The familiar image of Pilgrims and Indians feasting on turkey for that first Thanksgiving is now believed to be a myth. Turkeys did not become customary Thanksgiving fare until the 1860s.
Our debt to the American Indian is great. Many foods and classic American dishes are of American Indian origin. It was the Indian who gave us the tomato and the potato.
American Indians from five distinct areas gave us foods and recipes we still use today:
From the Southwest, the Pueblos, Papago and Hopi grew peppers and beans, which they transformed into chili, soups, salads and barbecue sauces.
From the Northwest, the Tlingit, Kwakiutl and Salish tribes steamed, broiled and simmered seafood from the Pacific.
From the vast Plains, the Dakota and Cheyenne Indians roasted buffalo.
From the South, the Powhatan and Cherokee tribes became famous for their soups, stews and corn bread.
From the East, the Narragansett, Penobscot and Iroquois steamed dinners in earthen pits, creating the first clambakes.
More than half the foods we eat today are foods the Indians cultivated: avocados, sweet potatoes, pineapples, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, pumpkin, squash and corn.
In "Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking" (1992, recipes that demonstrate how the foods of yesteryear have a place on today's table.
From that cookbook comes this menu, which would have pleased Indian and Pilgrim alike, as well as their 21st-century descendants: