Thanksgiving Olives: A Little Known Tradition

If you're hosting Thanksgiving this year, then the chances are good that popular staples such as sweet potatoes, turkey, gravy, cranberries, stuffing and even pumpkin pie will be on the menu. Olives? Maybe not so much. Most people that do use them during the holidays think of these tasty cylindrical bits as a side dish, garnish or appetizer—but there's so much more to them than just that! This article will discuss the history of olives at Thanksgiving, when and why they were being served at this American holiday dinner, along with some other fun facts and recipes.

Are Olives a Thanksgiving Food?

We don't think about it much today, but for nearly one hundred years, two of the most unlikely foods, olives and celery, were absolute must-haves on the menu for every traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Part of the appeal of celery and the reason it made its way onto Thanksgiving tables in the early days was that people viewed the fibrous veggie as “relatively unusual’’ and “something new.’’ Olives, on the other hand, were thought of as “exotic and kind of upper-crust.’’ Olives were also considered as a “celebration type of thing to eat as food,’’ as opposed to something you eat every day.

Why Olives and Celery Lost their Top Spot

This olive and celery food trend dominated from the late 1800s until around the mid-1960s, where they took a backburner to up-and-coming menu items like green bean casserole and jello shaped like a fish or some other weird shape a family member brought to the feast (the latter of which many were probably glad when it stopped appearing at the table!).

Moreover, the Globe showed the beginnings of celery infidelity as early as 1958 when they reported that a strange white vegetable (the cauliflower) was the next best thing at Thanksgiving dinner, proclaiming it a “cabbage with a college education!’’

The History of Olives

Olives have been around for centuries, and they are still used today in many different ways. They are native to Asia Minor and later spread to the Mediterranean basin roughly 6,000 years ago.

Olives were later cultivated by ancient Greeks and Romans, who enjoyed them as an appetizer with wine. They are now grown in many parts of the world, including places like Italy, Greece and Turkey.

In ancient Greece and later medieval Europe, olives were considered a symbol of fertility. The notion has merit since modern science points out that eating olive oil can reduce inflammation in the body and help promote ovulation and fertility. Additionally, in some countries, such as France and Spain, it was thought that having a few olives in your belly would help with digestive issues.

Olives Come to America

In the US, immigrants from southern and Mediterranean regions brought their love of olive foods to America - but they also had another thing up their sleeves: Thanksgiving! Black canned olives, a staple as ubiquitous today as canned tuna, came into vogue in the late 1880s and 1890s when production began in California.

Olives had previously been only available from Europe, but after coming to America, the rest was history —and the small fruit (olives are surprisingly a fruit!) made their way into the turkey day spread.