What Foods Did The Pilgrims Eat On Their First Thanksgiving?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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  • Turkey. There’s a good chance the Pilgrims and Wampanoag did in fact eat turkey as part of that very first Thanksgiving. …
  • Mashed Potatoes. Keep dreaming. …
  • Cranberry Sauce. …
  • Corn. …
  • Pumpkin Pie. …
  • Lobster.

What was eaten at the first Thanksgiving meal?

There are only two surviving documents that reference the original Thanksgiving harvest meal. They describe a feast of

freshly killed deer

, assorted wildfowl, a bounty of cod and bass, and flint, a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

What did pilgrims actually eat on Thanksgiving?

Turkey, of course, was served (and has been the main entrée for almost 400 years). However, it was wild, not domestic, that the Pilgrims and Indians consumed. They also ate

venison

from the five deer that the Indians brought to the celebration, as well as duck and geese. Fish.

What food did the Pilgrims eat?

During the Mayflower’s voyage, the Pilgrims’ main diet would have consisted primarily of a

cracker-like biscuit (“hard tack”)

, salt pork, dried meats including cow tongue, various pickled foods, oatmeal and other cereal grains, and fish. The primary beverage for everyone, including children, was beer.

What did the Pilgrims do on the first Thanksgiving?

They played

ball games, sang, and danced

. Although prayers and thanks were probably offered at the 1621 harvest gathering, the first recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later in 1623.

Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

For meat,

the Wampanoag brought deer, and the Pilgrims provided wild “fowl

.” Strictly speaking, that “fowl” could have been turkeys, which were native to the area, but historians think it was probably ducks or geese. …

What’s the real history of Thanksgiving?

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an

autumn harvest feast

that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states.

Did the Pilgrims eat fish?

The natives dried fish and smoked shellfish, as well as ate other fish, shrimp, oysters, and crabs. So, it’s very likely that

the natives present at the first Thanksgiving provided seafood for the pilgrims to

eat.

Did the Pilgrims eat lobster?


The First Thanksgiving meal eaten by pilgrims in November 1621 included lobster

. They also ate fruits and vegetables brought by Native Americans, mussels, bass, clams, and oysters. … Today, lobster might not be a food associated with a traditional Thanksgiving menu, but it should be!

What did the Pilgrims do to the natives?

What they found when they arrived was a village that had been decimated by disease. While the Wampanoags considered the site a cursed place of death and tragedy, the Pilgrims saw the

deaths of the natives as a sign from God that this was where they should settle

. And so began Plimoth Plantation.

What did they drink on the Mayflower?

Due to the unsafe drinking water, passengers on the Mayflower drank

beer

as a main hydration source — each person was rationed a gallon per day. They started to run out as the ship approached Plymouth Rock.

What vegetables did the Pilgrims eat?

Indian corn was part of almost every meal in Plymouth Colony. Along with Indian corn, the Pilgrims also grew some beans, pumpkins, wheat, barley, oats and peas in their fields. In the gardens near their houses, women grew many different kinds of herbs and vegetables, like

parsley, lettuce, spinach, carrots and turnips

.

Did the Pilgrims really eat turkey?

So venison was a major ingredient, as well as fowl, but that likely included geese and ducks.

Turkeys are a possibility

, but were not a common food in that time. Pilgrims grew onions and herbs. … It’s possible, but unlikely, that there was turkey at the first Thanksgiving.

Did the Pilgrims eat with the natives?

You can see throughout their journals that they were always nervous and, unfortunately, when they were nervous they were very aggressive. So the Pilgrims didn’t invite the Wampanoags to sit down and eat turkey and drink some beer? …

People did eat together

[but not in what is portrayed as “the first Thanksgiving].

Did the Pilgrims start Thanksgiving?

The English colonists we call Pilgrims celebrated days of thanksgiving as part of their religion. … Our national holiday really stems from the feast held

in the autumn of 1621

by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag to celebrate the colony’s first successful harvest.

Why is it called Thanksgiving?

The event that Americans commonly call the “First Thanksgiving” was

celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621

. This feast lasted three days, and—as recounted by attendee Edward Winslow— was attended by 90 Wampanoag and 53 Pilgrims.

Maria Kunar
Author
Maria Kunar
Maria is a cultural enthusiast and expert on holiday traditions. With a focus on the cultural significance of celebrations, Maria has written several blogs on the history of holidays and has been featured in various cultural publications. Maria's knowledge of traditions will help you appreciate the meaning behind celebrations.