Not everyone’s Thanksgiving feast is the same. My childhood Thanksgivings, for example, featured turkey, stuffed shells, and broccoli rabe. My friend Michael, who comes from Wisconsin, never saw a Thanksgiving without venison. The original Thanksgiving among the Wampanoag and the English was a little different than the one we imagine, too. Many researchers think it wasn't even a harvest celebration, but a feast to celebrate the arrival of supply ships—in late June!
In fact, the colonists celebrated many thanksgivings, to celebrate the arrival of supply ships and passenger ships and much needed rain for crops. They also celebrated a Strawberry Thanksgiving and a Green Corn Ceremony. The "Thanksgiving" that took place among the Wampanoags and the English was only one of many harvest feasts people had when their crops ripened. That one consisted of a friendly, diverse crowd, but unfortunately, it wasn’t repeated—until some nostalgic soul in the 1800s brought Thanksgiving back in fashion, and President Lincoln enshrined a national day of Thanksgiving.
Our Thanksgiving Day, then, is not typical by colonial standards. Still, some of our most beloved dishes were likely part of the original feast, which highlighted foods that were both local and beloved. The Wampanoag and the English at Plymouth each hunted for their main courses, including roasted venison and foul. They stuffed their birds with a chestnut mix, which is a gourmet stuffing today. They ate corn, although theirs, unlike ours, was multi-colored flint corn, and they might have had cornbread, too.
Since Wampanoag taught the English to grow turnips, carrots, onions, garlic, and pumpkin, those foods probably went into feasts. But there was no pie, as the colonists didn’t have butter or wheat flour. More likely, they feasted on berries, a popular dessert.
Like the Thanksgivings of today, food was central to a thanksgiving feast. People came together to make it as well as eat it. If you’re looking for a way to celebrate your family's culture through food, try some of these resources on the shelves in Youth Services:
Cooking Class Global Feast!: 44 Recipes That Celebrate the World's Cultures by Deanna Cook
Food Atlas: Discover all the Delicious Foods of the World by Giulia Malerba
The Forest Feast for Kids: Colorful Vegetarian Recipes That Are Simple to Make by Erin Gleeson
National Geographic Kids Cookbook: A Year-Round Fun Food Adventure by Barton Seaver
One World Kids Cookbook: Easy, Healthy, and Affordable Family Meals by Sean Mendez