Why do we Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?

Since 1989, every year in the U.S., one turkey gets presidential pardon and lives out the rest of its life, instead of gracing a Thanksgiving dinner menu. This event takes place during the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation ceremony held every year just before Thanksgiving.

There is pork, there is chicken, and fish, and then, there is turkey. Our great-grandfathers could have chosen anything as the highlight of the dinner celebration, so why turkey? we don't think anyone can point a finger at a specific incident that led to this custom.

Seems like a bit of mystery, but, we can try solving the puzzle with these interesting pieces from the history of Thanksgiving.

According to Benjamin Franklin, turkey is more respectable than the eagle and a true original native of North America. In fact, he wanted to establish turkey as the national bird of America instead of the bald eagle. We wouldn't be eating it today, had Ben Franklin's wish been carried out!

Turkeys are known to suffer from heart attack or become morbidly scared when alarmed by sudden, loud noises. The noise caused by test flights of Air Force jets, that broke the sound barrier, caused entire fields of turkeys to succumb to heart attack when they flew over these fields.

Also, there are no opportunity costs attached to slaughtering turkeys because they do not provide milk like cows or eggs like hens. They do lay eggs, but those are usually fertilized to produce more turkeys. Chicken and beef were very expensive back then. Processed meats have been commercially available on supermarket shelves only since the last few decades.

Rooster's meat is very hard to chew and other meats could be acquired from animals that either had to be hunted or were farm-raised. These formed a part of mundane diet. Hence, turkey was the best option that could be used for its exotic taste as well as the novelty factor of indulging in some variety on a festive occasion.

Legend has it that the Colonists were in the search of a cheap and easily available option that would sufficiently satiate the hunger of a large company. In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I was celebrating a harvest festival with peacock meat, wild boar, along with a baked goose.

When she was informed that the Spanish Armada, on its way to attack England, had sunk, the Queen was so delighted that she ordered an additional roast goose. Thus, goose became the favorite bird at the harvest celebration in England.

More scientifically speaking, since turkeys are born in the spring season and take about 9 months to mature, feeding on insects, worms, and acorns till maturity (giving the meat its taste), they are perfect for being feasted on in fall, by which time they weigh as much as ten pounds.

That is a lot of turkey to make pies, lots of pies! Pies were a staple winter food for American homes and they made all sorts of them.

June is celebrated as the National Turkey Lovers' Month, to accentuate the virtues of eating turkeys on occasions other than Thanksgiving, citing it as a healthier meat option, with higher levels of proteins and lower fat content.

The book states that when, in 1620, the Pilgrims arrived in America, sailing from Plymouth in England, they brought the practice of eating turkeys with them. In 1621, the first Thanksgiving harvest feast was cooked to praise the Lord.

They were to dine with Wampanoag Indians, a Native American Indian tribe of hunters that gathered all types of meats, who took them for hunting wild birds (according to the letters of pilgrim Edward Winslow) as per their signed treaty for peaceful co-existence.

On the behest of the Pilgrims, turkeys were hunted and served during the feast. But the Governor's documents were lost, having been taken away by the British during the War of Independence. These documents were rediscovered in 1854. After that, the turkey was accepted as an icon of Thanksgiving Day, and eating turkey on this day became a tradition.

Thanks to Charles Dickens, turkey was further popularized through his best-selling book A Christmas Carol, published in 1843, which describes the traditional English Christmas feast. Bob Cratchit's family is handed over a turkey from Scrooge (his first act of kindness) as a Christmas present to finish their meal.

Turkey became such a preferred option for holiday shoppers that they soon came to relish it not just for Thanksgiving, but also for Christmas. Now, a turkey is associated with American holidays.

Did you know that the other staples of Thanksgiving like cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie also did not feature in the original feast? Well, that's another story. Let's now get back to enjoying our scrumptious turkey and pumpkin pie. Happy Thanksgiving!