WEBVTT - Would Turkey Be So Popular Without Thanksgiving?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren voglebam here. It might come in fourth

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<v Speaker 1>on the list of America's top protein choices, but one

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<v Speaker 1>day out of the year, nothing else will do. Every

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<v Speaker 1>Thanksgiving Day, chicken, beef, and pork all step aside and

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<v Speaker 1>make room for their poultry compadre, the turkey. For turkeys, however,

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<v Speaker 1>Thanksgiving isn't such a blessing. It's estimated that in seventeen

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<v Speaker 1>a whopping forty five million turkeys were consumed for the occasion,

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<v Speaker 1>some suffering the fate of being stuffed not only with

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<v Speaker 1>stuffing but also with a duck and chicken to create

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<v Speaker 1>that poultry profusion called the Urduccan that we discussed a

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<v Speaker 1>couple episodes ago. There are a couple competing origin stories

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<v Speaker 1>for the Thanksgiving feast, including a couple of meals shared

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<v Speaker 1>between Native Americans and European colonists stretching back to the

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen hundreds, but it wasn't an official American holiday until

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<v Speaker 1>President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed November eighteen sixty three a National

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<v Speaker 1>day of Giving thanks. Before that, Thanksgivings days spent in prayer,

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<v Speaker 1>thanking God for some fortuitous event or another were periodically

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<v Speaker 1>celebrated by New England colonists, but not anything like the

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<v Speaker 1>level of the national Thanksgiving festivities we see today. Presidents

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<v Speaker 1>following Lincoln annually proclaimed the holiday the last Thursday in November,

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<v Speaker 1>until when Franklin D. Roosevelt switched it to the fourth

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<v Speaker 1>Thursday in November, not necessarily the last, in an attempt

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<v Speaker 1>to kick off the holiday shopping season a touch earlier.

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<v Speaker 1>But turkey didn't immediately join the Thanksgiving scene as the

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<v Speaker 1>staple centerpiece, and interestingly enough, the turkeys that you see

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<v Speaker 1>in the grocery store today don't really resemble the birds

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<v Speaker 1>that Pilgrims and Native Americans may or may not have

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<v Speaker 1>actually feasted on. Turkeys were eaten by both peoples, but

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<v Speaker 1>had always been bred primarily for their striking, dark colored feathers.

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<v Speaker 1>That plumage creates tiny pinpricks of pigment in the flesh

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<v Speaker 1>that turned off many consumers. Because of this and debates

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<v Speaker 1>about which size was most appropriate for both private and

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<v Speaker 1>commercial usage, a breeding campaign was conducted in the United

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<v Speaker 1>States during the first half of the twentieth century in

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<v Speaker 1>search of a better selling bird. The modern result is

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<v Speaker 1>the broad breasted white turkey. These turkeys are specters of

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<v Speaker 1>their ancestors. They've been bred to be colorless, larger, and

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<v Speaker 1>have bigger breasts. Whether you roasted, smoke it, grill it,

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<v Speaker 1>or deep fri it, turkey has really wedged itself a

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<v Speaker 1>spot on Thanksgiving Day dinner table. Some eighty eight percent

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<v Speaker 1>of American families eat turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Back in

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<v Speaker 1>ninety nine, Americans only eight about eighteen million turkeys annually.

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<v Speaker 1>By nineteen seventy, that number was approximately a hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>sixteen million. In seventeen, the number of turkeys raised in

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<v Speaker 1>the United States was about two hundred and forty five million,

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<v Speaker 1>and that wasn't even a peak year. In nineteen six,

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<v Speaker 1>US growers produced a record three hundred and three million turkeys.

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<v Speaker 1>But that doesn't seem to be because more people have

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<v Speaker 1>been eating turkeys at Thanksgiving. That forty million number mentioned

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<v Speaker 1>at the top of the episode has been holding pretty steady.

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<v Speaker 1>Back in nine seventy, about fifty of the turkey consumed

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<v Speaker 1>the United States was eaten around the holidays. Over the years,

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<v Speaker 1>that number has dropped to about meaning people are eating

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<v Speaker 1>it throughout the year. We know this because overall turkey

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<v Speaker 1>consumption has about doubled in that same time period. In

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<v Speaker 1>seventy Americans chowed down on an average of eight pounds

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<v Speaker 1>a little more than three and a half kilos of

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<v Speaker 1>turkey per person per year. That number has now climbed

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<v Speaker 1>to about eighteen pounds. Perhaps all those turkey burgers are

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<v Speaker 1>the reason turkey is a year round fixture on many

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<v Speaker 1>menus today, and although Thanksgiving is still big business in

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<v Speaker 1>the industry, turkey would probably retain its popularity even if

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<v Speaker 1>something else like lamb tried to muscle its way into

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<v Speaker 1>that special all holiday celebration. Today's episode was written by

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<v Speaker 1>Jessica Toothman and produced by Tyler Clay. Brain Stuff is

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<v Speaker 1>a production of I Heeart Radios How Stuff Works. For

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<v Speaker 1>more in the history of turkeys and Thanksgiving, check out

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<v Speaker 1>my other show Savored It's a Wild Ride, and for

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<v Speaker 1>more on this and lots of other topics that aren't

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<v Speaker 1>just talking turkey, visit our home planet how Stuffworks dot com.

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