Every Thanksgiving, we take time as individuals, families, and as a nation to reflect on what we’re grateful for. This year, I propose three things:
Stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce.
Now, you might think I mean we should be thankful for food in general. And it’s true that we should! But I’m referring specifically to those three traditional Thanksgiving staples. You see, I’ve often wondered why we eat cranberries on Thanksgiving. Why gravy is so ubiquitous on dinner tables around the country. Why we prepare stuffing, either inside the bird or out of it. So, I decided to find out! And what I learned made me realize what I really have to be thankful for — this year and every year.
Let’s break them down one by one.
Where did stuffing come from?
As you know, early Americans didn’t have the modern ovens, stoves, and microwaves we have today. They had one source of heat: fire. And if you were roasting poultry or pork on a spit, the process could take hours, making it nearly impossible to cook side dishes at the same time.
Unless you cooked the sides in the bird.
That’s how stuffing was invented. It was a smart way to do more with less. And because stuffing would mix with the fat and juices of the meat, it not only tasted better, but provided more calories, too. And in those days, people needed all the calories possible. So, in a way, stuffing didn’t just taste great and save time…it saved lives!
Why gravy?
For many people, gravy is the thing they look forward to most on Thanksgiving. It livens up mashed potatoes and makes instant stuffing far more flavorful. But the origins of gravy are far older than either.
Culinary historians have traced the invention of gravy to at least the Middle Ages. Back then, most people in Europe had to hunt, gather, or farm whatever they wanted to eat. The work was hard, winters were long, and the growing season short. Famine was a never-ending threat.
That meant wasting food simply wasn’t an option.
Typically, every part of an animal would be used in some sort of meal. But as any kid will tell you, just because something is edible doesn’t mean you want to eat it! Enter gravy. When roasting meat, people would collect the juices in a pan and mix it with salt and other ingredients. Later on, cooks began to mix the juices with flour to thicken it into the kind of gravy we know today. But thick or thin, gravy was a critical way to ensure everything that could be eaten, would be eaten. So that parents and their children could live longer, healthier lives.
What’s up with cranberry sauce?
Cranberries probably didn’t feature in that legendary first Thanksgiving in Plymouth back in 1621. But they had already played a vital role in another, earlier feast in 1606. In November of that year, a thanksgiving feast was held by the inhabitants of Port-Royal in modern-day Nova Scotia. This was far more than just a standard celebration. For the settlers, the feast was a matter of pure survival. The previous year, many had died of scurvy.
Thankfully for the settlers, the local Mi’kmaq people showed them which foods would get them through the winter. The most important were cranberries, which are high in Vitamin C. (Today, we know that Vitamin C is the key to preventing scurvy.) With this knowledge, the town held a series of feasts to make the settlers as healthy as possible before the cold set in. At the most famous of these feasts, in 1606, many of the neighboring Mi’kmaq people were invited to join in. From there, knowledge of the fruit spread throughout the region, gradually making cranberries the Thanksgiving fixture they are today.
Have you spotted what these three holiday favorites have in common?
While today we eat them because we like them, or out of tradition, they were all invented for a single reason: Out of necessity. Our ancestors developed them to solve specific problems — and to stay alive.
Today, those three foods show us exactly why Thanksgiving is so important now.
These days, most of us will never have to worry about scurvy. We don’t need to stress about eating every part of an animal. We can cook a variety of foods all at once in just minutes. Advancements in food production, nutrition, medicine, construction, electricity, and a hundred other areas have created a world where we can expect to live well into our golden years…and ensure our children live on after us. And that, to me, is worth celebrating.
When we compare our lives and lifestyles with those of our ancestors, we realize just how much we have to be thankful for. Family and friends. Health and vitality. Comfort and ease. Choice and variety. While it’s easy to take these things for granted, truly pondering them on Thanksgiving makes us realize just how valuable they really are. Because many of our ancestors didn’t have them to the extent that we do. Because our ancestors knew those things could vanish in an instant.
So, this Thanksgiving, let’s all spare a thought for the food that’s on our table. For the work and ingenuity necessary to create it. For the problems our society has solved and the progress we’ve made. Let’s spare a thought for those who came before us…so we can recognize all the things that have come after. So that we can truly cherish the things we have now.
Stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. When you really think about it, they’re not just traditions, are they? They’re miracles.
And miracles are something for which we can all be thankful.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Antoine