Thanks to Trish Miller and Dave DiNapoli for hosting the October meeting. The facility at RIT was perfect for the COTY Cook-off. They were also the two members who stayed and cleaned up after the competition. I hope we, as a chapter will be able to use the kitchens again. Thanks also go to our current Chef of the Year Lisa Cunliffe, CEC for her help with selecting the ingredients for the mystery basket. This year's protein was whole pheasant.  The chefs were also given an assortment of starch and vegetables to work with.  Chefs Ernie Miller and Stuart Slutzkey did a hour long preparation that showed their skills and style. Their work is done; now it is up to you to turn out and vote. Both men have done great things for the chapter and our community. Either will do our chapter proud as our 2006 Chef of the Year.

Remember that the COTY is not the only vote to be cast at the November 28 meeting. Two other fine members are vying to sit on the Board of Directors as a Trustee. The recently changed by-laws make this a three-year commitment. Please take the time out of your busy life to show your support for these four members and YOUR ACF chapter.

Michael Mamontlivi of the Black Label Caviar Corp. who is an importer for GRANOFF Caviar, a product of France and the new caviar alternative will join us at our meeting. He will sample his product and answer our questions regarding the market conditions that effect the availability of traditional caviar. He has made presentations to other ACF Chapters. Any time we can here from an expert in a culinary field we should take the opportunity to learn. 

Let me share with you some research I have done. It seams that a lot of what we were taught in school about Thanksgiving is less than accurate We were told that the Pilgrims of Plymouth Rock Massachusetts held the first Thanksgiving day celebration. But the Wampanoag (Indian allies of the Pilgrims) held six thanksgiving festivals during the year. OK, maybe we are talking the first by European people in America. But, the first recorded Christian Thanksgiving in America occurred in Texas on May 23, 1541 when Spanish explorer, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, and his men held a service of thanksgiving after finding food, water, and pasture for their animals in the Panhandle. So maybe it is the First Thanksgiving on the Atlantic coast that the pilgrims held. Well no, A thanksgiving service occurred on June 30, 1564 when French Huguenot colonists celebrated in solemn praise and thanksgiving in a
settlement near what is now Jacksonville, Florida. So it must be the Pilgrims get credit for the first Thanksgiving Day in the Original Colonies by European people. Again wrong! On December 4, 1619 settlers stepped ashore at Berkeley Hundred along the James River and, in accordance with the proprietor's instruction that "the day of our ship's arrival ... shall be yearly and perpetually kept as a day of thanksgiving," celebrated another first official Thanksgiving Day. So finally the Pilgrims, who set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620 and then lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower, had a good harvest in 1621. So these remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. And it lasted three days.
Well then the Pilgrims must be responsible for the menu we think about as traditional Thanksgiving fare. You know the one, Turkey, with bread stuffing, mashed potato, cranberry sauce, apple cider and pumpkin pie. Wrong again.  The supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There were no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. They also used the term "turkey" to cover all sorts of game birds. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, plums and they did eat boiled pumpkin.
So maybe it's the idea that every fall you have a day of Thanksgiving that we got from those fine folks from Massachusetts. Well not quite. Their "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. But in 1623, during a severe drought, the pilgrims gathered in a prayer service, praying for rain. When a long, steady rain followed the very next day, Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of Thanksgiving,
again inviting their Indian friends. Then it wasn't until June of 1676 that another Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed.
In October of 1777 marked the first time that all 13 colonies joined in a thanksgiving celebration. It also commemorated the patriotic victory over the British at Saratoga. But it was a one-time affair.
George Washington proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving in 1789,although some were opposed to it. There was discord among the colonies, many feeling the hardships of a few Pilgrims did not warrant a national holiday. It seams they were right.  And later, President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of having a day of thanksgiving. So we wait for old honest Abe. He was the first U.S. President to call for a regular day of Thanksgiving. And although Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln the date was not recognized as a legal holiday by congress till 1941. The date had moved a few times including an attempt by FDR to make it the third Thursday of November in order to make a longer holiday shopping season. It seams that retailers have solved that problem by now starting the Christmas shopping season the day after back-to-school shopping ends.


Have a great Thanksgiving however you celebrate it and who ever you credit with starting it.

Chef Paul

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