The First Thanksgiving Meal . . .

There is probably a great likeness with everyone's Thanksgiving meal each year. You can be sure that in most menus, you will find a turkey with some kind of stuffing, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, cranberries, and some kind of dessert, probably featuring pumpkin. Although the residents at Plymouth were happy to share a good amount of food with the indians that first Thanksgiving, we wouldn't see much of what we expect to find at the holiday table.

According to some research, there were 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians in attendance. The feast lasted three days. The main components of the meal were:

Duck, Geese, and Swan
Venison
Fish, Lobster, Mussels, Eel, and Clams
Pumpkin
Squash and corn
Cabbage
Grapes
Plums
Various Berries
Dried Fruit

The corn was not the type we enjoy today. It was scraped from the cobs and boiled down into mush. Since the Indians has molasses, it might have been slightly sweetened. There were plenty of wildlife so I imagine several spits might have been going roasting venison and various fowl. Being near the sea, fishing was probably excellent. To today's standards, they were eating pretty good to have duck, goose, and lobster on the menu!

An interesting sidenote to the lobster. When they had larger settlements and hired hands, there was a rule that they couldn't feed their help lobster more than three times a week. How much do we pay for that particular menu item these days?

It is interesting how foods change in value.  I don't think many of us would find an abundance of several of the items on that list without having a huge income!

I can see, however, how thankful the first pilgrims were to finally have their fill of good food. We might have a different menu but I hope our thanks to God are just as heartfelt!