Thanksgiving Foods from Native Americans

If all the foods Native Americans gave the Europeans were removed from our Thanksgiving table, what would we have left? Just salt and pepper? That's not far from the truth.

Let's look at just exactly how much food on our Thanksgiving table comes from Native Americans and other indigenous peoples. First of all, let's talk turkey. Turkeys were found as a domesticated species among Mexico's indigenous peoples in 1518 by Spanish explorers. Of course, there were also wild turkeys that could be found from Canada to Texas to Missouri. Yet it wasn't until 1613 that the Pilgrims wrote about turkeys and described them.

What's the first thing you think of when you think of turkey? Careful... we are talking about food here, not people. Stuffing! That's what is most closely associated with turkey - literally! Stuffing is made in all kinds of ways, so depending on how it's made, Native Americans may have had a lot or nothing to do with the stuffing you have at your Thanksgiving table.

If your stuffing is made of cornbread - well, there's the corn, a foodstuff from the Native Americans. Similarly, if you find oysters, apples, walnuts or cranberries in your mom's delicious stuffing, you are eating foods that Native Americans essentially put on your Thanksgiving table.

So, what do you think of next on your Thanksgiving table spread? In my mind, turkey and stuffing must have cranberry sauce to go with it. Cranberries, as well as blueberries, are native to this continent and were introduced to Europeans by the Native Americans in 1647. If you have never made cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries for your Thanksgiving table, absolutely try it this year! It is soooo yummy!

Now, this might a-maize you! Archaeologists estimate that corn has been grown in the Americas for at least 5,600 years! There are many different types and colors of corn, including popcorn, but one of the more unusual varieties of corn is blue corn. In northern Arizona the Hopi have grown the small ears of blue corn for thousands of years and still do today, relying solely on rainwater for irrigation - in a desert area - yet their blue corn crops thrive.

Will green beans, or better yet, green bean casserole, be on your Thanksgiving table this year? Well, guess what? That's courtesy of Native Americans, too. (Not the canned French fried onions - the green beans.) Green beans were always a part of the Thanksgiving table at my mom's house, and I imagine they were on many more Thanksgiving tables across the country.

Before Europeans came to the Americas, the only type of bean the Europeans knew was the broad bean. Native Americans introduced Europeans to green, string, snap, kidney and lima beans. Beans were grown for six thousand years in the Americas, well before Europeans "discovered" America. Europeans found Native Americans cultivating "The Three Sisters" - corn, beans and squash - planting them all together. This practice is still in use today by many Native Americans.

My mother always prepares both mashed potatoes and candied sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving table. Native Americans cultivated both types of potatoes, further extending our list of Thanksgiving food the Native Americans put on our Thanksgiving table. While yams originated in Africa and Asia, sweet potatoes were domesticated by indigenous people in South America over 5,000 years ago. In 1760, the French found the Opelousas Indian tribe in Louisiana eating and cultivating sweet potatoes, and to this day, Southern cooking makes heavy use of the sweet potato.

Many people think regular potatoes come from Ireland. In actuality, potatoes came from South American Indians in Peru and spread northward. They were brought to Europe in 1536. The Great Irish Potato Famine didn't happen until 1845. Had Native Americans not introduced the potato to Europeans, we might be living in a world with no French fries, no hash browns, no baked potatoes, no mashed potatoes and, tragically, no Mr. Potato Head!

Let's see - potato, tomato - oh yes, that's right! It's right there, in your Thanksgiving salad!

Tomatoes originated in Peru and are actually a fruit, not a vegetable. They are rich in vitamin C and would have cured some of those early sailors' cases of scurvy. Tomatoes possibly grew wild until they reached Mexico, where they were widely cultivated. Tomatoes were first recorded in Europe (Italy) in 1544.

However, it was not until the early 1800s - nearly 300 years later - that the English were recorded eating tomatoes. The tomato resembled the deadly nightshade, and the English thought tomatoes were poisonous. As the story goes, Colonel Robert Gibbon announced that he would eat an entire bushel of tomatoes (thus the origin of the food-eating contest). In front of the Boston courthouse on a fall afternoon in 1820, thousands gathered to watch the Colonel commit suicide by tomato and were shocked when all he got was a bit of a tummy ache. Soon after, English men and women were eating the succulent tomato with great relish.

It is horrible to think of a world without chocolate. Except for the Mayas' and Aztecs' generous gift of the knowledge of the cacao tree, we might be a chocolate-less world. Use of cacao, from which chocolate is derived, stretches back over 4,000 years, and was also used as a form of currency. (I'll see your cocoa bean and raise you two!)

Chocolate even figured into the Mayan religion as a divine drink. You may think that's a bit far-fetched, but once the Spanish "discovered" chocolate, Spanish ladies had the beverage served during mass! In fact, once the Spanish found out just how divine a chocolate drink can be, they decided to keep this delectable secret to themselves.

Ah, but a sneaky French chef can find out anything. Once the French "discovered" chocolate, they themselves could not keep the secret. The story leaked out to England, where a creative Englishman figured out a way to make solid chocolate in the form of rolls and cake. Before that, cocoa had been just a drink with water, spices, vanilla, and chili peppers - food ingredients that again, were all courtesy of the indigenous peoples.

Last but not least - pumpkin pie! Ah, the delicious smells of pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice (the spices were from Native Americans too) baking on Thanksgiving Day! Although many things can be made of pumpkin, pie is perhaps pumpkin's crowning glory.

Archaeologists have found pumpkin seeds dating back over 5500 years. America's first settlers used pumpkin as a staple in their diets, just as the Native Americans did. Native Americans showed the settlers how to roast strips of pumpkin flesh over the fire. Pumpkins were also used in desserts, stews, and soups. Pumpkin pie itself originated when a Pilgrim cut off the top of a pumpkin, scooped it out, filled the insides with milk, spices, and honey, and then baked it. Voilà! America's first pumpkin pie!

Let's see, what's left on our Thanksgiving table after we take off all the foods Native Americans gave us? We now have no turkey, just bland stuffing, no cranberry sauce, no corn, no green beans, no mashed or candied potatoes, no tomatoes, no chocolate, and no pumpkin pie... Hmm, I guess we don't have much left besides the salt and pepper after all!

Enjoy the feast on your Thanksgiving table this year - and remember the gifts from the Native Americans!