The National Association of EMS Educators

Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Cranberries, Pumpkin Pie, Stuffing and EMS!

These traditional foods of Thanksgiving are a way to remind us of living off the land (farm life) and that we really are dependent on the land to survive, whether we realize it or not in this modern millennium.  People today eat these foods as a way of universally joining together and to give thanks.  When an entire nation is presumably eating the very same thing on the same day, it is a way of symbolically becoming one.  And it also helps renew our ties with working the soil.  
Ironically, the first Thanksgiving probably didn't have pumpkin pie as we know it today. Why? The pilgrims didn't really have the ingredients to make pastry. The turkeys were not stuffed. They weren't going to waste their bread stuffing it inside a turkey. They'd simply eat it as a loaf.
Corn on the cob wasn't eaten back then because Indian corn is different (harder) so all they ate was probably cornbread from cornmeal. Sweet potatoes were not even common to their area. No one had heard of them back in 1620. And potatoes were probably boiled, not mashed, forget the gravy.  

What did they eat - cod, bass and herring and there were crabs, lobsters, oysters and mussels. For meats they had turkey, but also partridge, moose, venison and duck. They also had a variety of nuts, vegetables and edible roots. So, this Thanksgiving as we sit down with family and friends at the table let us remember the EMS professionals past and present who have served their communities every day and especially on holidays!  Let us all give thanks for the heroes of EMS and their commitment to serve.  

- Joann Freel