The first Thanksgiving meal likely featured a venison stew called sobaheg

Thanksgiving, explained

Thanksgiving may be synonymous with turkey and pie today, but its roots trace back to a 1621 feast between Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, who gathered to celebrate the settlers’ first successful harvest.

The Wampanoag, explained

Explore Thanksgiving beyond the familiar Pilgrim narrative and learn about the Wampanoag Nation. Trace how early cooperation gave way to disease, conflict, and loss—and how Wampanoag traditions and perspectives continue to shape the understanding of the holiday today.

A Thanksgiving meal was celebrated in Virginia in 1619

Although the Pilgrims' meal with the Wampanoag is often cited as "the first Thanksgiving," historians note a meal intended to mark "a day of thanksgiving to Almighty god" was celebrated by early settlers three years earlier. President John F. Kennedy acknowledged the day in his 1963 Thanksgiving proclamation.

Read the only surviving eyewitness account of the first Thanksgiving

Edward Winslow’s short 1621 letter offers the only firsthand account of the first Thanksgiving, describing celebratory gunfire that drew Wampanoag leader Massasoit and 90 men—initially fearing conflict—before the gathering turned into shared feasting.

Turkey likely wasn't served at the first Thanksgiving

There is no record of turkey on that first table, though one account vaguely refers to "fowl." The meal mostly consisted of seafood and venison.

Squanto was a tragic character in the original Thanksgiving story

Tisquantum (also known as Squanto) played a crucial role in the survival of the Pilgrims. As an English speaker, Squanto assisted the Pilgrims in gathering food and communicating with other Native peoples. However, his story also involved being sold into slavery by an English sea captain and returning home to find his tribe decimated by disease during the Great Dying. Tisquantum met his end not long after that first Thanksgiving, with historians speculating he died either by disease or assassination.

The Wampanoag collaborated with the Pilgrims in order to survive

Decades of violence and disease brought by European settlers had devastated local tribes. Up to 75% of the Wampanoag people had been eliminated, leading them to sign the peace treaty to preserve those who remained.

Cow tongue was once a Thanksgiving delicacy

Cow feet and tongue were sometimes included in mincemeat pies—a popular 18th-century dish. Josefa Hale, who inspired Lincoln to declare Thanksgiving a holiday, said they were “indispensable; but [hoped] this rich, expensive, and exceedingly unhealthy diet will be used very sparingly...”

Watch someone follow an early American recipe using 19th-century technology

Following an old cookbook, one woman makes meatballs, pastries, potatoes, and spinach over her fireplace. The springtime dinner is taken from a 1778 book titled The Art of Cookery, which remained a bestseller throughout the 1820s.

Spanish colonists celebrated alongside the Seloy tribe in Florida in 1565

Long before the 1621 meal between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés and 800 Spanish settlers founded the city of St. Augustine in Spanish la Florida. They celebrated the founding with a Mass of Thanksgiving with the Indigenous Seloy tribe.

What did the Vikings eat?

Examining a culture's culinary practices gives insight into its social structure, skills, and ideology. This article follows culinary archaeologist Daniel Serra as he explores the food habits and choices of Vikings. His findings have effectively ended "the myth of Vikings gnawing off the meat of the bones of wild animals," with evidence providing a clearer picture of Viking society as filled with farmers who didn't have time to hunt.

The common 'Three Sisters' mound-planting system used by natives

In the 17th century, Native Americans cultivated a three-plant combination of corn, beans, and squash—a symbiotic tradition dating back hundreds of years. The corn allowed the beans to climb, the beans fertilized the plants by extracting nitrogen from the air, and the squash leaves protected the soil and preserved moisture. Learn more about the tradition here.

European colonists encountered barbecue by the 16th century

They called the food “barbacoa” and spread the technique throughout their territories, including the American colonies. The first recorded mention in English appeared in John Lederer’s travelogue of Virginia and the Carolinas in 1672.

The first Americans arrived between 14,000 and 40,000 years ago

Early peoples migrated to the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge or coastal routes, spreading across the continent as hunter-gatherers. Archaeological sites in present-day New Mexico containing stone tools and animal bones mark some of the earliest confirmed evidence of human life in North America.

