Put down that knife for a moment and contemplate. That giant, ungainly bird before you isn’t just the result of generations of breeding for a creature that will stop your little brother from whining about not getting enough white meat. Nope. It’s the pinnacle of science. Says who? Says … Poultry World.
“The history of turkey production in the Western world is a supreme example of the triumph of science.”
If you’re feeling too choked up to eat … it may be that you forgot to remove the plastic-wrapped packet of giblets*. That we don’t eat birds that look like the bearded weirdos hanging out in the woods may seem obvious, but there’s more to the modern turkey than just getting top-heavy and coming pre-plucked. It’s a story of international import.
In the 1960s consumption of turkey at Christmas began to grow in the UK, on the back of the popularity of it with Americans at Thanksgiving in late November. It was the creation of British United Turkeys in 1961 from a series of smaller breeding companies that began to capitalise on that growth – both in facilitating sales and increasing bird size.
Though turkeys have been eaten for thousands of years, and were at least semi-domesticated in the Americas as early as 100 CE, it wasn’t until the 1940s that intensive breeding programs started the bird on the path to the ridiculous meat mountains we have today. The link above is full of turkey facts — including the impressive durability of turkey sperm — but there’ one thing that Donald Trump should know before he delivers that pardon.
Turkeys originated from Mexico, and 10 million year old fossils have been found of the wild bird
That’s right. Wild turkeys are Mexican immigrants. As Iowa Republican Steve King could have told you. After all, just look at the size of those legs.
The best thing the tofurkey industry can do? Build that wall.
Happy Thanksgiving.
*If you’ve ever wondered that those are — giblets is a group term for the heart, gizzard, liver, and other “visceral organs.” Also, they make gravy.