Food plays an integral, wonderful, and sometimes complicated role in our Thanksgiving celebrations. Do peas deserve an honored place in mashed potatoes? How did marshmallows make their way onto the Thanksgiving platter? Who actually likes turkey anyway, isn’t that dry white meat just an excuse to eat gravy?
As you ready yourself to enjoy whatever you find on your Thanksgiving plate today, we hope you feel more educated after consuming these fun Thanksgiving facts!
- Fish, Not Turkey: While turkey is now a staple, historians debate whether turkey was served at the first Thanksgiving at all. It likely included venison, fish, and native crops like corn, squash, and beans.
- TV Dinners: The Swanson company popularized frozen dinners in the 1950s after repurposing leftover Thanksgiving turkeys.
- Old School No Crust Pumpkin Pie: Early pumpkin pies were not like today’s version; they involved hollowing out a pumpkin and filling it with milk, spices, and honey before roasting.
- A More Respectable Bird: Benjamin Franklin once suggested that the turkey, not the bald eagle, should be the national bird of the United States because he considered it “a more respectable bird.”
- Marshmallow Debate: Arguments over the propriety of marshmallows on the top of sweet potatoes didn’t begin until the early 1900s when a marshmallow company published recipes to encourage using their product.
So whether there are peas in your mashed potatoes today, and those mashed potatoes are sitting alongside fish, venison, or some turkey slathered in gravy, we want to wish you a Thanksgiving celebration full of gratitude.
God has not left us without a table full of reasons to be thankful today, and at the top of that list is you. We couldn’t do this without you — your support and prayers are a true blessing. Thank you for being such an important part of this mission and helping us build godly men of today and tomorrow!”
Happy Thanksgiving from our families to yours,
Christian Service Brigade
