When we think of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner — the requisite turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and creepy uncles comes to mind.

Guardian Food takes us back to the very first Thanksgiving meal in 1621, showing us that it was far from the meal that’s now synonymous with giving thanks.

Turkey probably wasn’t even on the menu, as wild turkeys may have been a bit too fast for the pilgrims to hunt. Ducks and geese, more the early-settler’s speed, were the go-to bird — while the absence of sugar at the time, would’ve made cranberry sauce impossible.

We have to imagine that pilgrims and native Americans had questionable relatives though. See… just like Thanksgiving.

[link, via Laughing Squid]