Culinary Discovery:
Celebrating the Bounty of Good Things
by Gabriella True
The last Thursday in
November is a day our nation comes together, slowing hectic lives
and celebrating time-honored traditions, a day to gather family
and friends in a meal, reflecting what we have to be thankful
for, whether those things be small or large. The Thanksgiving
dinner symbolizes the bounty of good things and not just the food
that we have been blessed with. It is a day in which new immigrants
and the young learn to become part of the United States fabric
while elderly and long-standing citizens pay homage to their past
history and remembrances. Although the basic meal and celebration
is similar for all, side dishes and activities differ from family
to family. In every household it is a day eagerly anticipated,
a day when waistlines become constricting and when, inevitably,
at least one guest falls asleep watching a long football game
after dinner.
People have long believed
that spirits or gods controlled the outcome of their harvest and
paying homage to the harvest gods became an important part of
cultures. The Greeks honored Demeter,
goddess of grains, at an autumn festival, Thesmosphoria. The
Romans held the fall festival Cerelia to honor Ceres,
goddess of corn, offering pigs and fruits to her. Harvest
festivals throughout the world continued well after the fall of
the Roman Empire. In England, The Harvest Home celebration was
held in the fall after the fields had been harvested. The Puritans
transformed and brought the fall harvest celebration to North
America where it was eventually transformed into the holiday we
know today.
In 1609, the Puritans
left England for Holland to flee religious prosecution. The Puritans
became worried their children would come to adopt the ways of
the Dutch, which they considered frivolous and so they brokered
a deal with the Merchant
Adventurers, a group of English investors, to provide the
sea passage to America in exchange for seven years work. In America
they would be able to start their own community. When they landed,
it was November, too late to grow crops, and 50 of the original
110 survived the subsequent harsh winter.
The Pilgrims were concerned
about the local Native Americans, but the nearby tribe was peaceful
and on March 16, 1621 a tribe-member came into their village and
said to the Puritan's surprise, "Welcome." His name was Samoset
and he had learned English from fishermen off the cost of Massachusetts.
He lived in a village along with Squanto,
another native, who also spoke English and had spent some time
in England after being rescued by English slavers. Squanto taught
the Pilgrims invaluable lessons about the natural resources of
their new land, teaching them how to tap the maple trees for syrup,
which plants were edible, how to grow corn since the wheat they
had brought from England would not grow in the rocky soil.
By the next fall, the
Puritans successfully harvested enough corn for storage, fruit
to dry, fish to salt and meat to cure for the long winter ahead.
Governor
William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be hosted
by the Puritans with the natives as their honored guests. The
feast lasted three days with games and displays of hunting skill.
During the following year a bountiful harvest was not produced
so Thanksgiving was not held. The third year, there was a severe
drought and Bradford declared a day of fasting and praying; shortly
thereafter it rained and a day of thanksgiving was proclaimed.
These original Thanksgivings
and subsequent ones held by the Puritans were holy days. In addition
to the food and games, most of the day was spent in church service.
The Puritans had long since abandoned celebrating many typical
Christian holidays such as the saints days and Christmas which
they rejected for being as blasphemous as holidays with pagan
roots like Harvest Home. The Puritans believed ritual honoring
of individuals served only to legitimize an ecclesiastical hierarchy,
something fundamentally un-Christian. Thanksgivings, however,
eased the human need for celebration and joy while respecting
their strict religious beliefs. The holiday of Thanksgiving spread
throughout the thirteen colonies and was heartily adopted by other
Puritans and immigrants who had traveled across the seas to find
a new life. Although people had long given thanks and held harvest
festivals, these celebrations became the first true North American
holiday.
The first Thanksgivings
were not well documented so it is not precisely known what was
served. The dinner was more than likely eaten outdoors since no
building would have been big enough to accommodate all of the
Puritans and the 90 tribe-members present. The menu probably included
fish, shellfish, dried fruit, corn, berries, fowl and venison.
