Thanksgiving Feast

For those who aren't USians, this up coming Thursday is Thanksgiving. 

What this means is that USians around the country will be sitting down to eat turkey and pumpkin pie. 

Why? Because that's that traditional food that was eaten at the first Thanksgiving. And every Thanksgiving since. 

Right? 

Well, no. 



While the definition of the "first" American Thanksgiving are debatable, most people are thinking of the 1921 feast in Plymouth.

To be fair, turkey may have been eaten at that first Thanksgiving. We don't actually know for sure, all we know is that was recorded:

 "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." *

So it may well have been turkey. But it could just have easily been duck, grouse, goose, pheasant  or chicken. We simply just don't know.

Sadly, what we do know, is that there was no pumpkin pie in 1621. They might have had roasted pumpkins, but pumpkin pie itself wasn't invented yet. **

Which I find quite sad, since it's the best part of the traditional thanksgiving feast, in my not so humble opinion.