what was the main course of the first thanksgiving

The history of the holiday meal tells us that turkey was always the centerpiece, but other courses have since disappeared Traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes but the First Thanksgiving likely included wildfowl, corn, porridge and venison.

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What are three facts about the first Thanksgiving?

Nov 23, 2018 · The main course is the one scholars can speak about with certainty. The only eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving comes from a letter written by Edward Winslow on Dec. 11, 1621. In it, he...

What was the weather like during the first Thanksgiving?

Nov 17, 2011 · The 1621 Thanksgiving celebration marked the Pilgrims’ first autumn harvest, so it is likely that the colonists feasted on the bounty they had reaped with the help of …

What did the pilgrims eat at the first Thanksgiving?

Nov 16, 2017 · The main course is the one scholars can speak about with certainty. The only eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving comes from a letter written by Edward Winslow on Dec. 11, 1621. In it, he...

What did they eat on the first Thanksgiving?

Nov 21, 2011 · Traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes but the First Thanksgiving likely included wildfowl, corn, porridge and venison. Bettmann / …

Not Cranberry Sauce, but Sobaheg Stew

The natural bogs of the the region contained wild cranberries that could be dried and used all winter to bring variety and vitamin C into the diets of the Wampanoags. They even have their own holiday, Cranberry Day, that resembles our Thanksgiving.

For Carbs, Look to Cornbread, Not Potatoes

Historians attribute the first New England crop of potatoes to Derry, New Hampshire, in 1722, so there’s no way mashed potatoes could have made an appearance during the first Thanksgiving.

What About Dessert?

A regular supply of sugar or maple syrup wasn’t available in the area until much later. Sugar, which was the major export of Caribbean plantations, didn’t become popular in New England until the 18th century.

What is the Thanksgiving meal?

For many Americans, the Thanksgiving meal includes seasonal dishes such as roast turkey with stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie. The holiday feast dates back to November 1621, when the newly arrived Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians gathered at Plymouth for an autumn harvest celebration, ...

What foods did the Pilgrims eat on Thanksgiving?

Local vegetables that likely appeared on the table include onions, beans, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, carrots and perhaps peas. Corn, which records show was plentiful at the first harvest, might also have been served, 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 cornmeal, which was then boiled and pounded into a thick corn mush or porridge that was occasionally sweetened with molasses.

Who sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the three-day event?

While no records exist of the exact bill of fare, the Pilgrim chronicler Edward Winslow noted in his journal that the colony’s governor, William Bradford, sent four men on a “fowling” mission in preparation for the three-day event:

What did the Native Americans eat on Thanksgiving?

Fruits indigenous to the region included blueberries, plums, grapes, gooseberries, raspberries and, of course cran berries, which Native Americans ate and used as a natural dye. The Pilgrims might have been familiar with cranberries by the first Thanksgiving, but they wouldn’t have made sauces and relishes with the tart orbs.

What was the main food of the New England colonists on Thanksgiving?

The colonists occasionally served mussels with curds, a dairy product with a similar consistency to cottage cheese. Lobster, bass, clams and oysters might also have been part of the feast. Colonist Edward Winslow describes the bounty of seafood near Plymouth:

Why do I feel drowsy after eating turkey?

Many people report feeling drowsy after eating a Thanksgiving meal. Turkey often gets blamed because it contains tryptophan, an amino acid that can have a somnolent effect. But studies suggest it’s the carbohydrate-rich sides and desserts that allow tryptophan to enter the brain.

When was the first Thanksgiving?

Most Americans probably don’t realize that we have a very limited understanding of the first Thanksgiving, which took place in 1621 in Massachusetts. Indeed, few of our present-day traditions resemble what happened almost 400 years ago, and there’s only one original account of the feast.

What was the harvest of 1621?

In addition to the corn (and barley) mentioned in Winslow’s letter, the harvest of 1621 likely included beans, squash, onions, turnips and greens such as spinach and chard. All could have been cooked at length to create a pulpy sauce that later became a staple in early New England homes.

What was the name of the dish that colonists made from the meat they ate?

Although the settlers may have made a gravy out of the drippings from the meats procured for the feast, a common staple for these early colonizers was a dish known simply as “green sauce.”

When were potatoes first grown in New England?

Historians attribute the first New England crop of potatoes to Derry, New Hampshire in 1722, so there’s no way mashed potatoes could have made an appearance during the first Thanksgiving.

When was Thanksgiving first celebrated?

