First Thanksgiving Traditions Essay
For most people, enjoying turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin for Thanksgiving are as traditional and American as, well, apple pie. But how did the Pilgrims really celebrate on what we now regard as the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1621? Is our celebration and traditional menu truly akin to that enjoyed by the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag Indian guests? The only written record of the famous meal tells us that the harvest celebration lasted three days and included deer and wildfowl. Beyond that, culinary historians such as Kathleen Curtin at Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts rely on period cookbooks and journals, Wampanoag oral histories, paintings from the time, and archaeological evidence. Sweet
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Potatoes, Greens, Mashed potatoes and Dressing are some of the things we can say that was not on the three day feast. They did not have sugar in Plymouth at the time nor was there butter which are two items that are essential in today’s Thanksgiving meal. The real story of the First thanksgiving meal is much of a mystery than a myth.
If you look into it deep enough you will find that the Pilgrims had an array of fruits and vegetables to make a meal with that was indigenous to the land and what the Wampanoag Indians shared with them. It was right at the harvest so there would be more to come later in the year.
Instead, the table was loaded with native fruits like plums, melons, grapes, and cranberries, plus local vegetables such as leeks, wild onions, beans, Jerusalem artichokes, and squash. (English crops such as turnips, cabbage, parsnips, onions, carrots, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme might have also been on hand.) And for the starring dishes, there were undoubtedly native birds and game as well as the Wampanoag gift of five deer. Fish and shellfish were also likely on the groaning board.
As far as drinks are concerned they more than likely drank water. Since they did grow Barley which was not harvested yet, they probably made beer of some sort.
Wine, considered a finer beverage than beer, may have been brought across by some travelers on the Mayflower. It was frequently mentioned in later accounts of supplies to the colonies. By the mid-1600s, cider would become the main beverage of New Englanders, but in 1621 Plymouth, there were not any apples
yet.
While modern Thanksgiving meals involve a lot of planning and work, at least we have efficient ovens and kitchen utensils to make our lives easier. The Pilgrims probably roasted and boiled their food. Pieces of venison and whole wildfowl were placed on spits and roasted before glowing coals, while other cooking took place in the household hearth, We can speculate that large brass pots for cooking corn, meat pottages (stews), or simple boiled vegetables were in constant use.
"The meaty carcasses from one meal no doubt were simmered to yield broth for use in the next. In the English tradition, the meats may have had sauces accompanying them perhaps something as simple as mustard. Which is a very popular English ‘sauce’? And contrary to conventional wisdom, 17th-century English cuisine revealed through cookbooks of the time was anything but bland, making skillful use of a variety of ingredients including spices, herbs, dried fruits, and wine or beer."
REFERENCES:
Thanksgiving Dinner- Wikipedia.com
First Thanksgiving meal- Historychannel.com
The first Thanksgiving- Epicurious.com
Potatoes, Greens, Mashed potatoes and Dressing are some of the things we can say that was not on the three day feast. They did not have sugar in Plymouth at the time nor was there butter which are two items that are essential in today’s Thanksgiving meal. The real story of the First thanksgiving meal is much of a mystery than a myth.
If you look into it deep enough you will find that the Pilgrims had an array of fruits and vegetables to make a meal with that was indigenous to the land and what the Wampanoag Indians shared with them. It was right at the harvest so there would be more to come later in the year.
Instead, the table was loaded with native fruits like plums, melons, grapes, and cranberries, plus local vegetables such as leeks, wild onions, beans, Jerusalem artichokes, and squash. (English crops such as turnips, cabbage, parsnips, onions, carrots, parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme might have also been on hand.) And for the starring dishes, there were undoubtedly native birds and game as well as the Wampanoag gift of five deer. Fish and shellfish were also likely on the groaning board.
As far as drinks are concerned they more than likely drank water. Since they did grow Barley which was not harvested yet, they probably made beer of some sort.
Wine, considered a finer beverage than beer, may have been brought across by some travelers on the Mayflower. It was frequently mentioned in later accounts of supplies to the colonies. By the mid-1600s, cider would become the main beverage of New Englanders, but in 1621 Plymouth, there were not any apples
yet.
While modern Thanksgiving meals involve a lot of planning and work, at least we have efficient ovens and kitchen utensils to make our lives easier. The Pilgrims probably roasted and boiled their food. Pieces of venison and whole wildfowl were placed on spits and roasted before glowing coals, while other cooking took place in the household hearth, We can speculate that large brass pots for cooking corn, meat pottages (stews), or simple boiled vegetables were in constant use.
"The meaty carcasses from one meal no doubt were simmered to yield broth for use in the next. In the English tradition, the meats may have had sauces accompanying them perhaps something as simple as mustard. Which is a very popular English ‘sauce’? And contrary to conventional wisdom, 17th-century English cuisine revealed through cookbooks of the time was anything but bland, making skillful use of a variety of ingredients including spices, herbs, dried fruits, and wine or beer."
REFERENCES:
Thanksgiving Dinner- Wikipedia.com
First Thanksgiving meal- Historychannel.com
The first Thanksgiving- Epicurious.com