Once again, families across the U.S. will come together on the fourth Thursday of November to eat mass quantities of turkey and stuffing, share politely strained conversation with rarely-visited relatives, and claim a spot on the couch to indulge in a food coma. There might be a few mumblings about why we should all be thankful, but let’s get real—Thanksgiving has become all about the food.
Don’t get me wrong; I love Thanksgiving, particularly my grandma’s corn casserole. But it feels like the same routine every year. This year, I suggest we spice things up and return to our old school roots—I mean really old school. For a unique and historic take on Thanksgiving, let’s ditch the pumpkin pie and borrow a few ideas from our pilgrim predecessors.
Lose the Turkey
Though the information we have for what’s considered the first Thanksgiving (which occurred after a successful harvest in 1621) is limited, we do know that the pilgrims ate plenty o’ meat. However, whether they ate turkey is debatable. Journal entries from that time specify venison, seafood, and fowl, but fowl could’ve meant ducks, geese, and even eagles. To be safe, stick with dried deer meat and fish. (They didn’t have a way to preserve meat back then, so drying was the best way to prevent spoilage.)
Also, say goodbye to stuffing, cranberry sauce, and other dishes we consider traditional Thanksgiving fare. At the pilgrims’ party, they probably noshed on fruit, corn (the Wampanoag tribe having showed them how to properly grow it), and squash. Really though, it was all about the meat in those days. (Sorry, vegetarians. Enjoy the dried corn!) Somehow, I can’t imagine a plate of deer jerky having the same star quality as a platter of roasted turkey, but I guess main dish standards were different in those days.
