Little is actually known about the foods that were served at the first Thanksgiving. We have only one written account from an eyewitness, a letter Edward Winslow wrote to a friend in England. From that, we know that the Indians brought five deer and the pilgrims hunted fowl for the feast.
The rest is pieced together from what is known about foods that were available at that time.
Foods that were served at the first Thanksgiving are thought to have been:
- Fish
- Lobsters
- Eel
- Mussels
- Oysters
- Corn
- Parsnips
- Collards
- Turnips
- Spinach
- Onions
- Dried Beans
- Dried Blueberries
- Grapes
- Nuts
- pumpkin
- squash
- wild fowl
- deer
Foods that would not have been served at the first Thanksgiving are:
- Turkey, though it was often eaten by the Wampanoag and pilgrims and it is known from Winslow's letter that wild fowl was served, turkey is not mentioned specifically. The wild fowl may or may not have been turkey.
- Popcorn, though corn was abundant, it was not popped.
- Cranberry Sauce, though they would add cranberries to recipes for tartness, cranberry sauce did not appear until the 1670s.
- Potatoes, white potatoes were virtually unknown in England at the time of the first Thanksgiving. Sweet potatoes were imported to England from Spain and were used only by the ultra wealthy.
- Pumpkin Pie - At the time of the feast, there were no ingredients available to make the crust. Pumpkin and squash would have been served as vegetables only.
- Apples - Apples were not present in 1621 in Plymouth.
Since a letter written by Edward Winslow to a friend in England is the only eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving, little is known for sure about the foods eaten. From his letter, we know that the Native Americans brought five deer and the pilgrims hunted wild fowl.
Other foods that are likely to have been eaten are:
- Fish
- Lobsters
- Eel
- Mussels
- Oysters
- Corn
- Parsnips
- Collards
- Turnips
- Spinach
- Onions
- Dried Beans
- Dried Blueberries
- Grapes
- Nuts
- pumpkin
- squash
- deer
The Pilgrims didn't have ovens so there were very few sweets such as cakes or pies, but they did have bread which they cooked on flat stones over a fire. The main course of the pilgrims' food was meat such as venison, turkey, pigs, and chicken. There were also some sea food like lobsters and eels. Other than that there was corn, cranberrys, potatos, carrots, and mabe some wild black berries.
There were no potatoes served.
Food eaten at the first Thanksgiving included wild game like deer, fowl (not necessarily turkey), fish, lobster and vegetables, like corn, that were harvested from their crops. Though desserts are served today, it is not likely that they had them at the first Thanksgiving.
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