Since it was the British who were in charge of cooking the meal,
it can be safely assumed that they adapted their cuisine to use
these new foods. Thirteen Pilgrim women were responsible for all
of the cooking. British cooking placed the emphasis on meats,
both game and fowl, while wheat or corn products and fruits were
less important. Sweet foods were rare and would have only been
prepared for special banquets such as Thanksgiving.
Venison would have
been the main game meat for the meal and, as Edward
Winslow documented in 1621, the tribe had brought five deer
to the feast. The fowl would have included geese, ducks, perhaps
a swan and a wild turkey, quite small compared with today's average
size. Some spices, reserved from the Mayflower voyage, would have
been added to the dishes presented to the more important people
at the dinner. There were no dairy products, as cows had not yet
been brought over from Europe. Every dish, sweet or savory, would
have been served at the same time, not in courses. By the 1640's,
Thanksgivings across New England were proclaimed almost yearly
but not without debate. Some ministers and governors felt that
yearly celebrations would instill a feeling of overconfidence
in God's generosity. By the 1660's, Thanksgivings were firmly
rooted in society and no governor tried to exclude the day from
the calendar.
The day was still arranged
around a series of church services. By the early 1700's, many
communities ceased the afternoon service so people did not have
to walk miles in the cold four times in one day. Since there was
more time not dedicated to prayer or work, games, dancing, ice
skating, and sport became an integral part of the afternoon. Later,
as people began to move far and wide throughout the colonies,
the annual pilgrimage home began to take form.
Outside New England,
Thanksgiving was not widely celebrated. As the dinner portion
of the day grew in importance and the harvest was usually bountiful,
more pies were baked and more meats were roasted. Since the early
Colonialists did not celebrate Christmas, some of the usual treats
were sorely missed and so plum pudding and mince pies became an
essential part of the Thanksgiving menu, just as turkey pie and
pumpkin pie had become. In 1705, the town of Colchester, Connecticut
postponed Thanksgiving in order to wait for a shipment of molasses
so the indispensable pumpkin pie could be made.
Thanksgiving proclamations
became vehicles for governors and ministers to endorse the Revolutionary
War and the preservation of rights. In 1777, a national day of
Thanksgiving was proclaimed for the 13 colonies after the colonial
army defeated General John Burgoyne in the Hudson Valley. This
put Thanksgiving well on its way to becoming an annual holiday.
Even during the height of the Revolution when many families had
to do without certain foods, Thanksgiving was celebrated from
New Hampshire to Georgia. Because of the war colonialists had
no access to raisins for mince pie or beef for roasts. But celery
was just being introduced to the colonies from England and it
was one of the first vegetables to be eaten raw.
A 1779 letter from
a schoolgirl in Boston reads,
All the baking
of pies and cakes was done at our house and we had the big oven
heated and filled twice each day for three days before it was
all done, and everything was Good, though we did have to do without
some things that ought to be used. Neither Love nor Money could
buy Raisins, but our good red cherries dried without the pits
did almost as well . . Of course we could have no Roast Beef.
None of us have tasted any beef this three years back. . . But,
Mayquittymaw's Hunters were able to get us a fine red Deer, so
that we had a good haunch of venison on each Table. These were
balanced by huge Chines of Roast Pork at the other ends of the
Tables. Then there was one big Roast Turkey and on the other a
Goose and two big Pigeon Pasties [pies]. Then there was an abundance
of good vegetables of all the old Sorts and which I do not believe
you have yet seen. . . It is called Sellery [celery] and you eat
it without cooking."
Recipes>>
Gabriella
True has had a passion for cooking since the day her Mom let her
pound down the freshly risen dough created from her Grandmother's
bread recipe. In fifth grade she chose Julia Child as her hero
to write about in English class. Growing up in the heart of New
York City she was able to avidly explore the foods of the world.
Since then she has catered small parties and spent hours writing
and testing recipes to share with her loyal audience. She began
writing about food, its culture and history through her association
with Splendid Palate.
You can contact the author directly via email at Gabriella@splendidpalate.com
