Certain holidays are associated with different foods, and for Thanksgiving, thats turkey — but why is that what we eat? We asked a history expert to learn more.
For many Americans, Thanksgiving dinner just wouldn’t feel complete without a roasted turkey as the centerpiece. But while turkey and Thanksgiving go hand-in-hand today, that culinary tradition is actually less than 200 years old.
A Brief History of Thanksgiving
The story of the “first Thanksgiving” is a familiar one. In 1621, English Puritans known as the Pilgrims held a three-day feast to celebrate their first successful harvest since establishing Plymouth Colony. Local Wampanoag people joined the feast, bringing deer and other game to add to the Pilgrims’ harvest bounty.
Historical accounts of this event don’t actually mention turkey being present The only surviving documents describe a meal of venison, wild fowl likely meaning ducks and geese, seafood, and corn bread and porridge made from the maize harvest
Thanksgiving feasts like this were common in various colonies and communities throughout the 1600s to 1800s. Different regions celebrated at different times of year depending on their harvest seasons. These were local affairs not official holidays.
By the 1700s, turkeys were being widely hunted for food. But they were just one option among the beef, pork, chicken and other meats colonists raised or hunted. There’s no evidence turkeys were specifically associated with Thanksgiving during this period
How Turkey Came to Dominate Thanksgiving Dinner
So how did turkey become our iconic Thanksgiving feast centerpiece? We can largely thank one woman for creating that association – Sarah Josepha Hale.
Hale was a writer and editor who campaigned for over 20 years to establish Thanksgiving as a fixed national holiday. Through her popular magazines and books, she relentlessly promoted roast turkey and other seasonal New England foods as must-haves for Thanksgiving meals.
New England had a strong turkey-raising tradition, so it made sense for Hale to champion this meat. Compared to cows kept for dairy or chickens for eggs, turkeys put plenty of tasty meat on the table with little ongoing farm work.
By the 1850s, Hale had succeeded in spreading the Thanksgiving-turkey tradition through much of the country. When Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, the custom was already ingrained. Advances in poultry farming and freezing technologies in the late 1800s further cemented turkey’s prominence.
Turkey Takes Over Thanksgiving
By the early 20th century, roast turkey reigned supreme as the Thanksgiving meal centerpiece across America:
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In 1939, George H.W. Bush cooked and served Thanksgiving turkeys at Phillips Academy. This began an annual tradition of the “National Thanksgiving Turkey” presented to the president.
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Commercial turkey producers like Jennie-O and Butterball transformed turkey from a seasonal delicacy to a year-round staple by developing frozen turkeys and marketing turkey recipes.
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Pop culture reinforced the turkey-Thanksgiving link. Norman Rockwell’s iconic 1943 Freedom From Want painting featured a whole roast turkey on the table.
Today, nearly 90% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving. The once-endangered wild turkey is back with a population of over 7 million across North America. For better or worse, this big bird has become inseparable from our yearly November feast.
The Evolution of the Classic Thanksgiving Turkey
While turkeys were part of Colonial America’s culinary landscape, the birds themselves have changed a lot since those early days. Here’s how turkey farming innovations transformed the Thanksgiving turkey into its modern form:
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17th-19th centuries: Colonists hunted wild turkeys, descendants of Mexican turkeys domesticated by Aztecs. These lean, agile birds differed from commercial turkeys today.
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Late 19th century: As turkey became the Thanksgiving staple, domestic turkey breeds were selectively bred to be larger and meatier for more white breast meat.
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1920s-1930s: The prized Broad Breasted Bronze and Broad Breasted White breeds emerge, providing the excessive breast meat we expect of a roast turkey today.
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1940s-1950s: Broad Breasted Whites become the dominant commercial breed, comprising over 99% of farm-raised turkeys by the 1960s. Their large, plump frames grow rapidly thanks to vitamin-enhanced feed.
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1960s-1970s: Advances in artificial insemination, mechanized processing and refrigerated distribution solidify the industrial turkey farming system.
So while the modern Thanksgiving turkey traces its roots back over 400 years, the big bird on your table represents only decades of intentional genetic tweaks for fast growth and breast meat yield.
Alternatives to Turkey for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving weekend is still prime turkey time, with around 40 million consumed during the holiday. But the growth of smaller, more diverse family gatherings has sparked interest in alternative main dishes. Here are some turkey alternates bringing new flavor to the holiday table:
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Ham: A festive, boneless option requiring less work. Glaze or spice rubs like clove, mustard and brown sugar add signature flavor.
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Beef tenderloin roasts: Elegant, tender, and easy to cook medium-rare without drying out. A mustard-herb crust adds spice.
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Pork crown roasts: Impressive bone-in presentation with stuffing cooked inside. The succulent meat stays moist.
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Cornish game hens: Individual petite birds can provide more crispy skin per guest. Simple sauces create big flavor.
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Goose or duck: Rich, dark meat offers a retro taste. Sear then roast low and slow until the crispy skin renders fat.
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Plant-based roasts: Veggie-based roasts appeal to vegetarians or flexitarians. Nutty, savory ingredients like mushrooms and walnuts mimic meat.
While turkey may still rule most Thanksgiving feasts, more home cooks are getting creative with their main course options. The traditional bird certainly faces some new competition at the holiday table today.
