Take Back Thanksgiving!
It's that time of year again in the U.S. when people head out to the grocery store to peruse the food and vegetable isles conjuring up new recipes to make for the coming Thanksgiving feast. However, what most people don't think about is the number of miles it took for that turkey or that squash took to get to their shopping cart.
I just came across this great website called the 100 Mile Diet (100milediet.org) which was started by a couple in Canada who pledged to go a whole year with only eating foods within 100 miles of their home.
They have set up a new challenge called the 100 Mile Thanksgiving as described here:
"A single letter, just 115 words long, is all that remains of the feast that inspired Thanksgiving Day. Written by one of the New Plymouth colonists lucky enough to have survived a first year in the New World, the letter doesn’t even hint at what was on the table. Scholars have had to make an educated guess. Most believe the original Thanksgiving menu was limited to corn raised from Wampanoag Indian seed, five deer provided by ninety visiting Wampanoag warriors, as well as wild turkey and other fowl, fish and shellfish, nuts and berries, and an indigenous species of squash. That Thanksgiving Day was, truly, a celebration of the local harvest.
It could be again. Like most things (and most of us), Thanksgiving has largely lost touch with its roots. The food on the table is as likely to have come from Romania or New Zealand as from nearby farmers’ fields. Meanwhile, the traditional turkey, Brussels sprouts, and pumpkin pie don’t make a lot of local sense to folks eating in Anchorage, Palm Springs, or Honolulu.
Let’s take back Thanksgiving as a celebration of the local harvest! In 2006, thousands of people across North America celebrated the first 100-Mile Diet Thanksgiving. This year, the traditional harvest feast is once again a rallying point for the local-eating revolution. It’s easy. Just put together your Thanksgiving dinner using foods from within 100 miles of where you live. There’s nothing tastier than fresh food, in season—and eating close to home is good for your health, the local economy, and the environment. There’s no better time to go local than the day that started it all."
For more information: 100milediet.org/thanksgiving
This is a great idea... I am going to try this, although that means for me lots of tubers, beans, perhaps some greans, and turkey. Not too bad. The "first" Thanksgiving was also in line with the 100 mile diet. The recently published book "A Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England: Voices from Past and Present" (it can be found here: www.bauuinstitute.com/Publishing/NewEnglandNative.html ) is full of information on the first Thanksgiving, the initial encounter between the Native Americans and the pilgrims, and how each viewed each other. I would highly recommend if you are interested in learning about this holiday from a Native perspective.
posted by flashgordonweb on 11/14/2007 7:49 am