While the cranberries the Pilgrims needed were probably easy to come by , making cranberry sauce requires sugar . First - hand accounts of the First Thanksgiving includes no explicit mention of turkey . It 's also unlikely that the feast featured cranberry sauce . ` ` A Christmas Carol '' may have helped turkey become a Christmas delicacy . Pumpkin pie was a popular dish on 17th - century American farms .
First - hand accounts of the First Thanksgiving includes no explicit mention of turkey . It 's also unlikely that the feast featured cranberry sauce . ` ` A Christmas Carol '' may have helped turkey become a Christmas delicacy . Pumpkin pie was a popular dish on 17th - century American farms .