Professor Shares History of the Thanksgiving Meal (2024)

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Professor Shares History of the Thanksgiving Meal? ›

But according to the two only remaining historical records of the first Thanksgiving menu, that meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, cod, bass, and flint, and a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

The modern Thanksgiving holiday is based off a festival shared by the pilgrims and the Wampanoag Native American tribe at Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, in 1621. The feast purportedly celebrated the colonists' first successful harvest in the New World.

Americans model their holiday on a 1621 harvest feast shared between the Wampanoag people and the English colonists known as Pilgrims. Canadians trace their earliest thanksgiving celebration to 1578, when an expedition led by Martin Frobisher gave thanks for its safe passage.

The idea of a huge breast-forward turkey and apple pie on those original tables is also a myth. There are two primary-source historical records that give us a clue as to what was part of the 1621 feast. They suggest that the feast likely consisted of wild turkey and other fowl, venison, cod, bass, and corn.

The main dish at the table of the first Thanksgiving was likely not one dish at all. While turkey may have been present (wild turkeys were common to the colonial area), no documentary evidence exists that turkey itself was served.

Thomas Jefferson was famously the only Founding Father and early president who refused to declare days of thanksgiving and fasting in the United States.

Massasoit sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast and for three days, the English and native men, women, and children ate together. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat, different from today's traditional Thanksgiving feast. They played ball games, sang, and danced.

Finally, amid the Civil War in 1863, Hale got her wish: President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. The turkey comes in because the big birds were plentiful in New England, often distributed to soldiers in the Army.

A few days later, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a "Day of Publick Thanksgivin" - the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution.

Did they eat turkey? We don't think so. The Wampanoag guests brought five deer with them, so venison was on the menu. The English brought fowl, "probably migrating waterfowl like ducks and geese, which were plentiful in autumn," says Beahrs.

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Thanksgiving in Biblical Context

The concept of Thanksgiving can be traced back to the Holy Bible, where it represents a fundamental aspect of God's people. In both the Old and New Testaments, Thanksgiving emphasizes gratitude and praise to God for His many blessings.

While turkey is the staple for Thanksgiving today, it may not have been on the menu during what is considered the First Thanksgiving. The First Thanksgiving meal eaten by pilgrims in November 1621 included lobster. They also ate fruits and vegetables brought by Native Americans, mussels, bass, clams, and oysters.

“Most Native Americans I know celebrate Thanksgiving, but some won't, and I honor those people because for them, that's their truth,” Abeyta said. “To them, it's a reminder of genocide, colonialism, and oppression, it's a symbol of smallpox blankets, Christianity, land grabs and manifest destiny.”

The Wampanoag brought deer and there would have been lots of local seafood (mussels, lobster, bass) plus the fruits of the first pilgrim harvest, including pumpkin. No mashed potatoes, though. Potatoes had only been recently shipped back to Europe from South America.

So, to the question “What did the Pilgrims eat for Thanksgiving,” the answer is both surprising and expected. Turkey (probably), venison, seafood, and all of the vegetables that they had planted and harvested that year—onions, carrots, beans, spinach, lettuce, and other greens.

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists from England and the Native American Wampanoag people shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.

For American culture, the story of the Pilgrims, including their “first Thanksgiving” feast with the local Native Americans, has become the ruling creation narrative, celebrated each November along with turkey, pumpkin pie, and football games.

Following a successful harvest in the autumn of 1621, the colonists decided to celebrate with a three-day festive of prayer. The 53 surviving are said to have eaten with 90 indigenous people in what became known as the first Thanksgiving.

'Mother of Thanksgiving' Popularizes Turkey

This was largely thanks to the efforts of the writer and editor Sarah Josepha Hale, who became known as the “mother of Thanksgiving.” In her 1827 novel Northwood, Hale included an entire chapter on Thanksgiving celebrations in her native New England and other regions.