by Winter Chestnut

Created on: November 02, 2009

Dinner Time is Calling

One of the main images conjured up at the mere mention of Thanksgiving is a table laden and overflowing with food. Each family's Thanksgiving might be a little different, but the basics are almost always present. A juicy golden turkey, ham too good to be passed up with brown sugar and pineapple. Dressing fresh out of the oven, the spices mingling in the air, so delicious one must not deny themselves, with cranberry sauce, sweet and tangy, The two make a perfect pair. Baked sweet potatoes, some with cinnamon and gooey marshmallows so delicately roasted upon them. Should there be room for pie? One can not turn down the pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Of course, for comparison, one must try the sweet potato pie as well. Buttery bear paw bread made special for dipping into body warming rabbit stew, from Native American kitchens, is a must indeed. Please include candied fruit strips as well and popcorn balls made from sticky maple syrup. Oh, and peach pudding made from the freshest of peaches.

Such delicacies conjured up for this Thanksgiving feast very as do peoples taste, but the staples of life, such as these, are great indeed. One wonders, did the pilgrims have such a fine feast as is known to America today? What kinds of foods did the pilgrims and the Native Americans eat?

For a moment, let the mind travel backwards, to a time much different then our own. Wonder back to the 1600's and experience the foods the early European pilgrims would have experienced. Dinner time is calling.

Early pilgrims did not have access to the same foods they might have been accustomed to from Europe. Most food stocks brought overseas from Europe either were consumed, or like most food supplies, spoiled and ruined. Grains and flour would have been infested by rats, and what survived would not have lasted long upon arrival to the colonies. Food supplies would have been used for trade, either en route to the colonies, or once arriving. It was hoped, that upon landing, the colonies would be able to grow food themselves, from seeds brought with them for produce, but this was not to be the case. The climate and the land were far different from what early Europeans had known. Some early colonist who were not accustomed to work, refused to do so, thinking farming was beneath their station in life. Hording food supplies was not unusual in the colonies either.

The trip, too, was very long and difficult, with close courters, most of the time below decks so as

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>