Millions of moms, grandmas, and even a few dads are getting ready to don their aprons to tackle the Thanksgiving turkey. The National Turkey Federation offers these fun turkey facts and tidbits for Thanksgiving:
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Early explorers to the New World quickly acquired a taste for
turkey and took birds back to Europe. By the 1500s, turkeys were being
raised domestically in Italy, France and England. When the Pilgrims and
other settlers arrived in America, they were already familiar with
raising and eating turkey and naturally included it as part of their
Thanksgiving feast.
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Some experts think the first Thanksgiving dinner was served by
the Pilgrims in 1621. Others credit the settlers of Virginia’s Jamestown
with celebrating the first Thanksgiving as their version of England’s
ancient Harvest Home Festival.
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President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national
holiday in 1863, supposedly as a response to a campaign organized by
magazine editor Sara Joseph Hale. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt
moved Thanksgiving Day forward one week, as it is presently celebrated.
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Benjamin Franklin, who proposed the turkey as the official
United States’ bird, was dismayed when the bald eagle was chosen over
the turkey. Franklin wrote to his daughter, referring to the eagle’s
“bad moral character,” saying, “I wish the bald eagle had not been
chosen as the representative of our country! The turkey is a much more
respectable bird.”
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Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation (NTF) has presented
the President of the United States with a live turkey and two dressed
turkeys in celebration of Thanksgiving. The annual presentation of the
National Thanksgiving Turkey to the President has become a traditional
holiday ritual in the nation’s capital, signaling the unofficial
beginning of the holiday season and providing the President an
opportunity to reflect publicly on the meaning of the Thanksgiving
season. After the ceremony, the live bird retires to Mount Vernon to
live out the rest of its years.
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In 2010, more than 244 million turkeys were raised. More than
226 million were consumed in the United States. An estimated 46 million
of those turkeys were eaten at Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas and
19 million at Easter.
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Nearly 88% of Americans surveyed by the NTF eat turkey at
Thanksgiving. The average weight of turkeys purchased for Thanksgiving
is 16 pounds, meaning that approximately 736 million pounds of turkey
were consumed in the United States during Thanksgiving 2010.
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Deep fried turkey originated in the southern United States but
is popular today throughout North America. Quickly cooked, deep-fried
turkey is rich in flavor with a golden brown crispy exterior while moist
and fork-tender on the interior.
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Many people report drowsiness after eating Thanksgiving dinner.
While turkey often receives the blame, recent studies suggest that
carbohydrate-rich meals may cause sleepiness by increasing the number of
tryptophans in the brain. Therefore, the unusually large,
multi-coursed, carbohydrate-rich meal most people eat on Thanksgiving is
more likely the cause.
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White meat is generally preferred in the United States, while other countries prefer dark meat.
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A turkey typically has about 70% white meat and 30% dark meat.
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When Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin sat down to eat their
first meal on the moon, their foil food packets contained roasted turkey
and all of the trimmings.
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One of the dinner options for Commander Christopher Ferguson
aboard Atlantis, the last NASA shuttle to fly into space, was smoked
turkey and turkey tetrazzini.
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Turkey consumption has nearly doubled over the past 25 years.
In 2010, per capita turkey consumption was 16.4 pounds compared to 8.3
pounds in 1975.
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Only tom turkeys gobble. Hen turkeys make a clicking noise.
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Domesticated turkeys cannot fly. Wild turkeys can fly for short distances up to 55 mph and can run 20 mph.
