When you're eating cranberry sauce today - the one day a year when it seems like a good idea - know this about the Pilgrims. Yes, they had cranberries. No, they didn't have sugar. I, for one, can't imagine cranberry sauce without a sweetener.
There's more. Turkey wasn't the only fowl the Pilgrims ate - they also cooked cranes, partridges and, believe it or not, eagles. The History Channel, in conjunction with food historians, put together this list of food that was likely on the menu in 1621, at the first Thanksgiving:
Same thing the pilgrims ate.
The Indians.
During the first Thanksgiving, pilgrims ate Indian corn, wild turkey, and corn bread. Thanksgiving was held as a way of thanking the Native Americans that gave them food and help them live.
buffalo chips
The Pilgrims and the Indians
The pilgrims ate maize, barley, wild goose, duck, rabbit, and pumpkin
they ate buffalo meat
The pilgrims ate fowl, but it is uncertain as to whether it was turkey. They also ate lobster and deer that the Indians brought to the feast.
The Turkey is an important part of the Thanksgiving tradition because according to the legend of the Pilgrims and Indians they shared turkey in a several day fest to thank the Indians for helping them plant crop and harvest for winter. Whether the Pilgrims and Indians actually ate turkey is not known. It is possible that they did because Turkey would be redilly abundant in the east US but this isn't a certainty. However, Turkey is a food that is abundant in the US and is large and can feed many people, this is probably why Turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving.
The first tribe of Indians that celebrated with the pilgrims were the Wampanoga Indians they Ate for 3 days and taught the pilgrims many lessons
The pilgrims ate fowl, but it is uncertain as to whether it was turkey. They also ate lobster and deer that the Indians brought to the feast.
The Wampanog tribe ate the first Thanksgiving meal with the pilgrims.