Thanksgiving is a holiday all about food — and gratitude, of course — that creates sensory memories: rosemary-scented stuffing, a well of warm gravy threatening to spill out of its mashed potato seat, tart goops of cranberry sauce, triangles of pie and a massive bird at the center of it all.
But while we often know the short-term backstory of what’s on the table (“This cornbread is my aunt’s recipe” or “We started making this side when so-and-so became vegetarian”), the larger historical context behind what many consider the traditional Thanksgiving spread may be less top-of-mind.
And surprisingly different.
For instance, eels and shellfish were part of the typical diet of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, the Indigenous people in what is now the Northeast coastal region of the U.S. And, according to Smithsonian magazine, early gratitude festivities likely would have lacked pies (butter was scarce for pie crust) and both sweet and regular potatoes.
A history, not just of people, but of the planet, is on your plate!
Rebecca McLennan
As part of her scholarship, Rebecca McLennan, a UC Berkeley associate professor of history, has given deeper thought to what’s on ourThanksgiving plates today. McLennan’s research mainly focuses on the history of capitalism, the law and the environment in North America, but she’s also taught courses on food history and “foodways,” the study of the relationships between food and those who consume it.
The concept stretches far beyond cooking and eating, McLennan says; it also includes food production, food waste, our beliefs and rituals around food, and even what edible things a culture might consider “food.”
With Thanksgiving approaching this week, Berkeley News asked McLennan about the history of what we eat every November and how Americans’ relationship with their food has changed over the years we’ve been celebrating Thanksgiving.