Samp (Cornmeal Porridge) - A Taste of the First Thanksgiving

A simple corn mush that could have been eaten during the first Thanksgiving.

Samp or Nausamp

When people imagine the first Thanksgiving, they often picture turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. The truth is far more interesting. Long before the holiday became a national tradition, the English settlers at Plymouth and the Wampanoag people shared a very different kind of meal in the autumn of 1621. At the center of that table was not turkey, but corn.

And one of the most common ways both cultures prepared it was a hearty boiled dish called samp.

Samp was a thick porridge made by pounding dried corn into coarse pieces and simmering it with water until it softened. The English settlers learned to prepare it from the Wampanoag, who had relied on corn for countless generations. In Wampanoag tradition, this warm, nourishing food was known as nasaump and was often enriched with dried berries, nuts, or pieces of fish. It was not a festive dish. It was a daily survival food, one that sustained people through hard seasons and carried deep cultural meaning. When the English arrived with little knowledge of the land and no experience growing native crops, nasaump quite literally kept them alive.

The gathering of 1621 was not called Thanksgiving. It was a harvest celebration, a moment of relief for the settlers after a brutal winter that had claimed nearly half their number. For the Wampanoag, the feast served an additional purpose. It reinforced a fragile alliance with a new community in their territory. The menu reflected both necessity and the landscape. The Wampanoag provided venison, shellfish, maize, and wild plants. The English contributed fowl, beer, and what little their first successful crop could spare. Corn based dishes like samp were among the few foods familiar to everyone at the table. Simple, nourishing, and easy to prepare, samp represented the very essence of a shared meal.

Thanksgiving as we know it was shaped much later. In the nineteenth century, author and editor Sarah Josepha Hale believed the country needed a unifying national celebration. She spent seventeen years writing letters to political leaders urging them to officially recognize a day of thanks. Her persistence finally paid off in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday during the Civil War.

His goal was to create a moment of unity and reflection at a time when the nation was deeply divided.

Over the following decades, the idea of Thanksgiving continued to evolve. The menu shifted as well. As American food culture changed, regional dishes merged into a national feast. Roast turkey became the centerpiece. Cranberry sauce, which began as a New England specialty, spread across the country. Pumpkin pie entered the tradition as canned pumpkin and sugar became widely available. By the early twentieth century, the modern Thanksgiving table had taken shape, full of foods the people of 1621 would not have recognized.

Yet samp and other corn based dishes remain a reminder of the true origins of the holiday. They connect the modern celebration to the agricultural knowledge of Indigenous peoples and to the shared meal that helped two very different cultures navigate an uncertain future. In a world where Thanksgiving often focuses on abundance, the story of samp brings the holiday back to its roots. It reflects survival, adaptation, and the simple act of sharing what you have.

In many ways, this humble dish is the closest taste we have to the real first Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Samp Recipe

Prep time 5 minutes | Cook time 45 minutes | Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup coarse cornmeal, stone ground if possible

• 4 cups water

• 1 cup bone broth (if you want it to be more savory)

• 1 pinch salt

• 1 tablespoon maple syrup or honey (optional for sweetness)

Traditional Additions

• A small handful of dried berries such as blueberries, cranberries, or chokeberries

• A small handful of roughly chopped walnuts or hickory nuts

Instructions

1. Bring the water to a gentle boil in a medium pot.

2. Slowly whisk in the cornmeal to prevent clumping.

3. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until the mixture thickens. This usually takes fifteen to twenty minutes.

4. If using dried berries or nuts, stir them in during the last five minutes of cooking so they soften slightly.

5. Add salt and optional maple syrup or honey to taste.

6. Serve warm as is, or add toppings such as fresh fruit, nuts, or a drizzle of maple syrup.

Samp is meant to be simple and nourishing. Its texture can be adjusted easily: add more water for a looser porridge or simmer longer for a thicker, almost pudding-like consistency. It is one of the closest dishes you can make today to the foods shared at the earliest recorded harvest gatherings in New England.

If you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Pinterest – seeing your creations always makes my day. Let's explore international cuisine together!