Thanksgiving 2014 is today – oh yum! Here are a few retro menus that were printed in newspapers in 1914, advertising Thanksgiving dinners being served in local restaurants of the day. Interesting to see that the food served 100 years ago for a Thanksgiving Day meal was very similar in many ways to what we eat today, classic eats and treats!
At the National Hotel restaurant in Trenton, New Jersey you could get what they describe as a “real old-fashioned American Thanksgiving Dinner” – a fabulous multi-course meal featuring Young Rhode Island Turkey, other assorted meats and fish (perhaps for those that don’t care for turkey?) and all the trimmings – and all for the price of 75 cents!
Thanksgiving Day Dinner Menu for November 26th, 1914, served at the National Hotel restaurant in Trenton, New Jersey – only 75 cents !!
And in the same city, for those who couldn’t afford the steep price of 75 cents, the local Y.W.C.A. offered a nice Thanksgiving dinner for only 35 cents in the YWCA Cafeteria. Not quite as lavish or fancy a spread as that offered at the National Hotel, but includes the simple basics needed to have a satisfying holiday dinner – Stuffed Turkey, Potatoes, Cranberries, Rolls and Butter, Pie, what more do you really need?! And to top off your experience, they offer roller skates in the nearby gym for a rental price of only 5 cents per half hour (roller skating, now there’s a new idea for rounding out your holiday – and right after a big meal, hmmmm?!).
Thanksgiving Day dinner menu at the Y.W.C.A. Cafeteria for only 35 cents in the year 1914. Roller skating available in the gym!
Where’s my time machine?!! Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Eating!!