If the Pilgrims had known what a big deal Thanksgiving was going to become in America, I’m sure they would have taken pictures. There’s no question that food provided by the Wampanoags throughout the winter of 1620-21 saved the Pilgrims from certain death. So, they had a great deal to be thankful for at their 1621 harvest feast, even if the term “Thanksgiving” was not used that first year.
Although their exact menu has been lost to us, Wampanoag oral history, plus a few Costco receipts left by Pilgrims, suggest that corn, beans, and squash were central to that feast. In the spring of 1621, the Wampanoags, who were largely an agrarian people, gave the Pilgrims crop seeds, as well as a tutorial (possibly an App; we can’t be sure) on the production, storage and preservation of indigenous food crops.
Corn, beans, and squash are known by many Native American peoples as “The Three Sisters,” as they are traditionally grown together as companion plants. Corn gives the pole beans a structure on which to climb, while the broad leaves of squash plants shade the ground and suppress weeds, and beans put nitrogen into the soil for all three crops to thrive. The Three Sisters are featured on the reverse of the 2009 Sacajawea dollar, and 2021, the U.S. Mint struck a version of the Sacajawea coin featuring The Three Sisters on the reverse side.
But in 1621 Plymouth, the sisters were a long way from “home.” Corn was first domesticated around 10,000 years ago in the lowlands of southwest Mexico by selectively breeding a native grass called teosinte. This early corn was grown for some 4,000 years, at which time farmers crossed it with a different strain of teosinte from the mountains of central Mexico, greatly improving yields. We know that corn was being raised in the U.S. Southwest between 3,200 and 4,000 years ago, and made its way to southern Canada as a crop around 1,000 to 1,400 years in the past. This is just to say that the Wampanoags had a bit of experience farming.
The cultivation of squash, including pumpkins, originated in Mesoamerica roughly 8,000 years ago. The Pilgrims probably baked these in hot ashes, following Native American custom, and cracked them open so the flesh could be scooped out. Pies were apparently not on the menu then, but baked squash is plenty sweet when you’re hungry, and we should remember the Wampanoags made maple sugar every spring. Incidentally, the word “squash” is of Algonquin origin.
Dry beans are “only” 7,000 to 8,000 years old as a domesticated crop, with varieties like black turtle beans, red and white kidney beans, and Lima beans originating in Central and South America. It seems they travelled fast, though, and may have been cultivated in what is now New England as early as 5,000 years ago.
Barley was the only European-sourced crop that the Pilgrims had success with in 1621. However, they were more keen on brewing beer from it than eating it as a grain. I’m sure the Pilgrims enjoyed beer for the same reasons we do today, but it had a special importance back then, in that many pathogens able to live in water cannot survive in beer.
When we think of Thanksgiving meats, turkey is top of mind for most of us, and indeed the Pilgrims did eat turkey in 1621, as reported by Plymouth governor William Bradford. Most of the fowl shot by Pilgrim and Native hunters, though, were ducks and geese, as Plymouth lies on a bustling migratory flyway, and waterfowl would have been plentiful at that time of year.
But according to Edward Winslow, one of the Puritan leaders, venison procured by the Wampanoags was the main attraction of the feast. This could be taken to mean meat from white-tail deer, elk, or moose, or a combination thereof. And given that Plymouth is a coastal community, there likely were a variety of seafood dishes, including clams and lobsters steamed in seaweed. As the Pilgrims gave thanks for Native American agriculture in the fall of 1621, the Wampanoags may have been grateful there weren’t more ships full of Pilgrims on the horizon just then.
Traditional foods have evolved since those early days, but plenty of indigenous crops will grace our Thanksgiving tables this year. If corn chips with salsa are out before dinner, the peppers and tomatoes in the salsa are Native American foods. For those who like guacamole dip, avocados are another native food. We might have cranberry sauce on the table, along with mashed potatoes to soak up the gravy. White and sweet potatoes are both New World crops. In fact, about sixty percent of all foods grown in the world today owe their origins to New World agronomists.
Regarding dessert, I think just about everyone is thankful for pumpkin pie. Nothing goes with pie like ice cream, which is from the Old World, but maple-walnut, one of the earliest ice cream varieties in New England, combines two great indigenous flavors. Speaking of which, vanilla is from the Americas, and so is chocolate, strawberry, blueberry, and pineapple.
I wish you all a happy and healthy Thanksgiving, replete with family and gratitude. Among other things, we can be grateful to Native peoples and their crops. But please, don’t blame them if you have to loosen your belt a notch afterward.
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Comments
I would not mind having venison, elk, or moose for the main Thanksgiving dish along with beans, corn, peas, etc. Already getting hungry.
Plymouth WAS NOT the first Thanksgiving
The first Thanksgiving was in 1619 at what is now Berkeley Plantation in VIRGINIA.