So there you have it – the fascinating backstory of how turkey came to dominate the Thanksgiving meal over a couple of centuries. This succulent bird truly earned its title as the quintessential centerpiece of our most food-focused holiday.
What’s the history behind traditional Thanksgiving foods?
Much of what is eaten at Thanksgiving today originated from Mexico and South America, according to Bruce Smith, senior scientist at the Smithsonians National Museum of Natural History.
“We can trace many of these foods up through the southwestern United States into other parts of the country,” he shared in a post on the Smithsonians website. “Most likely this diffusion happened as a result of trading or other contact among American Indian tribes in this country.”
For example, corn was domesticated in Mexico more than 8,000 years ago, the Smithsonians post adds.
“This important crop plant arrived in the southwestern United States by 4,000 years ago, and reached eastern North America at about 200 B.C.” the post reads.
Some Thanksgiving foods have a more recent history than turkey. Cranberry sauce, for example, is a relatively recent addition to the menu.
“While cranberries may have been available at the first Thanksgiving, they were bitter and unpopular in the colonies until later — when sugar from the Caribbean was cheaper and more abundant,” Bickham said. “Canned cranberry sauce first appeared in 1912 but was not sold nationally until 1941.”
Pumpkin pie as we know it today also became popular more recently.
“While pumpkin pie had been on the menu for well over a hundred years, it was not until 1929 when the Libby company began producing a line of canned pumpkin, simplifying the process for making the pie, did it become a Thanksgiving staple,” Tennessee Tech history professor Troy Smith wrote in a post shared on the universitys website.
Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?
Turkeys spot on the holiday table can be traced back to a famous American author Sarah Josepha Hale, and her popular book, in which she described a traditional Thanksgiving meal that included a roast turkey.
“For decades, she advocated for an annual Thanksgiving until President Abraham Lincoln made it an official holiday in 1863,” CBS News Anne-Marie Green reported ahead of last years holiday.
There were also some practical reasons that explain why the turkey has stuck around, Troy Bickham, a professor of history at Texas A&M University, told CBS News, including it being an “ideal celebration bird.”
“At sizes much larger than chickens or geese, they both feed more people and provide an impressive centerpiece to any large celebratory meal. For these reasons, the English brought back turkeys to breed and farm, where they became fairly common in the 16th century,” he said. “When the Pilgrims arrived in America, the turkey would not have been unfamiliar.”
There were about 10 million turkeys in free colonized America at the time, Green reported.
In the 19th century, wild turkeys still roamed much of the eastern half of the United States, from Texas to Maine, Bickham said.
“They are relatively easy to raise in captivity, so they were abundant,” he said.
Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving? | COLOSSAL QUESTIONS
FAQ
When did the tradition of eating turkey on Thanksgiving start?
For centuries, different cultures and religions have celebrated their harvests with a Thanksgiving feast, but the version of the Pilgrim’s feast didn’t come about until the 1800s. It was during this period that roasted turkey became ingrained in the traditional American Thanksgiving meal.
Did the Pilgrims actually eat turkey on the first Thanksgiving?
That’s right—turkey might not have even been present at the first Thanksgiving. The birds were probably stuffed with onions and nuts instead of the bread cubes and sausage more familiar to us today, then boiled or roasted.
Who decided to have turkey on Thanksgiving?
Some people have credited Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843) with bolstering the idea of turkey as a holiday meal. But another writer, Sarah Josepha Hale, played an arguably more important role.
When did humans start eating turkey?
Turkey meat has been eaten by indigenous peoples from Mexico, Central America, and the southern tier of the United States since antiquity. In the 15th century, Spanish conquistadores took Aztec turkeys back to Europe. Turkey was eaten in as early as the 16th century in England.
Did all the Thanksgiving meals have a Turkey in them?
The meals that she described all had turkey in them. While the turkey in itself was not a main point of her book, her campaigns to get Thanksgiving to become an official holiday were.
Why do we eat turkeys on Thanksgiving?
Unlike chickens kept for eggs or cows for dairy, turkeys were raised just for their meat. This made them very convenient to slaughter for special meals and celebrations. Thanks largely to Hale’s advocacy, more states began adopting annual Thanksgiving holidays by the mid-1800s.
How many turkeys do Americans eat a year?
Today, Americans eat almost 46 million turkeys (about 3 pounds per person) every Thanksgiving Day (and another 22 million at Christmas no wonder turkeys need a Presidential pardon on Thanksgiving ). That number is growing, according to the National Turkey Federation. How many turkeys are eaten each year can vary with the size of the gatherings.
Was Turkey on the table at the first Thanksgiving?
Turkey likely wasn’t on the table at the first Thanksgiving, but it eventually became the featured dish, thanks in part to an 1827 novel.
How many birds eat Thanksgiving turkeys a year?
U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates now put annual Thanksgiving turkey consumption at over 46 million birds. The wild turkey has also made a major resurgence, with flocks now freely inhabiting New England landscapes.
Was Turkey a holiday meal?
Third, a single turkey was usually big enough to feed a family. Nevertheless, turkeys were not yet synonymous with Thanksgiving. Some people have credited Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol (1843) with bolstering the idea of turkey as a holiday meal. But another writer, Sarah Josepha Hale, played an arguably more important role.