From Deseret News archives:

The first Thanksgiving: Today's fare is a far cry from the 1621 celebration

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 11:26 a.m. MST
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PLYMOUTH, Mass.— The Thanksgiving dinner you'll eat tomorrow is a far cry from the actual feast eaten by the Pilgrims and Indians in 1621.

Pumpkin? Probably.

Roast turkey? Maybe.

Mussels? Right.

There are a few things historians are pretty sure of: There were no mashed potatoes, apple pies or TV football games.

At the Plimoth Plantation, a historic replica of the first New England settlement about an hour's drive from Boston, visitors can have a "real" Thanksgiving feast based on what researchers surmise was really served. The living history museum (spelled "Plimoth" the way the first settlers did) puts a more politically correct spin on the event.

Instead of the usual praise for the Pilgrims, it also gives the point of view of the Wampanoag Indians, whose descendants aren't so thankful that white men invaded their homeland. (Since 1970, some Native Americans meet at the statue of Chief Massasoit on Thanksgiving Day for a national day of mourning.)

In October, a group of food journalists traveled to Plimoth and shared in an authentic Thanksgiving dinner, served by the plantation's interpreters, who dressed and acted the part of colonists from the 1620s.

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The menu: roast goose, roast duck, venison sobaheg (stew), mussels, stewed pompion (pumpkin), a pottage of cabbage and leeks, nasaump (dried corn pounded and boiled with clam broth and dried berries), corn pudding and "burnt" wine or water. (After sampling it, some diners expressed thanks for the modern-day version that their palates are more accustomed to.)

Plimoth historians say the only real description of the feast between the Pilgrims and Indians in 1621 comes from a lone paragraph in a letter from colonist Edward Winslow. It reads:

"Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a 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. 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 the brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of plenty."

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Image
Plimoth Plantation

Costumed interpreter portraying an English housewife prepares a goose and mussels to serve at the harvest celebration.

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