November 21st, 2025
Raccoon Meat... Delicacy or Deception?
Some things seem downright unimaginable, like raccoon for dinner, or any meal... especially at Thanksgiving. Yet back in November of 1926 it was suggested to President Calvin Coolidge when he received an unusual Thanksgiving gift from Vinnie Joyce of Mississippi: a live raccoon, intended for the holiday table. Turns out (seriously) that Raccoon was a seasonal delicacy in parts of the rural South.
But "Silent Cal" and his wife Grace had other ideas. Rather than allowing Rebecca to meet her culinary fate, they gave her a collar, the run of the White House, and a permanent position as the official First Raccoon.
Rebecca became a national sensation, accompanying the Coolidges on vacation, charming visitors, and even inspiring an attempted matchmaking scheme when the First Couple introduced her to a potential companion named Reuben. Reuben proved let’s say, disagreeable, and the raccoon romance never blossomed.
But Rebecca lived the rest of her days in comfort; a furry testament to the fact that Thanksgiving Presidential mercy, now famously extended to turkeys, once saved a much more unusual creature.
The Turkey Miscalculation That Invented TV Dinners
Not all Thanksgiving innovations were intentional. In the early 1950s, the C.A. Swanson & Sons company faced a colossal problem: they had vastly overestimated America's turkey consumption and found themselves with 260 tons of unsold frozen birds. Rather than let the poultry go to waste, a company salesman devised an ingenious solution... portion the turkey into aluminum trays alongside cornbread dressing, peas, and sweet potatoes, then sell them as convenient "TV dinners."
The idea was an instant success, transforming Thanksgiving leftovers into a year-round American phenomenon and forever changing how busy families approached weeknight meals. One holiday's surplus became the foundation of a frozen food empire.
Football Becomes Tradition
Meanwhile, another Thanksgiving tradition was already well established. In 1920, professional football made its holiday debut when teams competed on Thanksgiving Day, launching what would become an enduring ritual of post-feast, couch-bound entertainment. The tradition stuck, giving Americans permission to loosen their belts and settle in for hours of televised tackles and touchdowns.
The Muddy Origins of the Turkey Pardon
Today's presidential turkey pardoning is a carefully choreographed media event, complete with groan-worthy puns and prime-time coverage. But its origins remain surprisingly unclear. Some trace it to Abraham Lincoln's son Tad, who reportedly begged his father to spare a turkey destined for the family table. Others credit Harry Truman, though photographic evidence is scant. The tradition wasn't formalized as an annual White House ritual until George H.W. Bush made it official in 1989.
Yet for all the attention lavished on lucky turkeys, none achieved the genuine celebrity status of Rebecca, the raccoon that proved sometimes the best Thanksgiving traditions are the most bizarre and unexpected; and the richest part of Thanksgiving isn't what's on the table, it's the stories we share around it.