Ancient Rome had an early version of macaroni and cheese

Called placenta (with a hard "c"), the holiday dish consisted of sheets of rolled-out dough layered with cheese. It is the first recipe documenting the combination of the two elements. While there is debate about whether the dough can be called pasta because it's not boiled, many scholars view the dish as a proto-lasagna.

Read the Sumerian poem that provided the recipe for ancient beer

"A Hymn to Ninkasi" is a Sumerian poem from approximately 1800 BCE that's both a tribute to the goddess of beer and a recipe for brewing the beverage.

Medieval taverns offered patrons a limited menu

Inns, taverns, and alehouses were more like bars than restaurants, though they did offer patrons (often travelers) food, it wasn't laid out on a diverse menu. Instead, the establishments offered a limited menu, often consisting of a single stew, and hungry customers could grab a bowl to go along with their alcohol.

Read a firsthand account of a participant in the first Biosphere 2 mission

The first crew of “Biospherians” spent four months growing their own wheat and awaiting the ripening of tomatoes, onions, and peppers to make their own pizza. They also raised their own livestock, including chickens, pigs, and two goats named Milky Way and Stardust.

Bees evolved from meat-eating wasps that became vegetarian

After flowering plants first appeared approximately 140 million years ago, some wasp diets would have changed as they consumed pollen-coated insects that would visit these plants. Bees that branched from these wasp species also developed long tongues to slurp nectar and ultraviolet vision to identify flower patterns unseen by humans.

Toasting was likely inspired by libation ceremonies

The practice, common in many Indigenous communities, involved people honoring the deceased by pouring out water, which seeps into the Earth in their honor. Although it didn’t necessarily include alcohol, the practice mirrors many modern toasts, which sometimes pay tribute to loved ones who have died. Libation ceremonies are still practiced today by those seeking to connect with the ancient tradition.

Why beefsteak tomatoes are named after a meaty dish

No, they won't get vegetarians into trouble, but beefsteak tomatoes did earn their name because of their meaty texture. People also associate the hearty beefsteak with sandwiches and burgers because they make for a perfect topping on meat-centric dishes. This quick explainer breaks down the basic etymology of the beefsteak and provides a few helpful ideas for using the tomato in your next meal.

Cheese is a less-well-known Hanukkah culinary tradition

It comes from a story of Judith, a widow whose hometown of Bethulia in Israel was seized by the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar. In some iterations, Judith brought the king's general, Holofernes, an array of salty snacks, including cheese, leading him to drink enough wine to pass out. Judith then beheaded Holofernes, inspiring the Israelites to attack and win the battle.

A vegetarian diet is part of the Lunar New Year tradition

In keeping with China’s long history of Buddhism, which encourages vegetarianism, particularly on the first and 15th day of the lunar month, many people eat a plant-based diet (or at least a plant-based meal) on the first day of the Lunar New Year. The custom is supposed to increase participants’ good karma, bringing them extra blessings for the year to come.

Learn what the best foods are to survive on a limited diet

The human body can naturally synthesize 11 of the 20 amino acids needed to build the critical proteins required for function, but the nine missing ones can all be obtained from white potatoes. A bit of oatmeal can provide the molybdenum needed to process sulfites from potatoes, while other key vitamins and nutrients can be acquired from avocados, berries, milk, beans, and spinach.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Aspirin was the first synthesized anti-inflammatory drug

Once used by the ancient Sumarians—extracted from willow bark—but now synthesized in the lab, the active ingredient of this popular medication has been used to treat headaches and pain for thousands of years.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Read a deep dive on the 'all-purpose healing' peptide BPC-157.

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

Poison ivy is in the same family as mangoes, cashews, and pistachios—and they all produce oily urushiol in their raw, unprocessed state—but they are typically prepared in ways to avoid causing human discomfort.

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by over 1.5 million Muslims.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

This real-time tracking of the hantavirus cruise ship outbreak in May 2026 offers a unique glimpse into the global reach of the outbreak and whether the virus sickened passengers and their communities around the world.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Elk Cloner, the first computer virus to spread in public, was written as a practical joke by Richard Skrenta, a Pittsburgh high school student.

Planarian flatworms are small, aquatic worms with exceptional regenerative capabilities. When cut, the worms can regenerate multiple bodies in a matter of weeks.

Play the role of a student in a game where you try to navigate college and remain debt-free, selecting different income levels, high school experience, race, ethnicity, and more.