Famous Feasts in History The First Thanksgiving Dinner

About the famous feasts of the first Thanksgiving dinner between the Indians and pilgrims, history, menu, and description.

FABULOUS FEASTS THROUGHOUT HISTORY

The Occasion: The first Thanksgiving dinner, America, Plymouth Colony, 1621.

The Host: The Pilgrims, who played host to Chief Massasoit and 91 other Wampanoag Indians at a feast to give thanks to God for the settlers' survival.

The Menu: Venison stew cooked over an outdoor fire; spit-roasted wild turkeys stuffed with corn bread; oysters baked in their shells; sweet corn baked in its husks; pumpkin baked in a bag and flavored with maple syrup. The food was served on large wooden serving platters called trenchers, and each diner had a smaller trencher of his own (hence the word trencherman, meaning a hearty eater).

Table Talk: After the Pilgrims and their guests had finished, Chief Massasoit's brother Quadequina disappeared into the woods and returned with a bushel of popped popcorn, which the colonists had never tasted before.