Food Trivia Quiz

1) When and where was the first Thanksgiving. There are at least 6 correct answers.

2) When was the first Thanksgiving Day in Canada, and when is it currently observed?

3) What is Turducken?

4) What is the fleshy growth on the front of a turkey's head called?

5) What are the brightly colored growths and pouchlike area on the throat region called?

6) Can you name 3 close relatives of the turkey?

.
.
.
.
.

Answers

1) The first Thanksgiving was held on December 4, 1619 near what is now Charles City, Virginia, on the Berkeley plantation. No food was involved, it was a prayer only thanksgiving.
The first Thanksgiving that included food, was three days of prayer and feasting celebrated by the Plymouth colonists sometime after September 18 (when some colonists set out by boat to trade with the Indians) and before December 11, 1621 (it is first mentioned in a letter with this date). There is no record that this feast was called a "thanksgiving".
In 1623 the Pilgrims "set apart a day of thanksgiving" at harvest time for rain that ended a terrible drought.
The first national Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by president George Washington and was celebrated on November 26, 1789. It was proclaimed a National Thanksgiving Day in honor of the new United States Constitution.
On October 3, 1863 president Abraham Lincoln declared a national day of thanksgiving to be held on Thursday, November 26, 1863. He declared that from then on the last Thursday of November should be observed every year.
Every president after that declared the holiday each year. (The date was usually the same). President Franklin D. Roosevelt felt that Thanksgiving Day was too close to Christmas, and in 1939 changed it to the third Thursday of November. Some states did not accept the change.
Finally, in 1941, by a joint resolution of Congress, the fourth Thursday of November was specified as Thanksgiving Day. (Not the last Thursday, because in some years there may be five Thursdays in November.)

2) In 1710 at Port Royal, N.S. a day of thanksgiving was held when the town passed into English hands for the last time. In 1760 a day of thanksgiving was held in Halifax to mark the victory of General Amherst's troops at Montreal. In 1762 Halifax held a day of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. In 1879 a national Thanksgiving Day was declared. After World War I it was combined with Armistice Day for some years. Finally, in 1931 it was made a separate holiday to be celebrated on the Second Monday in October.

3) Turducken is a Cajun Thanksgiving specialty. Start with a chicken, debone it and wrap it in a deboned duck, surround that with scoops of stuffing and put the whole assembly inside a deboned turkey. A turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. There is also a pigturducken!

4) The fleshy growth which adorns the front of a turkey's head is called a 'snood'.

5) On the throat region of a turkey, the brightly colored growths are called 'caruncles' and the pouchlike area is called a 'wattle'.

6) Turkeys are closely related to grouse, quail and pheasants.