With Thanksgiving on the 23rd, everyone across the country is getting ready for the feasting that comes with the holiday. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the pilgrims in 1621, and in the last 402 years, it has come a long way. Many foods are associated with Thanksgiving, such as turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, pies, and other vegetables. When people think of Thanksgiving, these foods usually are pictured in their minds. This article will explain the history of these foods and where they originated from. 

To start, meats like turkey and ham have been around for hundreds of years. Turkey, along with other game animals like deer, duck, and goose were the first animals eaten at Thanksgiving. Turkey became a traditional Thanksgiving food in 1857, after being a popular food item during the 1800s. Ham, on the other hand, does not have a recorded time becoming a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but people have been eating ham on Thanksgiving for centuries as well.

Next, vegetables like green beans, corn, peas, and pumpkin have also been a Thanksgiving custom for hundreds of years. At the very first Thanksgiving, corn was used because that was what the Pilgrims and Native Americans harvested. Pumpkins were also at the first Thanksgiving, along with other similar foods like squashes. Although pumpkins were made into pies like we see in our Thanksgiving now, they were cooked and eaten on the first Thanksgiving. Other popular dishes like potatoes, including mashed and sweet potatoes, were surprisingly not introduced until the mid-18th century and late 19th century. 

In 1937, a Thanksgiving dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps included hot rolls, which was the first time hot rolls were documented on Thanksgiving. This specific serving also included things like fruit salad, cranberry sauce, fruitcake, and other miscellaneous foods. 

Looking back at the first Thanksgiving, you can see that a lot has changed. From the type of foods we eat to having new foods introduced, we as Americans have come a long way from when the Pilgrims and Native Americans first met.