Tomorrow, we celebrate a day that fills bellies all around the country, Thanksgiving. The holiday is a day meant to signify giving thanks and showing appreciation for all important things in our life. The day is also a day in which we simply gather with friends and family and enjoy a large, delicious meal together! The table is commonly filled with many universal foods that are eaten by most families, across cultures and regions. There are some exceptions to this rule in which some foods are specific to culture and region, but there is often still some sort of crossover.
With that said, surprisingly most of these foods were not even on the table at the first Thanksgiving. The first Thanksgiving was far more limited to regionally sourced foods that they hunted/caught/grew themselves. On their table, it is believed that they had a main entrée of lobster, seal, and swans. So where do our modern Thanksgiving dish traditions come from? Well, that differs dish to dish!
Turkey
The turkey is probably the biggest, most popular, and most identifiable part of a Thanksgiving table. The turkey has even become a symbol for the day, often being seen in decorations. It also has worked its way into our traditions with the annual Presidential Turkey Pardoning. The origin of this Thanksgiving icon is a bit unknown unfortunately. Some say it was featured on the first Thanksgiving table as one of the entrees, while others say it was not and eventually worked its way onto our tables.
Stuffing
This dish actually can be traced back to the ancient Roman empire. Historians have found ancient documents displaying what appears to be a recipe for a stuffing-like dish. This dish grew in popularity and solidified itself as a Thanksgiving classic in the 1800s.
Mashed Potatoes
This dish is one of the few that we know was not on the original Thanksgiving table, and that is because it was not a dish that existed yet! The creamy pile of potatoes was first written about in a recipe book written in the mid-1700s. The book was written by an English woman, Hannah Glasse, who titled the cookbook The Art of Cookery. If you are a lover of mashed potatoes, you have Hannah to thank for them!
Sweet Potatoes
This food comes in a few different dishes on the Thanksgiving table. Sometimes you will see mashed sweet potato, candied sweet potatoes, and even a sweet potato casserole. Sometime in the late 1800s, a sweet potato dish became commonplace for a Thanksgiving table. However, in 1917, marshmallows were first used on the dish. The marketing team at Angelus Marshmallows had a recipe book developed, which included a mashed sweet potato dish topped with marshmallows.