Canadians Give Thanks for the Harvest
Please join me in celebrating my annual tradition of explaining why Canada's Thanksgiving is the original one and it's not at all related to the American version.
Canadian Thanksgiving is not just American Thanksgiving a month earlier. In fact Canadian Thanksgiving predates the American celebration, but the reason anytime you Google “Thanksgiving” it comes up with the US holiday is that they’re just much better at marketing than we are.
The biggest and most significant difference is in Canada we celebrate the harvest whereas American Thanksgiving is modelled on a 1621 feast between the English colonists (aka Pilgrims) and the Wampanoag people. Pilgrims are an American thing entirely. Canada has our own very complicated history with colonisers from both France and England, the Pilgrims / Mayflower / Big Buckle Hat Brigade is all America.
But speaking of colonisers, let’s address the elephant in the room. I’m going to be honest, I was a little nervous writing about Canadian Thanksgiving because I didn’t want to say the wrong thing. The last few years have brought very necessary conversations to the forefront about Truth and Reconciliation. At the same time alt-right groups in the country have begun to use the Canadian flag in aggressive ways to push their agenda. When it comes to large national holidays like Canada Day and Canadian Thanksgiving there is a new sense of unease that I’ve never seen before. People want to be proud of being Canadian but still recognise the land we are on was taken. Those with maple leaf tattoos don’t want you to confuse them with the rise of “Maple MAGA”.
Before sitting down to write this I took some time to look up how Indigenous Peoples in Canada feel about Thanksgiving. As no group is a monolith it’s unsurprising that there was a lot of differences in opinion. Some people said that Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate harvest and thank Creator. Others said they choose not to celebrate the Canadian holidays but instead have made their own traditions. Far be it for me to tell anyone, especially our Indigenous Peoples, the right way to feel.
If, like me, you might be worried that Canadian Thanksgiving is offensive in some way but also don’t want to abandon family tradition let me tell you about the first celebration on record in 1579. It involves the one thing that everyone from coast to coast to coast can relate to… being thankful you weren’t killed off by winter weather.
You see Martin Frobisher (English) was trying to find the Northwest Passage. Imagine if you wanted to sail from England to Asia but had to go over the top of Canada to get there. Except it was also the 1500s. Remember the whole “in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”, yeah he was looking for the Northwest Passage. It wasn’t until 1903 that Norwegian Roald Amundsen got through, and it took him 3 years to do it.
So old Marty was trying (and failing) to find a way through the arctic. His third attempt had 15 ships and they were planning to build a settlement in Nunavut. But Mother Nature was not having it and the ship carrying all the building materials crashed into ice. Oops. In fact the whole expedition was plagued with ice and freak storms leading the fleet of ships to scatter all over the place. When everyone who survived all met back at what was then called Frobisher Bay now Iqaluit, they gave thanks for just being alive and dined on salt beef, biscuits, and mushy peas.
As we know the explorers kept coming and Samuel de Champlain showed up in 1604 after crossing the Atlantic and held feasts of thanks. But that’s not where it ended. You see the French settlers kept dying from scurvy. At the time they thought it was caused by being inactive so they started a celebration to include food and entertainment. In November 1606 “The Order of Good Cheer” was founded and they held feasts of thanks every week until March. After that they decided to just keep it a fall tradition.
But what about the scurvy? Well we have the Mi’kmaq to thank for that. The feasts of thanksgiving did invite the Mi’kmaq people who introduced the Order of Good Cheer to cranberries, a fruit native to North America, and packed with vitamin C.
So how did we end up with Thanksgiving as the second Monday in October? Well as Canada passed from British to French to British and wars came and went there were often feasts of thanks giving. They celebrated the harvest, they celebrated battles, they ate and drank and mostly were just happy to have survived. But each year the date seemed to move around.
Before 1879 it happened “some time” in October or November. From 1879 until WWI it was November. Then when Armistice Day was established in 1921 we celebrated both days the week of November 11th. In 1931 Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day and the holidays separated again. From 1931 to 1957 a proclamation set the day each year, but it was generally the second week in October. Finally in 1957 Parliament fixed Thanksgiving as the second Monday in October.
It’s also interesting to know that in early years they changed the theme each year giving people an important event to be thankful for, though it always included being thankful for an abundant harvest.
A lot has changed between 1579 and 2024. One thing that remains the same is the importance of taking time to appreciate the people around you, give thanks for surviving through all the challenges we’ve faced, and celebrating the abundance of food the earth provides.
And of course sending up a little prayer to the universe to make it through another winter free from crashing on ice and getting scurvy.
However you choose to recognise this day I’m wishing you all the best.
