Food: Turkeys and the First Thanksgiving

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Turkeys and the First Thanksgiving
Friday, November 03, 2006

The thought of Thanksgiving just a couple of weeks away is enough to give some people preliminary indigestion. Turkey again they may think? Visiting many homes in one day and overindulging in the nth serving of the huge bird may not sound like fun. What makes matters worse is that turkey wasn't the only meat found on the menu when the Pilgrims first broke bread with the native Wampanoags on that first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Yes that is correct, like so many holiday traditions, the idea of eating only turkey as the main course is a fairly new one that developed long after the first actual holiday. In fact, that holiday was actually a day of prayer and fasting. And the feast, which celebrated their first harvest that we associate with Thanksgiving, followed except that they feasted for three days. We can barely get through a few hours on that Thursday. Some may not know this but the idea of giving thanks to God for a successful harvest is a European tradition going back to medieval times. So this harvest tradition was brought over to the New World. It's not known at what exact date the first Thanksgiving took place only that it was after the fall harvest (probably early October) and that the Pilgrims only celebrated it one time. The tradition of the holiday being on the fourth Thursday of the month was started by President Franklin Roosevelt who decreed this in order to provide a boost for merchants at the start of the holiday season.

Historians believe that along with turkey (which was roasted and not stuffed) other meats served included venison (deer meat), ducks, geese, lobster and fish (which consisted of cod, bass and herring). Pumpkin was probably served as well but not likely as a pie. Other foods that were available at that time were wheat flour, corn (but not corn on the cob, the corn at hand was probably used for making cornmeal), beans, squash, strawberries, blueberries, cranberries (but it's doubtful the Pilgrims had enough sugar at the time to make cranberry sauce), walnuts, chestnuts and hickory nuts. The spices and seasonings the Pilgrims probably used would've been dried fruit, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, and pepper. Sweet potato hadn't been introduced to New England yet so it wasn't part of the feast and popcorn wasn't invented yet at the time.

A first-hand account of that day was found written by a colony member, Edward Winslow and appeared in Mourt's Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth and here's an excerpt from that account:
"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 fruit of our labors. 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, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."

Years later Thanksgiving was celebrated informally by other settlers throughout North America and did not become a national holiday until President Lincoln proclaimed it such in 1863. Here's where the turkey monopolized the feast. Turkeys are bigger than chickens, hence they go a long way toward feeding more people including soldiers than chickens would. So turkeys were more cost effective than the more popular fowl consumed at all times of the year.

Keeping this in mind, if you want to serve up something different this Thanksgiving, don't hesitate. With the fact that turkey wasn't the only course available in the first Thanksgiving it's okay to pick something else to prepare. With viable alternatives like goose, duck, ham and even tofu turkey around, what's to stop you from serving something other than a turkey? Or if you want to satisfy the so-called traditionalists visiting have some turkey legs or breasts ready for them while you treat yourself and others to something more palatable. - - J.L. Soto

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