Highlights Archives
Give Thanks with Wisconsin Foods
In many parts of the world, one day a year is set aside to give thanks. In the United States, one of the many ways we give thanks is with food shared with family and friends. Many traditional Thanksgiving foods are not only native to North America, but are found in abundance here in Wisconsin.
Turkeys, the iconic holiday bird, were one of the astonishing delights that North America contributed to the world after European contact. Their unusual appearance and behavior, not to mention gobbling, couldn't escape notice and turkeys soon became popular as pets, works of art, and food throughout Europe. While on a journey south along Lake Winnebago in 1669, Jesuit missionary Claude Allouez wrote of "two turkeys perched on a tree, male and female, resembling perfectly those of France, same size, same color and same cry." Hunted to near extinction in the 19th century, wild turkeys were historically abundant in central and southern Wisconsin, providing an important source of food for Native Americans and early white settlers. After a successful restoration program, wild turkeys are again common throughout southern Wisconsin.
If cranberry sauce is on the menu, the cranberries probably came from Wisconsin. One of only three common fruits native to North America (blueberries and Concord grapes are the others), cranberries have been grown commercially in Wisconsin for more than 100 years, as this 1875 article attests. Grown in bogs, this marsh berry was well known to most Indians who often dried them or used them in a kind of tea.
Wisconsin is also a leading producer of many of the vegetables that grace the Thanksgiving table, including green beans, corn, squash and potatoes (mashed, of course). Just think of the side dish you could make with this squash! And no Thanksgiving meal would be complete without pumpkin pie, a dish of such great importance that even kindergartners learn how to make one.
Handpicked for centuries by Ojibwe and Menominee Indians, wild rice, often used in stuffing, is another common addition to the Thanksgiving table in Wisconsin. Despite the name, wild rice is really an aquatic grass unrelated to rice. Anthropologist Gardner P. Stickney described the cultivation and use of wild rice in 1896, including some common food preparations.
Since the first official Thanksgiving was declared in Wisconsin in 1830, Wisconsinites have celebrated the day with good food. If you need still need some recipe inspiration, Wisconsin Historical Society Press author Harva Hachten may have just the thing in her book, The Flavor of Wisconsin: An Informal History of Food and Eating in the Badger State. So roll up your sleeves and start cooking!
:: Posted November 26, 2008
|
