Just an ordinary day...

Who ever said that turkey had to be involved in order to make Thanksgiving special? It's crazy how many have their own traditions for holidays, but yet, turkey still seems to be the first thing associated with many holidays (at least in the US).

I had thought that I read before that there was a myth about what the "Pilgrims" ate at the first Thanksgiving. And since I've been studying this time period in my 5th grade Reading class this past week, I decided to do a bit of research. Here is what I could find:

Myth #9: The Pilgrims and Indians feasted on turkey, potatoes, berries, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and popcorn.

Fact: Both written and oral evidence show that what was actually consumed at the harvest festival in 1621 included venison (since Massasoit and his people brought five deer), wild fowl, and quite possibly nasaump—dried corn pounded and boiled into a thick porridge, and pompion—cooked, mashed pumpkin. Among the other food that would have been available, fresh fruits such as plums, grapes, berries and melons would have been out of season. It would have been too cold to dig for clams or fish for eels or small fish. There were no boats to fish for lobsters in rough water that was about 60 fathoms deep. There was not enough of the barley crop to make a batch of beer, nor was there a wheat crop. Potatoes and sweet potatoes didn’t get from the south up to New England until the 18th century, nor did sweet corn. Cranberries would have been too tart to eat without sugar to sweeten them, and that’s probably why they wouldn’t have had pumpkin pie, either. Since the corn of the time could not be successfully popped, there was no popcorn.

While none of this is actually quite important, it just goes to show, that you really do not need turkey on Thanksgiving....or pumpkin pie for that matter.

There is definitely a lack of turkey here in Korea, and after working 10.5 hours, and spending an hour at the gym- I feasted on roasted chicken and rice and beef curry from Costco... It was delicious. I didn't have to cook or worry about a messy clean up afterwards. While my Thanksgiving this year was anything but traditional, it was still special. In ten years from now, I can look back and remember that I spent 2 totally different Thanksgiving days here in Korea. And to me, that is more important than eating a pile of turkey.

Happy Thanksgiving!