Canadian Thanksgiving Table: From main dishes to side dishes

Envision it. Your Thanksgiving table laid out before you: the good cutlery, plates and crystal; bowls and small platters filled with a colourful, flavourful assortment of side dishes and sauces; the roast turkey in its pride of place in the centre of this feast; and a mix of chairs collected from every room and squished around the table to accommodate the holiday family. This, however, wasn’t always the scene at a Canadian Thanksgiving.

In the young days of Canada, the Days of Thanks—for it wasn’t just one day—had a different menu. The roast turkey fought for the main stage, because waterfowl (ducks, geese, etc.), venison and fish (cod) usually held prominence. The side dishes, mind you, were fairly similar to what we have today (squash, fruit, berries and bread), however, the bread would’ve been made from corn. As the centuries passed, the menu slowly changed into what we now see on our own tables. Here are some fun facts about the Canadian Thanksgiving dinner to consider while you’re eating your turkey, trimmings and dessert.

The Turkey

• Fossils found in North America tell us that wild turkeys have been roaming this land—or a variation thereof—for over 10 million years.
• Today there are 531 turkey farmers in Canada.
• Canada exports 20.6 million kg of turkey meat, while the country imports 2.7 million kg.
• There are eight commercial turkey hatcheries in Canada.
• Canadians consumed 7.1 million whole turkeys last year: 2.5 million of those were at Thanksgiving, while 3.3 million were for Christmas.

The Potato

• There are about 150 potato varieties registered in Canada and grown in every province. The top four producers are PEI, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Alberta.
• Fifty-two percent of all the fresh vegetables eaten in this country are potatoes.
• Potatoes originated in Bolivia and Peru and didn’t reach North America until the early 1600s. One use the Incas of Peru had for the spud was to promote topical healing of broken bones by putting slices of it to the inflicted area.
• During the Gold Rush, men traded gold for potatoes (ounce-for-ounce) because the tuber warded off scurvy due to its high vitamin C content.
• Potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams are all not related: the potato is part of the nightshade family, the sweet potato is part of the morning glory family and the yams are related to grasses and lilies.
• Americans like to put marshmallows on top of their sweet potatoes and make a casserole out them, while Canadians love them mashed.

The Cranberry

• Canada produces about 5,000 metric tonnes a year, with Québec, Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia being the biggest producers. Bala, Ontario claims to be the cranberry capital of the world and throws a cranberry festival the weekend after Thanksgiving.
• A ripe cranberry will bounce.
• Cranberries are native to the wetlands of central and eastern North America.
• The first Canadian Thanksgiving didn’t have cranberry sauce—just the whole berry and nothing but the berry. However, First Nations did make a paste of it and used it with meat.
• The cranberry is high in anti-oxidants, flavonoids and polyphenols. It helped early sailors protect themselves from scurvy.

Pumpkin Pie

• Canadians like their pumpkin pies with spices such as ginger, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Americans tend to like their pies sweeter and put custard or evapourated milk into them.
• The world’s largest pumpkin pie was made in New Bremen, Ohio, in 2010. It was 20 ft in diameter and was 3,699 lbs.
• The largest Canadian pumpkin was grown by Ben Hebb of Nova Scotia in 2002. It weighed 1,215 lbs. The current world champ weighed 1,689 lbs; it was grown by Joe Jutras of Rhode Island in 2007.
• Ninety-two percent of Canada’s crop pumpkins were sold at Halloween and Thanksgiving to individuals.