Diane Sagers

CORRESPONDENT

Tomorrow's fare will include football, both on TV and touch or flag games on the lawn and in local parks. It includes shoulder rubbing with family and friends, possibly watching movies or playing games, but most traditional of all, Thanksgiving means "pass the turkey please."

Thanksgiving origins are as much legend as fact and like most legends the original story has changed through the centuries. It has developed a rosy hue along the way.

Thanksgiving is a holiday that commemorates a feast that the pilgrims shared with local Native Americans. The original Thanksgiving feast was actually one of many. The pilgrims designated days of thanksgiving from time to time as they celebrated the blessings of their God. The one they commemorated that autumn was a celebration of survival. They came to a new world arriving in December with only their provisions and some game to survive on. Half of the company died during the first winter of cold, disease and starvation. Most of the women died.

Their efforts at farming were less than stellar. Their harvest included six or seven acres of wheat, barley and peas that had failed. However, they had been introduced to corn and the corn harvest saved them. It doubled the weekly food ration from one peck of meal per person to a peck of meal and a peck of corn.

They knew the meaning of gratitude and set aside a time for a feast of Thanksgiving, actually a harvest festival. Today we enjoy the ease of electric and gas ranges and microwave ovens, and may spend the better part of a morning preparing a meal for family and guests. In 1621, three surviving pilgrim women, assisted by a servant and a few children, cooked outdoors over open fires for the 55 pilgrims and 90 natives. The feasting lasted for several days. The weather in Plymouth, Mass., is quite a bit like ours, so it was likely chilly or cold doing that cooking.

The Native Americans provided venison and wild game for the meal. There is no record of turkey, although it's possible. They had also discovered pumpkin by that time and probably used it in the meal, but it probably wasn't pie. They would have baked the pumpkins whole with a bit of molasses inside to sweeten them.

Cranberries grew in the area, but without sugar they are strong and bitter. They may have been used. Sweet potatoes would have been unavailable that far north. Indian corn and other native foods would have made up the remainder of the menu.

These native foods are a part of our everyday diet in the United States and they have found their way to acceptance in other parts of the world.

We still use many native foods in our Thanksgiving meals, although many of them were not served in 1621. Among those are cranberries, sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, beans, squash and pumpkins.

Native American Thanksgiving Foods

Long before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, Native Americans used cranberries to make pemmican -- a method of preserving meat for long periods. They also used them for medicines, poultices and dyes.

Sweet potatoes originated in tropical areas of the Americas, but today are widely grown across the Southern States in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and North and South Carolina. Texas and California also grow this plant.

Potatoes are something of a staple in the American diet. Perhaps their popularity lies in the low price and the bland flavor that lends itself to a wide array of presentations. At one time, potatoes were restricted to cooler climates, but new varieties have come out that will grow in almost any part of the world. Perhaps it also is because most soils will grow potatoes.

Corn probably originated from a serendipitous cross between two grasses and evolved from there. It has spread from the Americas to the world. Although there was a time in Europe when corn was considered animal food not fit for humans, it is now the most widely used food crop in the world. Consider some of its many uses besides its use as animal feed. Besides a common vegetable, it provides the bases for cornstarch, corn syrup, cornmeal, masa and cereals. The list extends to hundreds of uses, including some outside the food industry.

Squash is another crop that was widespread in use among the Native Americans by the time Europeans arrived here. Nearly all the canned pumpkin used in this country is grown for and processed by Libby Company. They have their own specific variety. It is not what we typically think of as a pumpkin, it is actually a squash with a very thick, meaty center. It is one of the exceptions to the packaging rules of the FDA and is allowed to be canned as pumpkin when technically it is a squash.

Beans may be consumed with the pods as in the case of snap beans and various other tender-pod beans or they may be dried and just the seeds eaten. This is the case with kidney, pinto, lima and other beans. They are the third vegetable in the legendary threesome planted together by the Native Americans. Corn, beans and squash were the staples of the native diet and were very quickly adopted by immigrants to this continent. All three types now grow in a wide range of varieties due to hybridization efforts.