What did they eat?

_Elsa_

‘When the colonists and Native Americans sat down to feast, they probably enjoyed quite different fare than what we’re used to seeing on our Thanksgiving tables today. They may have eaten wild turkey, which Bradford mentions was plentiful in the colony, but it’s not certain even that most ubiquitous of Thanksgiving staples was on the menu. 

In addition to venison (Winslow wrote that the Native Americans killed five deer and presented it to the colonists), Begley says that the group probably ate fish and shellfish, which were abundant in the region, as well as fruits and vegetables that the colonists grew in their home gardens. “Cabbage, carrot, cucumbers, leeks, lettuce, parsnips, pumpkins,” he lists. “There were also a lot of native wild plants that English learned how to cook, including Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, cranberries, Concord grapes, walnuts and chestnuts.” 

The Plymouth colonists certainly did not serve potatoes, which weren’t available to them at the time, and it’s unlikely they prepared the sweet cranberry sauce we know today—their cranberries were more likely a tart garnish. Pumpkin pie would have been impossible, as the colony didn’t have butter, wheat flour or an oven. 

As for who prepared the food for the first Thanksgiving, Winslow’s account (like many contemporary sources) doesn’t offer much in the way of domestic details. “There were only four English housewives that were alive in 1621, out of, I think, 20 that came on the Mayflower,” Begley says. “That's not really a lot of people to help you prepare a meal for over 100. So we can speculate that the children, servants and probably some unmarried men were also helping out in preparing all the food.” 

The fall tradition took hold in New England - While it’s not known whether the Plymouth colonists repeated the 1621 celebration in subsequent years, the tradition of giving thanks to God merged with celebrations of the harvest to become a fall tradition in New England by the late 1600s. 

But the significance of that first 1621 harvest celebration didn’t really emerge until the mid-19th century, after the writer Alexander Young rediscovered Winslow’s letter and made it famous in his 1841 book Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers. Bradford’s manuscript, stolen by the British during the Revolutionary War, was recovered in the 1850s, just in time for the magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale to incorporate it into her campaign to create an official national Thanksgiving holiday. 

In 1863, Hale achieved her goal when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the final Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving holiday for the first time. From its roots in the Plymouth harvest celebration to Hale and Lincoln’s attempt to mend a divided nation during the Civil War, we can trace the origins of the annual celebration of family, food and gratitude we know today.’ (Source) 

Let’s continue - Thanksgiving Traditions and Rituals

Start at the beginning – Tiffi co-authors the Mayflower Story