The Only Written Records That Survived
Picture this: Nearly all of what historians have learned about one of the first Thanksgiving comes from a single eyewitness report: a letter written in December 1621 by Edward Winslow, one of the 100 or so people who sailed from England aboard the Mayflower in 1620 and founded Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. But there are only two primary sources that talk about that first feast, which is thought to have occurred at some point in the fall of 1621. The only eyewitness account mentions just two foods – venison and wildfowl – and doesn’t indicate what else was eaten or how the food was prepared or served.
The second source came from William Bradford, Plymouth’s governor in 1621, wrote briefly of the event in Of Plymouth Plantation, his history of the colony, but that was more than 20 years after the feast itself. Both men were trying to survive in a harsh new world, not document every single dish they ate. Yet their brief mentions give us fascinating clues about what really happened during those three days in autumn.
Venison Was the Star of the Show
According to Edward Winslow’s letter, “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 90 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.” This wasn’t just any ordinary meal contribution. Ousamequin’s presentation of five deer to the English leaders was essential to the diplomacy taking place during the three-day event.
On the other hand, deer was central to the Wampanoag way of life, providing not only meat, but other materials for clothing and tools. Men were responsible for providing their families with meat and fish, spending fall and winter hunting large animals such as deer. The fact that Ousamequin brought five entire deer shows just how significant this gathering was. These weren’t leftovers or scraps – this was premium protein meant to honor their English hosts.
Wildfowl Filled the Tables for Days
According to Winslow’s account, “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that we might after a more special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week.” Think about that – enough birds to feed everyone for nearly a week from just one day’s hunting!
Thousands of migratory ducks and geese are found in the region each fall, and smaller birds, such as quail would have been abundant. Historians suggest it’s even possible the now-extinct passenger pigeon was spit-roasted for the meal. The species died out over a century ago, but in the 1620s they would have been a remarkably common source of protein around Plymouth Colony. It is also probable that the feast featured turkey. Governor William Bradford noted that there was a “great store of wild turkeys” during the fall of 1621.
Stuffing Wasn’t What You’d Expect
Forget the bread stuffing you know today. The Pilgrims instead stuffed birds with chunks of onion and herbs. “There is a wonderful stuffing for goose in the 17th century that is just shelled chestnuts,” says Wall. Can you imagine biting into a roasted duck filled with nothing but chestnuts? Rather than the bread stuffing we know today, the birds were stuffed with onions and herbs.
It is possible that the birds were stuffed, though probably not with bread. (Bread, made from maize not wheat, was likely a part of the meal, but exactly how it was made is unknown.) The English were adapting their traditional cooking methods to whatever they could find in this strange new land. No wonder their stuffing recipes sound so different from ours!
Seafood Dominated the Menu
Culinary historians believe that much of the Thanksgiving meal consisted of seafood, which is often absent from today’s menus. Mussels in particular were abundant in New England and could be easily harvested because they clung to rocks along the shoreline. Lobster, bass, clams and oysters might also have been part of the feast. Imagine sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner and being served lobster instead of turkey!
Colonist Edward Winslow describes the bounty of seafood near Plymouth: “Our bay is full of lobsters all the summer and affordeth variety of other fish; in September we can take a hogshead of eels in a night with small labor, and can dig them out of their beds all the winter.” Fish and eels would have been smoked, and shellfish — such as lobsters, clams and mussels — would have been trapped and dried. These weren’t delicacies back then – they were survival foods that kept people alive.
Corn Was Nothing Like Today’s Sweet Yellow Kernels
Indian corn was different from the sweet yellow corn that we eat today. It had various colors – reds, blacks, yellows and whites – on the same ear, and was not eaten fresh from the cob. Instead, Indian corn was dried and then pounded into flour and cornmeal for cooking and baking. The 1621 harvest feast was held following a successful harvest of the multi-colored flint corn. The English referred to in sources as Indian corn to differentiate it from their English “corns” or grains like wheat, rye and barley, which did not grow as well in New England soils.
The English acquired their first seed corn by taking from a cache in a Native storage pit during one of their initial explorations on Cape Cod. As they adapted to their new home, colonial housewives used the new corn in traditional English ways – as the grain in porridges (or pottages), puddings and flat, unleavened bread. Indian corn was part of almost every meal in Plymouth Colony. Without this native crop, the colonists probably wouldn’t have survived their first winter.
The Famous Three Sisters Made Their Debut
And traditional Native American farming practices tell us that squash and beans likely were part of that 1621 dinner too. For centuries before Europeans reached North America, many Native Americans grew these foods together in one plot, along with the less familiar sunflower. The Wampanoag of 1621 harvested chestnuts, walnuts and beechnuts from the local forests, and they grew beans, squashes and pumpkins in addition to flint corn. Coming from the Wampanoag word msÃckquatash, historians agree that succotash — a hearty dish made from beans, corn and squash— was likely served at the historic meal.
