Here's Why We Eat Green Bean Casserole at Thanksgiving (2024)

FAQs

Why do we eat green bean casserole on Thanksgiving? ›

How It Became a Holiday Staple. Green bean casserole was considered a perfect dish for holiday entertaining because it was simple, inexpensive, and could easily be made ahead of time. It became known as a "jiffy casserole" because it went from one bowl to one pan.

Green Bean Casseroles are served at 20 million Thanksgiving dinners every year.

It was originally marketed as an everyday side dish but became popular for Thanksgiving dinners in the 1960s after Campbell's placed the recipe on the can's label. The recipe popularized the combination of the soup with green beans.

Here are some reasons why your body might be signaling a need for green beans: Nutrient Deficiencies: If your body is lacking in certain nutrients that green beans provide, such as fiber or potassium, it might trigger a craving for them. Hormonal Fluctuations: Hormones play a significant role in hunger and cravings.

The Pilgrims may have learned about some of these foods from Native Americans, but others were not available to the early settlers. The tradition of eating them at Thanksgiving likely reflects their affordability for later Americans.

Of course, we know that isn't exactly accurate. For one thing, macaroni and cheese is definitely not a traditional Thanksgiving food, nor did the Pilgrims and Wampanoag have oven-safe dishes for baking green-bean casseroles.

Arguably best made with canned green beans, a green bean casserole and other cooked casseroles will last four days in the fridge. Like with mashed potatoes, cooked casseroles are safe to eat out of the freezer, although quality will suffer, according to a food safety specialist at the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline.

How many dishes should I serve with the turkey? For 4 people, choose 1-2 appetizers and 3 sides. For 8 people, choose 1-3 appetizers and 3 sides. For 16 people, choose 2-3 appetizers and 3 or more sides.

The modern-day casserole has long been rumored to have been invented in 1866 by a French-Canadian immigrant named Elmire Jolicoeur.

But according to the two only remaining historical records of the first Thanksgiving menu, that meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, cod, bass, and flint, and a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

Which dish was not eaten at the first Thanksgiving? ›

What Wasn't Served at the First Thanksgiving. It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America.

Dishes served at Thanksgiving in the 1700s might have included venison pie, roasted goose, puddings and vegetables, all of which are included on the Webb-Deane-Stevens bill of fare.

Yet, if you eat them, lectins are resistant to digestive enzymes. Thus, they bind to the surface of cells in your digestive system, causing symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and bloating if consumed in high amounts ( 2 ).

Beans are a nutritious food packed with essential nutrients, but they can also cause gas and bloating due to their high fiber content. In addition, beans contain oligosaccharides, which are not easily digested in the small intestine and are fermented by bacteria in the large intestine, producing gas.

Fans love the dish in part because of how simple it is to throw together. It calls for ingredients that could be found in a typical home kitchen pantry: canned or fresh green beans, mushroom soup, milk, soy sauce and black pepper.

The very first Thanksgiving was held in New England between the Wampanoag Tribe and Plymouth Colonists. It was a way to celebrate the successful harvest. It's said that pumpkin was served at this celebratory dinner, but no one knows if it was a pie-like dessert or a pumpkin dish, but pumpkins were definitely involved!

The stuffing that most of us associate with Thanksgiving, with sage and onions and celery, comes from New England, where Thanksgiving was celebrated long before it became a national holiday, and where those flavors were in season in November.

We've talked about everything from stuffing to mashers to scalloped sweet potatoes, but don't forget about turkey's favorite sidekick: cranberry sauce. Like macaroni without cheese or cookies sans milk, turkey just isn't the same without sweet-tart cranberry sauce on the side.

As authentic early American cuisine, baked beans have a place on any holiday table, whether or not they were served at the three-day event that eventually gave rise to our Thanksgiving.