2. According to what traditionally is known as "The First Thanksgiving," the 1621
feast contained ham, lobster, berries, fruit, pumpkin .Many of the foods that
were included in the first feast have since gone on to become staples of the
modern Thanksgiving dinner.
3. A Thanksgiving Day dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935
included: pickles, green olives, celery, roast turkey, oyster stew, cranberry sauce,
giblet gravy, dressing, creamed asparagus tips, snowflake potatoes, baked carrots,
hot rolls, fruit salad, mince meat pie, fruit cake, candies, grapes, apples, clams, fish,
and many other food harvests. French drip coffee and cigarettes.
4. The use of the turkey in the US for Thanksgiving precedes Lincoln's
nationalization of the holiday in 1863. By 1857, turkey had become part of
the traditional dinner in New England.
5. The White House Cook Book, 1887, by Mrs. F.L. Gillette, et al., had the following
menu: oysters on half shell, cream of chicken soup, fried smelts, sauce tartare, roast
turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, baked squash, boiled onions, parsnip
fritters, olives, chicken salad, venison pastry, pumpkin pie, mince pie, Charlotte
russe, almond ice cream, lemon jelly, hickory nut cake, cheese, fruits and coffee.
6. In 1947, as part of a voluntary rationing campaign, the Harry Truman
Administration attempted to promote "Poultryless Thursdays," discouraging
Americans from eating poultry or egg products on Thursdays. Because
Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday, this meant that turkey and pumpkin pie,
two Thanksgiving staples, were forbidden, not only for that holiday, but for
Christmas and New Year's Day as well, since those holidays landed on Thursday
in 1947. (Pumpkin pie was forbidden because it contained eggs.) The National
Poultry and Egg Board furiously lobbied the President to cease promoting the
plan; it culminated in a truce at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation
shortly before Thanksgiving. Turkey was no longer forbidden, but Eggless
Thursdays remained for the rest of the year, meaning no pumpkin pie was served
at the White House dinner that year.
