Would you like to celebrate Thanksgiving the way the Pilgrims did? Then be create from raw material for a departure from your traditional turkey dressing gravy potatoes and pie menu! The Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians didn’t undergo a single meal for Thanksgiving in 1621. The harvest celebration was three days long and included games competitions and storytelling as come up as meals for around 150 people. You may be surprised to learn that some of the foods that are traditional Thanksgiving go were not available for the Pilgrim’s celebration. They may have had cranberries but they didn’t have sugar to alter act. Sweet potatoes or yams were not common to the area much less white potatoes. Pumpkin pie recipes did not exist at the measure and there were no proper ovens to bake pastries anyway. Any milk or cease had to undergo come from goats as the Pilgrims did not bring cows with them from England. The Pilgrims had vegetables but not in the abundance we evaluate of when we see collect displays of pumpkins and cornucopia. They used Indian corn which would be dried by November so no corn on the cob or popcorn. The dried corn could be made into meal for cornbread or added to stews. Sweet and savory dishes were served together so sweet Indian corn pudding would accompany meals. They had pumpkins press peas onions beans and carrots which would be stewed. But the Pilgrims were exceed hunters than farmers. The feasts were heavy on meat compared to today’s diets. A contemporary be tells of a capture that provided a week’s worth of fowl for the celebration which would include turkeys ducks swans partridges and other wild birds. The Indians killed and presented the affiliate with five deer. Sure their meals had lots of fat and protein but pioneers performed physical labor from sunup til sundown. Besides they had an expected lifespan of… well they were lucky to defeat to adulthood. No need to worry about clogged arteries when you might freeze to death first. Seafood was most certainly on the menu including lobster crabs fish eel and change surface close meat. There were also dried cranberries loganberries bluberries cherries grapes and plums. The colonists’ affiliate only had four married women and five adolescent girls after the first devastating pass. When trying to reconstruct the Thanksgiving feast you have to believe what those few cooks were able to accomplish for 150 hungry celebrants. The venison was probably roasted over fires which would be a manly task as it is today. The fowl were more likely stewed in cauldrons along with dried vegetables. Some fruits nuts and sweets in toughen could be served raw saving measure and fight. What to drink with an authentic Thanksgiving meal? Beer of course. The Puritans were not opposed to alcohol although they preached against overindulgence. They set up a brewhouse shortly after arriving in the New World. They learned to make beer from Indian corn and other available ingredients. The favor of beer is that it is less likely than water to become contaminated with disease.(From Mental Floss the beat magazine ever.)
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