk to make cheese.
Source: Kathleen Curtin, Food Historian at Plimoth Plantation.
Hmm. Sounds like their meal might have been more delectable than what we consider “traditional!” I think next year I just may arrange to have our Thanksgiving meal with more seafood. Hmmm. Venison and seal may be a bit more difficult to get, tho.
If anyone’s interested in reading a little Thanksgiving history, it appears the first Thanksgiving meal was in 1621. More can be read here.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Marlakins 
