Give thanks for the all-American crops

Thanksgiving has an inseparable connection to food. As we sit down to our Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, it's fascinating to think about the influence Native-American foods had on the lives of the early Pilgrims — and on us today.

A new book titled "Botanica North America" is a fascinating volume by Marjorie Harris, Canada's foremost garden writer. It's a treatise on "our native plants, their botany, history and the way they have shaped our world."

With Thanksgiving upon us, one chapter holds special interest. In "The Three Sisters: Agriculture," Harris weaves an interesting story of how we got some of our more important garden plants — corn, squash and beans — by sharing their history, their effect on the lives of Native Americans and early settlers, and how these plants affect our lives today.

Most of us know little about the early agriculture in this country. Many assume the Hollywood stereotype of Native Americans fighting cowboys. The truth is actually much different, and many groups had highly developed agricultural enterprises.

According to Harris, "About 4,500 years ago there were vast plantings of the native sunflower, and the 'Three Sisters' — corn, squash and beans — had been introduced into the diets of the peoples living across North America."

These same plants are among the most popular plants in our gardens today. Add the edible plants from Central and South America, and it is easy to see why early settlers to this country embraced so many of these plants.

While we have no firsthand knowledge of all the foods that graced the Pilgrims' tables, we know that corn, the first sister, was a staple. Harris writes, "All North Americans are corn people, from the first peoples who learned how to nurture corn 1,000 years ago, to the first Pilgrims who were kept alive during the fearful winter of 1621 by a cache of Indian corn, to the modern-day city dweller enjoying the ritual of breakfast cornflakes."

While you might not serve corn at the Thanksgiving table, there are many recipes for cornbread stuffing. Corn is one of the most widely used products in our modern food industry. Corn sweeteners are in virtually all non-diet soft drinks, candies, frostings and baked goods. Many snack foods are also corn-based.

Oil, meal and animal feeds — including the feed for your Thanksgiving turkey — all come from corn. Sweet corn grows well in Utah gardens, and Utah farmers grow other types for the above-mentioned purposes.