Thanksgiving, a holiday that North America can truly call its own, is a time when foods native to our land take center stage. With images of proud Pilgrims sharing the earth's bounty with friendly Indians dancing about our brains, we feast on turkey, squash, potatoes, cranberries and pies.
But, despite our best efforts, we don't always put together Thanksgiving menus that are true to our heritage. We mix in fancy fruit salads and exotic vegetables, or concoct elegant stuffings that feature foods the Pilgrims would never have dreamed of.
The first Thanksgiving—according to the experts at Plymouth Plantation, the Massachusetts site where the Pilgrims first set their roots—occurred in 1621, after the colonists' first autumn harvest. Pilgrims and Native Americans did indeed get together and have a feast that likely included wild game and pumpkins, they say, but we can never be certain exactly what foods were on the table.
One historical account that gives us some insight into the first Thanksgiving, the people at Plymouth hold, came from Edward Winslow, a member of the colony.
"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 labor. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us ... with some 90 men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted."
Historians today maintain that the fowl eaten at the feast would have likely included ducks, geese and turkeys, and perhaps even swans or cranes. Seafood, they say, might have included eel, clams and lobster. Winslow definitively mentions the Indians bringing venison, but some people believe the menu might have also included seal. Grains used were likely wheat flour and Indian corn, or maize, and the vegetables probably included, besides pumpkins, peas, beans, onions and carrots.
Thanksgiving Day food items popular today that likely wouldn't have appeared at the first Thanksgiving feast include ham, sweet potatoes, potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
So, have we strayed so far from the Pilgrims' menu that modern Thanksgivings can not only be criticized for lacking a genuine feeling of thanks, but also for failing to observe tradition?
Not really. There is little or no debate as to whether the Pilgrims hunted and ate wild turkeys, or enjoyed cooked pumpkins. The colonists also ate cranberries but seemingly didn't make a sauce from them. And other foods often seen in our modern-day feasts, such as plums, walnuts, chestnuts, currants and parsnips, would have been available to the New England colonists back in 1621.
In the end, it would seem, we're not that far off the mark, at least most of the time. Perhaps, if we want to observe tradition, we should leave out the cranberry sauce, the yams, the mashed potatoes and the delectable pies. But, then again, it might just be that the best tradition lies in merely being appreciative and cognizant of where our food comes from, and in taking some time to consider how important the well-being of the land around us really is.
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Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce
2 cups sugar
1.5 cups pure cranberry juice
4 cups cranberries, washed, picked over
3 tablespoons Chambord liqueur or Cognac
Combine the juice and sugar in a heavy saucepan, bring to a boil and cook at a slow boil for 10 minutes. Stir in the cranberries, cover, and cook over medium heat until the berries no longer "pop"—about 5 minutes. Remove and skim any froth that has come to the surface. When cool, stir in the Chambord.
Makes about 3 cups. Keeps in refrigerator 1-2 weeks.
Gregory Foley