Wall explains that the Thanksgiving holiday, as we know it, took root in the mid-19th century. At this time, Edward Winslow’s letter, printed in a pamphlet called Mourt’s Relation, and Governor Bradford’s manuscript, titled Of Plimoth Plantation, were rediscovered and published.

What was the first Thanksgiving dinner?

Traditional Thanksgiving dinner includes turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes but the First Thanksgiving likely included wildfowl, corn, porridge and venison. (Bettmann / Corbis)

Where is the Plimoth Plantation Museum?

To form educated guesses, Wall, a foodways culinarian at Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, studies cookbooks and descriptions of gardens from the period, archaeological remains such as pollen samples that might clue her in to what the colonists were growing. Our discussion begins with the bird.

Who was the editor of Godey's Lady's Book?

There was nostalgia for colonial times, and by the 1850s, most states and territories were celebrating Thanksgiving. Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of the popular women’s magazine Godey’s Lady’s Book, , a real trendsetter for running a household, was a leading voice in establishing Thanksgiving as an annual event. ...

What did the Wampanoags eat?

In addition to wildfowl and deer, the colonists and Wampanoag probably ate eels and shellfish, such as lobster, clams and mussels. “They were drying shellfish and smoking other sorts of fish,” says Wall.

Where did white potatoes come from?

White potatoes, originating in South America, and sweet potatoes, from the Caribbean, had yet to infiltrate North America. Also, there would have been no cranberry sauce. It would be another 50 years before an Englishman wrote about boiling cranberries and sugar into a “Sauce to eat with. . . . Meat.”.

What did the Indians grow?

They grew beans, which they used from when they were small and green until when they were mature,” says Wall. “They also had different sorts of pumpkins or squashes.”. As we are taught in school, the Indians showed the colonists how to plant native crops.

Where was the first Thanksgiving feast?

In a footnote in 1841, Alexander Young claimed that this event “was the first thanksgiving, the harvest festival of New England”. Jamestown, Virginia and other locations have also been suggested as sites of the "First Thanksgiving".

What is the tradition of Thanksgiving dinner?

New England Puritans proclaimed days of thanksgiving to commemorate many specific events. Such days were marked by religious observances, prayer, and sometimes fasting. Church records of the time do not mention food or feasting as being part of such events. A single exception records that following church services in 1636, there was “Then makeing merry to the creatures, the poorer sort being invited of the richer.”

What is the centerpiece of Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving dinner. The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States and in Canada is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal, generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving may be the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail sales of food and beverages and by estimates of individual food intake.

How many calories are consumed during Thanksgiving?

People often consume as much as three or four thousand calories during the course of the dinner.

What are some side dishes that are served with turkey?

At Thanksgiving dinner, turkey is served with a variety of side dishes which vary from traditional dishes such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, to ones that reflect regional or cultural heritage. Many of the dishes in a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner are made from ingredients native to the Americas, including turkey, ...

What are the foods that are served at Thanksgiving?

Many of the dishes in a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner are made from ingredients native to the Americas, including turkey, potatoes, yams, pumpkin and cranberries. Immigrants such as the Plymouth Pilgrims may have learned about some of these foods from the Native Americans, but other foods were not available to the early settlers.

What is Thanksgiving without stuffing?

Many Americans would regard Thanksgiving dinner as "incomplete" without stuffing or dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and cranberry sauce. A recipe for cranberry sauce to be served with turkey appeared in the first American cookbook, American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons.

Who celebrated the first Thanksgiving?

William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving. As was the custom in England, the Pilgrims celebrated their harvest with a festival. The 50 remaining colonists and roughly 90 Wampanoag tribesmen attended the "First Thanksgiving.". The major similarity between the first Jamestown settlers and the first Plymouth settlers was great human suffering.

What was the Thanksgiving feast?

The participants celebrated for several days, dining on venison, goose, duck, turkey, fish, and of course, cornbread, the result of a bountiful corn harvest. This tradition was repeated at harvest time in the following years. It was President Lincoln who declared Thanksgiving a national celebration in 1863.

Who was the first governor of Plymouth?

The man to step forward in Plymouth colony was William Bradford. After the first governor elected under the Mayflower Compact perished from the harsh winter, Bradford was elected governor for the next thirty years. In May of 1621, he performed the colony's first marriage ceremony.

How many people survived the Mayflower?

Many settlers died of scurvy and malnutrition during that horrible first winter. Of the 102 original Mayflower passengers, only 44 survived. Again like in Jamestown, the kindness of the local Native Americans saved them from a frosty death. The Pilgrims' remarkable courage was displayed the following spring.