~Katherine
Raincoast Roundup
You might have noticed, the YouTube channel is back! Although you would be forgiven if you didn’t even know there was a Raincoast Vegan YouTube channel. I originally started it in 2022 but when I came down with Long Covid in June of that year it went on hiatus. I had intended it to be a space where I was on camera talking and cooking, but it’s been over two years now and I still don’t have the energy to get back to that same format. Instead I’m trying out some modified versions where I can still share recipes, please bear with me while I find the right balance. If you’d like to subscribe the link is below, I’m trying to get to 100 so I can claim my URL.
Over on the website I decided to dedicate the month to developing some recipes that would be perfect for Thanksgiving. Ideally ones that you could make at home and would be easy to transport if you were having thanksgiving at someone else’s home. I also wanted familiar foods that non-vegans would be willing to try without too many objections. All of my recipes are also tested by my 71 year old non-vegan Dad, and even my Mom tried the cabbage roll soup! Her first time trying Beyond Beef and she loved it. So here are 3 things you could bring if you’re asked for a side, a soup, or a main to share for the holidays:
There are a couple more recipes that will drop before Thanksgiving, one for stuffing and the other is for my breakfast hash brown casserole that I’ve been teasing people with on Instagram stories for the last month. I keep trying “just one more thing” but I think it’s time to release the recipe to the world… soon. So keep an eye on socials and the website for that.
Raincoast Recommends
Little Fast & Fresh Patreon
I know that subscription fatigue is hitting everyone hard, believe me as someone who has way too many subscriptions I know this very well. I also know how hard it is to be a creator in Canada with few avenues open to us through social media channels to make money. Things like the TikTok Creator Fund or Threads fund are closed to us. But I wanted to take a moment to shed a light on a small creator - Little Fast + Fresh.
Jarod and his wife Michelle (who you might know as Mr & Mrs Knitty on TikTok) used to own a restaurant in Okotoks, Alberta called Little Fast + Fresh. In February 2023 after five years they had to close the doors on their dream. With costs high and utilities higher they would have needed to raise prices to a level they weren’t comfortable charging knowing that everyone else was struggling as well.
Little Fast + Fresh was known for locally-sourced, allergy and dietary-need-friendly eats. I will be honest, at first I subscribed because Michelle put a call out. She wanted to help Jarod get to I think 50 subscribers for his birthday. But once I started looking through the content I was struck by how much love went into everything. And not only that how thoughtful the recipes were, offering modifications with how to make recipes vegan if they weren’t already. His inbox is always open for questions and he genuinely wants to help.
Recently he posted a base for a cheese dip that has cashews and remembered to include a note directing people to a different queso recipe he had up if they had a nut allergy. His dairy free butter “chicken” sauce he makes sure to point out is also great with tofu. This is the kind of inclusion I love to see, and I’m happy to support someone who has been a chef for 20 years pivot to a new way to share what he is passionate about.
For smaller creators like Jarod even signing up for a month or two is a big help. And if you can’t budget it yourself maybe spread the word to other people who would be interested. The past few years have been incredibly hard on small businesses and restaurants in Canada, so I wanted to take a moment to highlight one that I personally want to support.
Snack of the Month - Turkey Stuffing Hardbite Chips
Hardbite chips started in BC and all their flavours (except the honey dijon) are vegan. But this time of year a special limited edition hits shelves, Turkey Stuffing. I do not know how they do it but it tastes exactly like my Mom’s roast turkey dinner. But vegan. I bought a bag of these (the solitary bag on the grocery store shelf) and immediately housed it all. And I’m not even a little embarrassed about it. These are an amazing flavour and I wish they were available all year round.
Plan Ahead
Gardeners… start your engines… it’s fall bulb season!
This is where it all began for me, when on a whim I came home from work and dug a hole in the backyard in October 2019. Up until then I had only had houseplants. My family doesn’t garden. What possessed me I’ll never know, but when April 2020 rolled around I was very thankful that I had the impulse.
My tulips just aren’t coming back as strong anymore, and after the extreme cold snaps we had last year I decided this fall to dig everything up and start over. This is what I’ve picked out and I just got notified from West Coast Seeds that they’ll be arriving this week along with my garlic.
Let me know what you’re planting this fall! I’d love to see your photos, feel free to tag me on any social you have.
Don’t forget October 19th the biggest Ugly Potato Day event of the year is happening at 6090 176th Street, Surrey, BC. Heppell Farms & 10 Servings have set a goal to give away 250,000 pounds of produce… that’s right, give away. As in totally free. But if you can make a donation it will go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank.
