Nov 21, 2007 9:59 am US/Pacific
What Was Eaten At The First Thanksgiving?
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SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
Most Americans are looking forward to a full Thanksgiving feast this Thursday. But have you ever stopped to ask: What did the pilgrims serve on the original holiday?
The picture many Americans have in their heads of the traditional Thanksgiving is like the famous Norman Rockwell painting from his series the Four Freedoms.
"It sort of represented America's sense of itself in World War II," said UC Davis American Studies professor Dr. Jay Mechling, "One of them is the iconographic painting of the large turkey being served to the family at Thanksgiving."
The reality is at the first Thanksgiving dinner, they most likely served no turkey.
"Certainly probably deer, would have been the more likely kind of meat," explained Dr. Mechling, " Early New Englanders were not that great hunters, despite our mythology. They would do anything they needed to do in order to get protein."
The head chef at Chanterelle in Sacramento tells us what might have also been on the table.
"Right- we would have some brook trout, and wild duck and then I have some East coast lobster here," Chaterelle Executive Chef Jim Turknett explained. They would also have gourds and boiled pumpkins.
"Well it doesn't look that great now but after we cook it and put a little magic in it, it will be wonderful food. But back then, not much magic available, we're talking pretty basic," said Chef Turknett, "All the flavors are here and if you just put 'em in a clay pot and put them in the ground and put them on a top of a fire and roast the duck, you'd have a delicious meal."
He says there may have been fruits like cranberries, but raw, not the succulent sauce we enjoy now.
Professor Mechling says this is just one example of how this holiday's become commercialized over the years.
"Ocean Spray, commonly known for cranberries, really had a concerted effort during the 1930's to get people to accept cranberry sauce as something that had to be on the Thanksgiving table," said Mechling.
And as for wine, frankly I thought because they were Puritans they might not indulge. But apparently there's a good chance someone brought some wine or even been over on the Mayflower.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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