Thankgiving Primer - Authentic Pilgrim Feast

Years ago I had a great idea - prepare a Thanksgiving dinner like they ate at the first Pilgrim Thanksgiving feast. So to help me be truly authentic I bought The Thanksgiving Primer: A complete guide to re-creating the first harvest festival for your family, friends or church.

After reading The Thanksgiving Primer and thinking about an "authentic" Pilgrim dinner, I decided I couldn't do it. Why would you replace carrot casserole with "boile onions" or pumpkin pie and Cool Whip with prune tart? It wouldn't be Thanksgiving with those strange foods!

So all these years later (about 10), I've never used the recipes in this book. And I don't plan to start this year! But, it's not a total loss. The book gives detailed descriptions of Pilgrim clothing and discusses games the Pilgrim children played. Those are the parts of the book we're focusing on this year.

Playing marbles and the Pilgrim version of musical chairs just sounds more fun than eating seethed fish!

How authentic is your Thanksgiving dinner? Is it more like Norman Rockwell or the Pilgrims?

Be sure to like Stephanie's Mommy Brain on Facebook where I'm sharing more Thanksgiving tips and links throughout November. 

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