How did our favorite food holiday, Thanksgiving, get its start?
by lynne | Friday, November 20th, 2009
How we often end up choosing what videos to shoot is by asking ourselves what we’d like to know. The History of Thanksgiving was one of those videos. We are based in Massachusetts and all of us had a feeling that turkey was not at the first Thanksgiving. But what did the first settlers in the new world eat? We thought perhaps a lot of seafood – clams, quahogs, oysters, lobster. It’s not exactly clear but it appears that venison was the entree of choice. I wouldn’t mind that either frankly. So when did the turkey-centered Thanksgiving we now celebrate come about? Well I don’t want to steel our hero’s thunder so I’ll let you watch Kathleen Wall, Colonial Foodways Culinarian at Plimoth Plantation, share her knowledge with you. Watch this fascinating video.
Another thing we were pretty curious about were the turkeys themselves. We only see them in shrinkwrap a the supermarket. We wanted to know more. How are they raised? What do they really look like close up and running around? So once gain, we found a hero who could enlighten us. The most interesting we learned involved herding. Enjoy this scenic Turkey Farm video with Walter Gowey.
As I’m sure you do, we all love this holiday and all the wonderful possibilities that can be part of your Thanksgiving spread. We hope that you enjoy all the Thanksgiving how-to videos and recipes that we have created to help inspire you. If you haven’t had a look yet, please visit our Thanksgiving section for recipes that cover the perfect turkey, a variety of stuffings, sides, desserts and of course a plenthora of pies and some terrific ideas for your leftovers.
Best wishes to you and your families and let us know what you’d like to see on the site for the holidays! Cheers.