With Thanksgiving only a month away, many people are already planning their holiday, complete with overeating, football and shopping. And while a lot of planning does go into the creation of a family Thanksgiving meal, not much attention is paid to the historical significance of many of the foods associated with that meal. And, interestingly enough, many of those food standards date back beyond recorded history.

As a matter of fact, the corn, beans and squash that were very important in the early diets of American Indians were part of their regimen as early as the Mississippian Period which lasted from roughly the year 1000 through 1500. As the prehistoric people of North America evolved, they incorporated more agriculture into their culture and reduced the hunter gatherer aspects of their lifestyle. This was especially true of the Indians that occupied the southeastern portion of North America. As these people adapted from a seminomadic life to a sedentary one they grew many varieties of corn, beans and squash which had made their way into the region from Central and South America.

Of the three primary vegetable food sources Indians consumed, corn was the most widespread and most cherished. As earlier stated, the varieties were numerous and uses of the final product also were varied. Indians found ways to incorporate corn into their diet by eating it in its original state, by grinding it into meal and flour for bread, boiling it to make hominy and roasting it to give it more taste. Corn was so important to the life of these early Indians and interwoven into their spiritual beliefs that their new year began with the ripening of the first corn of the season. During summer, Indians of the southeastern region would celebrate the corn harvest with what was known as “the busk” or the Green Corn Ceremony. Not only did they eat their fill of the corn, but they rejuvenated their lives with a ceremonial new beginning by cleaning out their homes, reminiscent of the “spring cleaning” that we sometimes do now when the weather warms in March and April.

Beans came in many forms and provided a source of protein for the Indians of the southeastern region. They, like corn, came in many varieties and offered many opportunities for preparing them alone or with corn. They were often dried, again like corn, to be used at later dates. They could be retrieved from the storage vessels and soaked in water then cooked during the long winter months. The most common were speckled or white beans although green beans were also eaten on a regular basis.

Squashes and pumpkins were also used widely by the Indians of our region. They were most likely the first vegetables to be domesticated and became a mainstay of the diet for Indians as they became a more sedentary people. On the menu were yellow and winter squash as well as pumpkins. In addition, several different types of gourds were grown to be used for containers. As with the other vegetable products the squash were often dried and stored for future use.

Even though much of the food sources for the Indians came from agricultural pursuits, they remained dedicated to the hunt and used the meat and hides from many animals to round out their diets and other needs. In the southeastern region, the white-tail deer was of utmost importance and became even more so as the trade between the Indian and Europeans escalated in the 18th and 19th centuries.

So this year as you sit down to that great Thanksgiving meal, think about the origins of some of the goodies you find on Grandma’s table.