The Origins of Massachusetts Foods and Why it Matters
The most famous feast in American history occurred in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621.
After surviving a harsh winter in the new world, a band of English “Pilgrims” met with their Wampanoag neighbors to celebrate the harvest. Today, the three day event is associated with the Thanksgiving tradition.
The menu has not survived but we might imagine the possibilities: turkey (probably), cranberry sauce (cranberries perhaps but not sugary sauce), mashed potatoes (although native to South America potatoes were brought to Massachusetts later by English colonists), pumpkin pie (native pumpkin dishes but not pie), apple pie (not in 1621 – with the exception of crabapples, apples were an old world fruit.) Perhaps venison would not be on everyone’s list. Deer meat, taken by Wampanoag hunters, might have been the main course.
Historians call the colonial era movement of plants, animals, people, and diseases the “Columbian Exchange.” We live with its consequences, positive and negative, to this day. In Massachusetts, a similar process unfolded as English settlers came into contact with native people. This exhibit explores that exchange, focusing on food, ecological changes, and the pleasant culinary legacy from that distant and turbulent time.
We cannot undo the painful consequences of these early contacts but can reflect that, with food as with other things, America has been enriched by a blending of cultures.