Turkey (food)

HISTORY 

Native Americans as early as 1200-1400 AD were managing and raising turkeys for food and/or for their cultural and symbolic significance—hundreds of years before the first Thanksgiving.

The first European colonists in America found plenty of wild turkeys; indeed they saved many of these early settlers from famine. Because they were easy to raise and quickly put on weight, the birds proved very popular. Bernardino de Sahagun  recommended their meat as fat and savory. 

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After the Spaniards conquered Mexico, they introduced the bird into Europe, and it was well established by 1530.

The turkey is the only new edible animal species to be introduced to Europe from the New World.

Turkeys were first brought to England in 1526 by Yorkshireman William Strickland, who sold six acquired from American Indians for tuppence each in Bristol. Strickland later adopted the turkey as the family crest.

Europeans confused this bird with the guinea hen (an African fowl) which was brought by merchants trading from the eastern Mediterranean. They were known as "Turkey merchants" because it was part of the Turkish empire. However, only the English thought the bird came from Turkey. The Turks thought turkeys came from India, but what they failed to realize was this was the Spanish Indies of Columbus' mistaken geography. The French followed the Turkish mistake and called it "dinde" (originally d'Inde) meaning "from India." 

There probably weren't any turkeys at the first thanksgiving. They were considered as being just wild birds that were difficult to catch. 

US Servicemen eating turkey at a Thanksgiving dinner after the end of World War I 

The Thanksgiving Turkey presented to the U.S. President each year was originally intended to be slaughtered for the White House Thanksgiving dinner. Presidents have occasionally spared the bird presented to them since 1947. It was in 1989 that George H.W. Bush established the currently ongoing tradition of presenting the turkey with a Presidential Pardon, sparing its life.

Henry VIII was the first English king to eat turkey at Christmas.

Turkey began to replace goose as the main Christmas dish in Britain in the mid-19th century. Only the white breast turkey meat was considered good enough for guests for their Christmas meal, the dark meat of the turkey legs was given to the servants or eaten by the family on the days after Christmas.

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FUN TURKEY FACTS

The turkey industry employs between 20,000 and 25,000 people in the United States.

Thanksgiving is colloquially known as "Turkey Day." In fact, 45 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving Day alone in 2015.

A three-ounce serving of turkey contains 190 calories; the same amount of chicken contains contains 240.

Turkey has more protein than chicken or beef.

The dark meat of a Thanksgiving turkey offers a greater density of nutrients, like B vitamins and iron, than white meat.

The use of turkey to mean a bad film or play comes from a 19th century US habit of serving bad turkeys between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

More turkey is consumed per capital in Israel than in any other country. The US and Canada come second and third.

Sources Food For Thought by Ed Pearce, Daily Express