If the first Thanksgiving dinner had been held in Tennessee instead of Massachusetts, the actual dinner would have been very similar to those shared in New England, and both are a far cry from the ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving dinner items we have today, according to Troy Smith, associate professor of history at Tennessee Tech.
The traditional roasted turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie are on almost every modern Thanksgiving menu, in some form or variation. This menu has evolved over time and continues to evolve today.
President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. Since colonists had hunted wild turkeys for years it became the staple Thanksgiving meal meat.
In 1864 General Ulysses S. Grant declared that cranberry sauce was to be served to the Union troops for their Thanksgiving festival.
While pumpkin pie had been on the menu for well over a hundred years, it was not until 1929 when the Libby company began producing a line of canned pumpkin, simplifying the process for making the pie, did it become a Thanksgiving staple.
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.
Smith, who teaches courses in Native American studies, said a first Thanksgiving dinner in Tennessee would be much the same as the original one in Massachusetts.
“The menu would in fact be very similar to that of the Wampanoags in New England. Deer and wild fowl, including turkeys, were common fare, as was fish - though not cod, more likely fish native to Appalachian rivers.”
While the Wampanoags would have had cod, bass and flint, the Cherokees would have had sunfish, gar, catfish, crappie, bass and bream.
Cherokees sometimes grew peanuts and sweet potatoes, according to Smith, and nuts and berries were plentiful.
“Like the Wampanoags, and most tribes, in most regions, Cherokees relied heavily on ‘The Three Sisters’- corn, beans, and squash. Corn would have been in the form of cornbread, or flat bread similar to corn tortillas, as well as in a type of thin porridge common among Southern tribes called sofkey. Sofkey could be eaten as a soup or sometimes drunk as a beverage.”
Meat would have been provided by all the animals common to the mountains, from turtles to rabbits and squirrels to bear.
“A particular delicacy was a type of sausage made of pounded groundhog meat. Most often, though, meals were large stews that might have had many of the ingredients listed above in them.”
Whether in Tennessee or in Massachusetts, that first Thanksgiving meal would have been quite alike, but the differences in that first meal and today’s “traditional” Thanksgiving meal are vast in comparison.
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FAQs
There are only two surviving documents that reference the original Thanksgiving harvest meal. They describe a feast of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, a bounty of cod and bass, and flint, a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.
How many surviving primary source documents reference the Thanksgiving meal shared by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag? ›
Two primary sources—the only surviving documents that reference the meal—confirm that these staples were part of the harvest celebration shared by the Pilgrims and Wampanoag at Plymouth Colony in 1621.
What really happened at the first Thanksgiving feast in 1621? ›
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.
What food was missing from the first Thanksgiving? ›
Whether mashed or roasted, white or sweet, potatoes had no place at the first Thanksgiving. After encountering it in its native South America, the Spanish began introducing the potato to Europeans around 1570.
What was the original Thanksgiving dinner? ›
The first Thanksgiving banquet consisted of foods like venison, bean stew and hard biscuits. And while corn and pumpkin had their place on the table, they hardly resembled the cornbread stuffing and pumpkin pie we feast on today.
Which two groups were at the first Thanksgiving meal? ›
This feast lasted three days and was attended by 90 Native American Wampanoag people and 53 survivors of the Mayflower (Pilgrims).
What 3 foods did the Pilgrims eat? ›
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.
What do Native Americans call Thanksgiving? ›
Why Thanksgiving Is Also a National Day of Mourning. It's important to know that for many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning and protest since it commemorates the arrival of settlers in North America and the centuries of oppression and genocide that followed.
Why do we eat turkey and not chicken on Thanksgiving? ›
While live cows and hens were useful as long as they were producing milk and eggs, respectively, turkeys were generally raised only for their meat and thus could be readily killed. Third, a single turkey was usually big enough to feed a family.
Do the Wampanoag still exist? ›
Today, about 4,000-5,000 Wampanoag live in New England. There are multiple Wampanoag communities - Aquinnah, Mashpee, Herring Pond, Assonet, Chappaquiddick, Pocasset, and Seaconke - with smaller groups and communities across the United States and world.
The New England colonists were accustomed to regularly celebrating “Thanksgivings,” days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought. The U.S. Continental Congress proclaimed a national Thanksgiving upon the enactment of the Constitution, for example.
Did Pilgrims and Indians eat together? ›
In fact, the Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony in today's Massachusetts did share a meal with the Wampanoag Indians in the autumn of 1621, but the rest of the details are uncertain.
What president refused to declare Thanksgiving a holiday? ›
Thomas Jefferson was famously the only Founding Father and early president who refused to declare days of thanksgiving and fasting in the United States.
Why was there no turkey at the first Thanksgiving? ›
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. "Governor William Bradford does mention taking turkeys that year, but not in connection to the harvest celebration."
What bird was eaten at the first Thanksgiving? ›
So while our Thanksgiving dinner table has a big ol' turkey plated in the center, the first Thanksgiving table was likely filled with ducks, geese, eels, lobster, and venison. Maybe there was a turkey, but it was either missing or too dry for anyone to literally write home about it.
What group did the Pilgrims eat the first Thanksgiving with? ›
But just as the Pilgrims don't represent all English colonists, the Wampanoags, who feasted with them, don't represent all Native Americans.
What did the Pilgrims eat on the Mayflower? ›
During the Mayflower's voyage, the Pilgrims' main diet would have consisted primarily of a cracker-like biscuit ("hard tack"), salt pork, dried meats including cow tongue, various pickled foods, oatmeal and other cereal grains, and fish.
Did they eat seal at the first Thanksgiving? ›
The eels were probably a slimy side course at the 17th-century version of the Thanksgiving feast. We're not sure how the eels were prepared, but they were plentiful. Another possible side dish was seal. But the most likely centerpiece of the first Thanksgiving meals was deer.
Was there apple pie and potatoes on the first Thanksgiving? ›
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.
