What is Thanksgiving and the significance of traditional dishes

One of the most important festivals celebrated across the world, Thanksgiving is a major day of celebration for people living in the United States, Canada, Grenade, Saint Lucia and Liberia. It’s a day to celebrate the harvest and express gratitude to family and friends for the things that have happened over the past year. On this day, families gather together and enjoy elaborate meals. It is celebrated on different dates around the world. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November; while in Canada this festival is celebrated on the second Monday of October. This day is marked as a national holiday in the US and Canada and people enjoy a feast of food. (Images: istock)

It is believed that this day was founded as a religious observance for community members to say thanks to God for a common purpose. Some people also consider this day as a ‘National Day of Mourning’ for what happened before Plymouth. The real story behind this festival is that the pilgrims or the English Colonists of Plymouth enjoyed a good harvest in 1621. To honour the same, they planned an elaborate meal to give thanks to the almighty for the abundance of food. The pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe enjoyed this meal together (which lasted for 3 days) and that’s how the concept of Thanksgiving was born. It’s a day where two cultures came together, dined and made history for other people.

If you look at the history of Thanksgiving, you will realise that stews, poultry and seafood were part of the traditional feast in 1621 along with vegetables like corn, carrots, turnip and fruits - pumpkin, grapes and dried berries. However, over the years, people started making stuffed roasted turkey for their families along with pecan pie, pumpkin pie, stuffed bread, and mashed potatoes. The traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu may seem like what you get to eat on Christmas, but it's quite different. The turkey you get to eat on Thanksgiving is filled with cranberries and other fruits and then roasted to perfection.

If you look at the traditional menu of Thanksgiving dinner, you will realise that turkey is always there. The main reason behind this concept of eating turkey on Thanksgiving is that this bird is quite large in size. Owing to its size, the turkey meat could feed a large family easily. Also, turkey is very common to find in the state of Massachusetts, where this festival was first celebrated. Thus, roasted turkey was considered one of the traditional dishes for Thanksgiving dinner.

Along with this, the reason why pumpkin pie is made on this day is that this day is a symbol of the land as Americans grow squashes and pumpkins in abundance. This vegetable is also considered an affordable one for most people. Pumpkin Pie is particularly made to celebrate the good harvest and a fact which most people don’t know about is that Pumpkin Pie was made with the guidance of Native Americans, and thus considered an important dish to mark Thanksgiving dinner.

A staple for Thanksgiving dinner, Cornbread is one of the important parts of the Thanksgiving feast and the reason is quite simple. It is a wide-known fact that corn has been quite versatile and vital for European immigrants. The Native Americans taught the English colonists how to survive in the harsh winters and for the same, they made them understand the concept of grinding corn into a meal. The colonists used this technique to make various cakes, porridges and bread of course.