Around the time the corn plants were the height of a human hand, it was time to plant the beans and squashes (including pumpkins) around the base of the corn. As the corn grew, the beans climbed and wound around the corn stalks. Nutritionally, maize, beans, and squash contain all nine essential amino acids. The protein from maize is further enhanced by protein contributions from beans and pumpkin seeds, while pumpkin flesh provides large amounts of vitamin A. These crops worked together both in the field and on the plate.
Pumpkins Were There, But Not as Pie
Pilgrims liked pumpkins. According to accounts, they used to hollow them out, fill them with milk and honey to make a custard, and then roast the orange orbs in hot ashes. But when it came to making pies, the Pilgrims were essentially out of luck. You need butter and wheat flour to make a crust, and in 1621, the Pilgrims didn’t have much of either.
However, New Plymouth probably lacked the butter and wheat flour in substantial enough quantities to make a pie crust. The earliest written recipes for pumpkin pie came after 1621, and those treated pumpkins more like apples, slicing them and sometimes frying the slices. Whole pumpkins were easily cooked by setting them near the fire and rotating them periodically until the flesh became soft. Chunks were roasted or boiled, and when mashed, they are nearly indistinguishable from winter squash. So while pumpkins were definitely on the table, they looked nothing like the pie we know today.
No Cranberry Sauce Despite Local Abundance
Here’s something that might shock you: That’s because the sacks of sugar that traveled across the Atlantic on the Mayflower were nearly or fully depleted by November 1621. Cooks didn’t begin boiling cranberries with sugar and using the mixture as an accompaniment for meats until about 50 years later. While cranberries were abundant in New England, there’s no evidence that they were served as a sauce. The sugar necessary to make cranberry sauce was a rare commodity at the time.
And although cranberries may have been available to Pilgrims, the first evidence of any English settler boiling cranberries and sugar into a sauce would not come for another 50 years. Sugar was worth its weight in gold back then. The colonists probably saved what little they had for special occasions or medicinal purposes, not for making fruit sauces.
Garden Vegetables From Both Cultures
Although what was grown in those gardens isn’t mentioned by name in historical documents, later sources suggest turnips, carrots, onions and garlic might have been available to cook with and eat for the first Thanksgiving meal. In the gardens near their houses, women grew many different kinds of herbs and vegetables, like parsley, lettuce, spinach, carrots and turnips.
The Wampanoag women brought their own gardening expertise to the table. If they were present, Indigenous women may have been involved in food preparation. In the 17th century, Native women traditionally cultivated gardens and gathered wild plants as well as cooking for their households. Melons, smaller versions of modern watermelons, were part of the Wampanoag gardens and offered a sweet treat. As the squash and melon leaves grew large enough, they helped to keep the weeds down and the ground moist around the mounds during the warmest time of year.
How the Meal Was Actually Served
The English enjoyed feasting. Bills of fare of the period, even for less affluent families, look enormous to our eyes. Courses didn’t proceed from soup to sweets, but contained all sorts of foods at the same time. The table was set with a variety of dishes, and they were brought to the table and passed by the children and servants who waited on their families.
Since the first Thanksgiving was a three-day celebration, she adds, “I have no doubt whatsoever that birds that are roasted one day, the remains of them are all thrown in a pot and boiled up to make broth the next day. That broth thickened with grain to make a pottage.” Nothing went to waste – every scrap of food was precious and had to last. In fact, it took place over three days sometime between late September and mid-November in 1621, and was considered a harvest celebration. “Basically it was to celebrate the end of a successful harvest,” says Tom Begley, the executive liaison for administration, research and special projects at Plimoth Plantation.
The Real Numbers Behind the Feast
Just over 50 colonists are believed to have attended, including 22 men, four married women—including Edward Winslow’s wife—and more than 25 children and teenagers. The Plymouth colonists were likely outnumbered more than two-to-one at the event by their Native American counterparts. Winslow’s account records “many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men.”
Think about the logistics of feeding roughly 140 people for three days using only what you could hunt, fish, gather, or grow yourself. Of the 102 Mayflower passengers, about half were alive at the First Thanksgiving: 24 men, five women, and 24 children and teenagers. Survivors ranged in age from Peregrine White, born in December 1620 aboard Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay, to Elder William Brewster in his fifties. These weren’t healthy, well-fed people – they were survivors who had just endured one of the most brutal winters of their lives.
The 1621 harvest celebration was nothing like our modern Thanksgiving dinner. The first Thanksgiving was more about survival, gratitude, and the forging of an important alliance than it was about replicating the traditions we now associate with the holiday. While the menu was likely unfamiliar to modern palates, the spirit of togetherness and gratitude that defined the first Thanksgiving is what continues to resonate today. These people shared a meal that bridged two completely different worlds – and somehow, that simple act of breaking bread together helped create the foundation of what would become America. What would you have expected if you’d been sitting at that table over 400 years ago?
