WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Would Turkey Be So Popular Without Thanksgiving?

0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.400
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

0:00:07.440 --> 0:00:11.160
<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbomb here with a festive classic for you. In

0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:14.920
<v Speaker 1>this one, we're talking turkey. That is the history and

0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:19.640
<v Speaker 1>modern traditions around consuming this large bird, around American Thanksgiving

0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:25.480
<v Speaker 1>and other holidays and beyond, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogel

0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.520
<v Speaker 1>Bomb Here. It might come in forth on the list

0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.280
<v Speaker 1>of America's top protein choices, but one day out of

0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.560
<v Speaker 1>the year, nothing else will do. Every Thanksgiving Day, chicken, beef,

0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:37.880
<v Speaker 1>and pork all step aside and make room for their

0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:42.680
<v Speaker 1>poultry campadre the turkey. For turkeys, however, Thanksgiving isn't such

0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.760
<v Speaker 1>a blessing. It's estimated that in twenty seventeen, a whopping

0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.199
<v Speaker 1>forty five million turkeys were consumed for the occasion, some

0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.560
<v Speaker 1>suffering the fate of being stuffed not only with stuffing

0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:53.599
<v Speaker 1>but also with a duck and chicken to create that

0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:58.680
<v Speaker 1>poultry profusion called the turducan. There are a couple competing

0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.720
<v Speaker 1>origin stories for the Things Giving feast, including a couple

0:01:01.760 --> 0:01:05.400
<v Speaker 1>meals shared between Native Americans and European colonists stretching back

0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:08.600
<v Speaker 1>to the sixteen hundreds. But it wasn't an official American

0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:12.679
<v Speaker 1>holiday until President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed November twenty sixth, eighteen

0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:17.480
<v Speaker 1>sixty three a national day of Giving thanks Before that, Thanksgivings,

0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:20.720
<v Speaker 1>days spent in prayer thanking God for some fortuitous event

0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.480
<v Speaker 1>or another, were periodically celebrated by New England colonists, but

0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.959
<v Speaker 1>not anything like the level of the national Thanksgiving festivities

0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:33.000
<v Speaker 1>we see today. Presidents following Lincoln annually proclaimed the holiday

0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.319
<v Speaker 1>the last Thursday in November until nineteen forty two, when

0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.640
<v Speaker 1>Franklin D. Roosevelt switched it to the fourth Thursday in November,

0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:42.560
<v Speaker 1>not necessarily the last, in an attempt to kick off

0:01:42.560 --> 0:01:46.160
<v Speaker 1>the holiday shopping season a touch earlier. But turkey didn't

0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.920
<v Speaker 1>immediately join the Thanksgiving scene as the staple centerpiece, and

0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:53.000
<v Speaker 1>interestingly enough, the turkeys that you see in the grocery

0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.720
<v Speaker 1>store today don't really resemble the birds that pilgrims in

0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.600
<v Speaker 1>Native Americans may or may not have actually feasted on.

0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:02.320
<v Speaker 1>Turkeys were eaten by both peoples, but had always been

0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:07.520
<v Speaker 1>bred primarily for their striking, dark colored feathers. That plumage

0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:10.080
<v Speaker 1>creates tiny pin pricks of pigment in the flesh that

0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.200
<v Speaker 1>turned off many consumers because of this and debates about

0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.800
<v Speaker 1>which size was most appropriate for both private and commercial usage.

0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.519
<v Speaker 1>A breeding campaign was conducted in the United States during

0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:22.880
<v Speaker 1>the first half of the twentieth century in search of

0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.600
<v Speaker 1>a better selling bird. The modern result is the broad

0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:30.800
<v Speaker 1>breasted white turkey. These turkeys are specters of their ancestors.

0:02:30.919 --> 0:02:34.440
<v Speaker 1>They've been bred to be colorless, larger, and have bigger breasts.

0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.400
<v Speaker 1>Whether you roast it, smoke it, grille, or deep fry it,

0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.560
<v Speaker 1>turkey has really wedged itself a spot on Thanksgiving Day

0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:44.799
<v Speaker 1>dinner table. Some eighty eight percent of American families eat

0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:49.200
<v Speaker 1>turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Back in nineteen twenty nine, Americans

0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:53.120
<v Speaker 1>only ate about eighteen million turkeys annually. By nineteen seventy,

0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.680
<v Speaker 1>that number was approximately one hundred and sixteen million. In

0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.280
<v Speaker 1>twenty seventeen, the number of turkeys raised in the United

0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.000
<v Speaker 1>States was about two hundred and forty five million, and

0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:04.839
<v Speaker 1>that wasn't even a peak year. In nineteen ninety six,

0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.800
<v Speaker 1>US growers produced a record three hundred and three million turkeys,

0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.600
<v Speaker 1>But that doesn't seem to be because more people have

0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:16.080
<v Speaker 1>been eating turkeys at Thanksgiving. That forty five million number

0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:17.960
<v Speaker 1>I mentioned at the top of the episode has been

0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:22.440
<v Speaker 1>holding pretty steady. Back in nineteen seventy, about fifty percent

0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:25.080
<v Speaker 1>of the turkey consumed the United States was eaten around

0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.040
<v Speaker 1>the holidays. Over the years, that number has dropped to

0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.320
<v Speaker 1>about twenty nine percent, meaning people are eating it throughout

0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.800
<v Speaker 1>the year. We know this because overall turkey consumption has

0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.280
<v Speaker 1>about doubled in that same time period. In nineteen seventy,

0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:41.040
<v Speaker 1>Americans chowed down on an average of eight pounds a

0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.120
<v Speaker 1>little more than three and a half kilos of turkey

0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.000
<v Speaker 1>per person per year. That number has now climbed to

0:03:46.040 --> 0:03:49.400
<v Speaker 1>about eighteen pounds. Perhaps all those turkey burgers are the

0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:54.120
<v Speaker 1>reason turkey is a year round fixture on many menus today,

0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.240
<v Speaker 1>and although Thanksgiving is still big business in the industry,

0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.440
<v Speaker 1>turkey would probably retain its popularity even if something else

0:04:00.520 --> 0:04:03.160
<v Speaker 1>like lamb tried to muscle its way into that special

0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:14.200
<v Speaker 1>all holiday celebration. Today's episode is based on the article

0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.720
<v Speaker 1>would turkey be so popular if it didn't have its

0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:19.839
<v Speaker 1>own holiday? On HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Jessica Toothman.

0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:22.840
<v Speaker 1>Brain Stuff is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with

0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:26.080
<v Speaker 1>HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang four

0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:29.160
<v Speaker 1>more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:33.680
<v Speaker 1>Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.