What did they eat at the first Thanksgiving Feast?

Every year we look forward to the regular Thanksgiving fixings. Turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, buttered rolls, and pie. Lots of pie.

Mmmm, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

We know that the celebration of Thanksgiving is based on the original meal that occurred in 1621. We know it lasted for 3 days and was attended by Native Americans as well as Pilgrims. The feast was in celebration at the end of the fall harvest, when food was plentiful, but what did they eat at the first Thanksgiving? Well, I did some digging to find out…

What did they REALLY eat at the first Thanksgiving Feast?

Lucky for us, some original documents were saved that recorded some of the food that was eaten at the first Thanksgiving.

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion.                                                                                         – William Bradford (source)

Doesn’t sound like much of a meal, does it? Well, historians and researchers thought the same thing, and so they complied all the recordings and journal entries about the first Thanksgiving feast, and added additional items that were known to be eaten during that time in 1621. Here’s what they came up with.

What they {most likely} ate at the first Thanksgiving Feast…

The actual recorded list was five deer, a large number of turkeys and waterfowl, cod, and bass; plus the harvest, which consisted of wheat, corn, barley, and perhaps a few peas. To that list, we can add a few additional things that are known to have been native to the area and eaten by the Pilgrims: clams, mussels, lobster, eel, ground nuts, acorns, walnuts, chestnuts, squashes, and beans. Fruits and berries such as strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and gooseberries were available growing wild. Pilgrim house-gardens may have included a number of English vegetables and herbs, perhaps things like onions, leeks, sorrel, yarrow, lettuce, carrots, radishes, currants, liverwort, watercress, and others. (source)

 

I don’t know about you, but it sound pretty delicious to me! Since I’m a traditionalist at heart, I love the idea of foraging for my food, eating local meat, freshly harvested grains, vegetables, & herbs, and juicy ripe fruit.

There’s just one thing missing. Pie.

Am I right?

How does your Thanksgiving Feast compare with the First Thanksgiving Feast?