Turkey wasn’t always the star of the Thanksgiving table!
Here’s why we eat it today.
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“Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?”
Photo:VeselovaElena/Getty Images
is a question many of us ask amid the fixings and trimmings.
Turkey wasnt always at the heart of the holiday table.
The “First Thanksgiving” Didn’t Feature Turkey
At least, turkey wasn’t the centerpiece.
As for other foods, corn, roots, berries, and seafood likely rounded out the menu.
North American turkeys served from the 1700s up to the 1900s were wild fowl, Albala points out.
The presentation on some tables was also quite different from what we’re used to today.
Meaning colonial settlers were used to seeing a whole, feathered turkey sticking out of a pie.
Before that, Thanksgiving had been an unofficial New England holiday.
Turkey was often served as part of celebratory feasts because it was cheap, plentiful, and big.
(Apparently, a feathered bird was no longer in fashion by this time!)
But the rest of our Thanksgiving table is evolving.
Although the traditional parts are often there, people add dishes from their own background, Albala says.
(Take a look at some of ourdelicious side dish ideas.)
