Why the Exchange of Food on Thanksgiving Day is the Corner Stone of the Holiday
Bryan Hitchings
CF 107
Chef Quan Anderson
November 12, 2013

Why the Exchange of Food on Thanksgiving Day is the Corner Stone of the Holiday
The first Thanksgiving Day as history records was truly a day of thanks for the weary Pilgrims. Had it not been for the humility of Squanto “a member of the Pawtuxet tribe”, (history) the first settlers would have surely perished. Squanto showed the Pilgrims weakened by illness and malnutrition how to cultivate corn, extract sap from maple trees, fish in the rivers and to avoid poisonous plants. Squanto also helped the Pilgrims develop a relationship with local Native American tribes such as the Wampanoag. This would last for over fifty years and is sadly one of the sole times of peace recorded between the first settlers and Native Americans. After the Pilgrims, first successful harvest Governor William Bradford organized a celebratory feast and invited all the colonies and their Native American allies which lasted for three days. The Native Americans showed up with five deer and Governor William sent some of his men out to gather fowling, and they also dined on the fruits of their harvest. This was known as Americas first Thanksgiving. So in my opinion Food is the corner stone of the holiday because it’s the way the Pilgrims came together with Native Americans to show thanks for all their help in surviving the harsh new land. For me it is the way my family and friends come together and celebrate everything that we have to be thankful for, although we don’t celebrate like they did back then for three days, we come together and eat and enjoy each other’s company and we watch some good American Football while enjoying some delicious deep fried Turkey.