Thanksgiving Food

OPH Good Housekeeping

Turkey

Turkey is synonymous with Thanksgiving Day although it is

unlikely that turkey was served at the First Thanksgiving Feast.

Foods such as goose, duck, seal and cod were abundant at that

time although the foods historians know for sure were served at

the First Thanksgiving were wild fowl and goose.

Various tales have evolved to explain how the tradition of

serving turkey at Thanksgiving came about, each to be taken

with a pinch of salt. One such tale is that Queen Elizabeth

upon hearing that the Spanish Armada had sunk, on the way to

attack England, ordered that a second goose was to be served.

Goose thereafter became the popular food to eat at harvest time

in England. The pilgrims wishing to keep up this tradition

selected to eat turkey at the First Thanksgiving. Effectively

because turkeys were in abundance and much easier to catch than

geese.

Pumpkins

The pumpkin has been a traditional food served at thanksgiving

for about four hundred years. Introduced to the pilgrims by the

native Americans, it was easy to grow and would last in storage

throughout the winter.

Cranberries

Cranberries grew wild in bogs along the New England coast.

Originally called crane berries because the plants pink

blossoms resembled cranes heads. Introduced to the pilgrims by

the native americans who showed them how to dry them for the

winter. As soon as the pilgrims learnt how to sweeten the

berries with maple sugar made from the sap of maple trees, they

started making cranberry sauce.