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On Thanksgiving, enjoying the bounty of foods native to the New World

NewDealdemocrat | November 23, 2023 11:26 am

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US Economics

On Thanksgiving, enjoying the bounty of foods native to the New World

– by New Deal democrat

Happy Thanksgiving to all readers of this old-fashioned blog.

One little fact I did not know until this year is that, with just a couple of exceptions, all of the foods that we traditionally put on the table for Thanksgiving dinner all are native to the New World:, including:

Turkey

Cranberries

Squash

Cornbread

Potatoes

Green beans

Pecans

Pumpkins

So, part of the theme of Thanksgiving is enjoying the cornucopia of plenty that the New World provided to us.

Only bread stuffing and pie shells made from wheat are not native.

Some people might also make use of cashews, peanuts, tomatoes, peppers, and/or chili peppers, all of which are also native to the New World.

And that doesn’t even include vanilla and chocolate, both of which are celebrated on the other 394 days of the year as well!

5 Comments

Eric377 says:

November 24, 2023 at 8:59 am

When do you take your bonus month? I usually take it between end of July and beginning of August.
Ten Bears says:

November 24, 2023 at 9:51 am

Jack Weatherford published a couple of real good books about ‘new world’ foods and their impact on the rest of the world. It is credibly argued the importation of these foods in fact marked start of the industrial revolution, and all that that has led to

Closer to home, anthropologically the world didn’t seem to have a problem with ‘alcoholism’ until we started distilling vodka out of potatoes, a new world import …
Fred C. Dobbs says:

November 24, 2023 at 10:17 pm

Turkeys were a marvel of conservation. Now their numbers are dwindling

NY Times – Nov 23

When researchers started trapping and putting radio trackers on female turkeys in the thick woods of southeast Oklahoma, they hoped to learn how hens were successfully raising their young.

Two years into that study, there is a complication: None of those 60 or so turkeys are known to have hatched offspring that lived more than a few weeks, a microcosm of a much larger problem.

Wild turkeys were a 20th-century conservation triumph. After the birds dwindled or vanished across much of their ancestral range, decades of work helped reestablish healthy populations. As they multiplied, turkeys became a favorite target for hunters and a frequent sight along roadways, spreading beyond the countryside and into suburban yards, city parks, and college campuses.

But over the last 10 or 15 years, wild turkeys have fallen into significant decline throughout the South and Midwest. As it became clear that there were sustained losses across many states, turkey enthusiasts grew worried, scientists started studies, and some states curbed hunting. Just this year, Kansas and Mississippi suspended fall turkey hunting seasons, and Oklahoma legislators held a hearing on the decline. …

(Not so around heah. Wild turkeys abound, as plentiful as ever. Various flocks wandering the neighborhood. Anywhere from 4-5 to 10-15 in each. Feeding on acorns, most likely.)
- Fred C. Dobbs says:
  
  November 25, 2023 at 8:49 am
  
  Massachusetts Wild Turkey Hunting regs
  
  In 2022, across the state, 2837 wild turkeys were ‘taken’ in the spring, and 230 in the fall, it is said.
- Bill Haskell says:
  
  November 25, 2023 at 10:46 am
  
  Fred:
  
  Same in Michigan where I lived for 20-something years. Flocks of them.