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First and foremost we must say that only about half of the Pilgrims did survive the first winter. Starvation and disease were the order of the day. At one point it got so bad that there were around 10 people healthy enough to care for the Pilgrims that were too sick to take care of themselves. Their devout belief in God probably carried the few that did survive through the winter. After all the hardships they had gone through to get to the New World, just giving up was not a option for many.

Although due to the various hardships involved, and the amount was small, they did land with some of the food that they brought with them from across the ocean. It would not have lasted very long, but at least it was something during the first part of the winter.

While food was in short supply, the winter does still have food available. They would send out hunting parties to find food. While it is not abundant in the winter it is there. When you are starving to death a duck is a god sent gift, not to mention a deer. They hunted all kinds of birds that remained in the area during the winter. You could find the occasional wild turkey, goose or swan. It may seem strange to us today to eat a stately swan, but when you are watching your children starve before your eyes, you are not picky. Various species of ducks and water fowl would have been in the area.

On land you had the omnipresent deer. With the rivers and lakes, although it may be difficult to do, you can trap or hunt beaver. Most of the animals that they found early in the winter would have a high content of body fat stored up. This, while unhealthy by the standards of today, would have been life sustaining. There was also all kinds of small game. It may take many of them to add up to a meal for the colony, but there were squirrels and rabbits running around all over the place.

Because they were close to the ocean they would harvest what they could. Cod, bass and other fish. Lobsters and crabs are thick in the waters off the coast of New England. Especially back then before the commercial fishing industry developed. Clams and other mollusks could be found. It was documented in a diary that a certain kind of mollusk was found and eaten with gusto. As it turned out, this particular species did not agree with the Pilgrims digestive system and they paid the price. The same price we all know today associated with food poisoning, it becomes a little more serious when you are starving to death.

Due to the fact that they were literally starving to death it was not uncommon to make soups (if you want to call it that) out of grasses and tree bark. There is some evidence that they would boil the leather from their clothing. This may seem strange, but it was made from leather which translates to animal skin.

Another source of food that is often over looked in history because of the way it was achieved. The Pilgrims found several Native American burial sites. From these they found maize and dried beans. While they used most of these as seed for the upcoming spring (a testament to discipline in itself) they did eat part of it. The fact that they are stealing what was considered offerings for the afterlife of the Native American, didn't make for really good relations with the locals from the start.

The Pilgrims may have had some help from the natives, but most of the locals watched from the distance. Even at this early date they had already had unpleasant experiences with the "white man".

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