Seven Native American Chefs Share Thanksgiving Recipes

To the original peoples of this continent, each day is a day to give thanks to the Creator. Thanksgiving ceremonies have always taken place when Native people have gathered. Food and feasts often serve as a focal point of these ceremonies. This Thanksgiving, we’ve asked seven Native American chefs from different cultural and culinary backgrounds, working in different places around the country, to share holiday-worthy recipes with us.

But first, a little history. The Thanksgiving holiday celebrated in the United States cites a particular feast. According to our national story, in the fall of 1621, a year after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, William Bradford, the governor of the colony, decided to have a harvest feast of thanksgiving and invited Massasoit, the Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag Federation, to take part.

Very few primary sources refer to the feast. The most detailed description by far appears in a letter written to friends in England—potential recruits to the tenuous colony—by Edward Winslow and dated December 11, 1621, transcribed here with modern spellings:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-american-indian/2020/11/23/native-chefs-thanksgiving-recipes/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20211124-daily-responsive&spMailingID=45999061&spUserID=NTkyNzY2ODg1MzgyS0&spJobID=2122792244&spReportId=MjEyMjc5MjI0NAS2