When And Where Was The First Thanksgiving Feast?

By Jim HightowerPhotos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia CommonsHappy Thanksgiving, y’all! For the holiday, we’re sharing with you one of our favorite Thanksgiving origin stories from Hightower below. And as a bonus, while you’re cooking your food or relaxing after dinner, here’s our Dinner Democracy show from 2021, featuring friends Raj Patel and Tom Philpott.Let’s talk Turkey!No, not the Butterballs in Congress. I’m talking about the real thing, the big gobbler – 46 million of which we Americans will devour this Thanksgiving.It was the Aztecs who first domesticated the gallopavo, but the invading Spanish conquerors “fouled-up” the bird’s origins. They declared it to be related to the peacock – Wrong! They also thought the peacock originated in Turkey – Wrong! And, they thought Turkey was located in Africa – well, you can see the Spanish were pretty confused.Actually, even the origin of Thanksgiving Day in the US is confused. The popular assumption is that it was first celebrated by the Mayflower immigrants and the Wampanoag natives at Plymouth, Massachusetts, 1621. They feasted on venison, furkees (Wampanoag for gobblers), eels, mussels, corn, and beer. But wait, say Virginians, the first Thanksgiving Food-a-Palooza was not in Massachusetts – the feast originated down here in Jamestown...