Thanksgiving, turkey and Vasario

In America, one of the most important holidays of the year, along with Christmas and July 4th, is Thanksgiving, which falls every fourth Thursday in November, and therefore this year will be November 24th.

The festival originates from the moment when the Pilgrim Fathers, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, were persecuted for deciding to join Calvinist Christianity, and decided to leave the old world to move to North America: in 1620 102 pioneers embarked on the Mayflower and arrived on the American coast after a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean. But when they docked, they found themselves facing a wild and inhospitable territory, inhabited only by Native Americans. Having brought seeds from the motherland, they decided to plant them, but due to the different climate and soil, sowing did not produce the fruits necessary for sustenance, and therefore about half of the population did not survive the harsh winter. The situation was about to repeat itself the following year, but the Native Americans indicated to the new arrivals which products to grow, in this case wheat, and which animals to raise, namely turkeys.

Thus it was that the pilgrims announced for the first time in 1621 a day of thanksgiving to God to celebrate the abundance of the first harvest. The settlers also invited Native Americans to the party, to thank them for helping them lay the foundations for a prosperous and ambitious future.

In 1623, then, there are more definite testimonies of this day, when the governor of the colony of Plymouth, William Bradford, issued a decree inviting pilgrims and their families to gather at the Assembly house on the top of the hill to thank God for the abundance of the harvest.

In 1678, the governor of Charleston County, Massachussets, also decided to hold a day of thanksgiving for the good fortune enjoyed by the community. In the following centuries the Thanksgiving tradition spread to the whole country, but it was only in 1777 that it was celebrated for the first time by the thirteen colonies at the same time, as the opportunity was taken to celebrate the victory against the British in Saratoga in the War of Independence. . The following year it was President George Washington who formalized the date, proclaiming a national day of thanksgiving.

In the mid-19th century, Thanksgiving spread across most of America and was observed by all walks of life.

In the first Thanksgiving menu there were dishes that became traditional to celebrate this holiday, for example deer, oysters, shellfish, fish, nuts, nuts and candies, but above all pumpkin and turkey.

Tradition has it that dinner is always organized at home, with family and friends.

The turkey is cooked by each family according to their own “secret” recipe and is accompanied by gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, vegetables and pumpkin pie.

The turkeys link their origins to the Aztec people who offered them as a gift to the Spanish conquistadors, who imported them to Europe. It was the pilgrim fathers who imported them again first in Massachussets and from there to the rest of America.

The necessary complement to a good roast turkey is the right wine, which must be, for example, a good structured white, ideal with white meats and light sauces.

Tenuta del Buonamico offers a wine that will be excellent in combination with stuffed turkey for Thanksgiving, but also for an “international” Christmas: the Vasario IGT Toscana.

It is a pure pinot blanc that carries out a fermentation and aging in French oak barriques with permanence on the light lees moved with the batonnage technique for a total of 8 months.

Of a beautiful straw yellow color with golden reflections, the nose is intense, complex, with floral and yellow-fleshed fruit scents pleasantly blended with vanilla and tropical fruit notes.

On the palate it is broad and well structured, very balanced with a soft and persistent finish, and is perfect with light sauces, baked and baked fish. It will be ideal with your roast turkey, it will enhance its flavors and guarantee you absolute success with friends and family!