What Percentage of American Homes Eat Turkey on Christmas?

While it may rank fourth among America’s best protein options, there are certain days of the year when nothing else will do [source: National Turkey Federation]. On Thanksgiving Day, turkey takes precedence over chicken, beef, and pork as the poultry companion. For turkeys, however, Thanksgiving isnt such a blessing. An astounding 46 million turkeys are thought to have been eaten for the holiday in 2007; some of them unfortunately ended up being stuffed not just with stuffing but also with a duck and a chicken to make turducken, a poultry profusion [source: National Turkey Federation]

Elementary school children, all dressed up as Pilgrims and Indians in mom-made costumes, frequently depict the arrival of Thanksgiving Day as a riotous celebration between the Wampanoag tribe of Native Americans, who lived near Plymouth Rock, and their newly acquired British neighbors in 1621. Despite the fact that the two groups did eat together and subsequently sign a treaty that lasted for more than 50 years, President Abraham Lincoln did not establish the official national holiday until November 26, 1863, was designated as a national day of gratitude [source: Encyclopedia Britannica]. Prior to that, New England colonists occasionally observed Thanksgivings, which were days spent in prayer and gratitude to God for various fortunate occurrences. However, these celebrations were nowhere near as extensive as the national Thanksgiving holidays that are observed today.

The last Thursday in November was designated as the holiday every year by presidents after Lincoln until 1942, when Franklin D. In an effort to start the holiday shopping season a little bit earlier, Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday in November—not necessarily the last [source: Encyclopedia Britannica]

Interestingly enough, the turkeys you see in the grocery store nowadays don’t really resemble the birds that Pilgrims and Native Americans may or may not have actually feasted on during their fabled meal. However, turkey didn’t immediately enter the Thanksgiving scene as the staple centerpiece. Those would have been either wild or domesticated native turkeys, with a tendency toward small size, natural reproduction, longer lifespans, slower growth, and—possibly most importantly—no attractive corpses.

The striking dark plumage causes tiny pigment pinpricks in the flesh, which turned off a lot of customers. This led to discussions about the ideal size for both personal and commercial use, and as a result, a breeding program was started in the US in the first half of the 20th century to find a bird that would sell better. The modern result is the broad breasted white turkey. These birds have been bred to be larger, colorless, and with larger breasts, making them specters of their ancestors.

Turkey has cemented itself firmly on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table, whether it is roasted, smoked, grilled, or deep-fried. Now that they weren’t the centerpiece of elaborate Thanksgiving spreads, how would turkeys have fared on the popularity charts? Find out how the tenacious bird managed to climb to the top on the following page.

Crunching the Numbers: Thanksgiving Turkey

­Now lets take a closer look at the golden-brown roast that graces the tables of some 88 percent of American families on Thanksgiving Day [source: National Turkey Federation]. Back in 1929, Americans ate only about 18 million turkeys annually; by 1970, that number was approximately 116 million. In 2007, the number of turkeys raised in the United States was about 272 million, and that wasnt even a peak year. In 1996, U.S. growers produced a record 303 million turkeys [source: USDA]. Now keep in mind, out of the 2007 birds, only about 235 million of those got tossed down the gullets of Americans, about 10 percent were exported — up from only 1.2 percent in 1990 [source: National Turkey Federation].

When it comes to Thanksgiving, things arent quite so straightforward. As we previously stated, 46 million turkeys were consumed on Thanksgiving Day in the United States in 2007. That comes to almost 700 million pounds of turkey, assuming each person weighs 15 pounds on average [source: National Turkey Federation]. However, Americans haven’t just been eating more turkey on a particular November night; they have also been consuming more turkey overall over time and starting to export an increasing amount of birds.

Back in 1970, about 50 percent of the turkey consumed in the United States was eaten around the holidays. Over the years that number has dropped to about 29 percent — meaning people are eating it throughout the year [source: National Turkey Federation]. We know this because overall turkey consumption has about doubled in that same time period. In 1970, Americans chowed down an average of 8 pounds (a little more than 3 and a half kilograms) of turkey per person per year; that number has now climbed to about 18 pounds [source: National Turkey Federation]. Maybe its the fact that turkeys tend to be low in fat and high in protein, but whatever the reason, the now-flightless fowls seem to be getting more popular for the dinner table every day.

The conclusion? Given that turkey was the most popular holiday meal in the days of disco, people may have been grabbing it off the shelves. But in the 20th century, the tables are turning. Many menus feature turkey all year round, and even though Thanksgiving is still a major event for the industry, turkey would likely continue to be popular even if mutton and lamb made an attempt to take center stage in that unique fall holiday celebration.

Is all this talk of turkey making you sleepy? Well, as you can read in “Is there something in turkey that makes you sleepy?” its probably not the tryptophan thats the culprit. For more interesting information about poultry and holidays, you can dig into some of the links on the next page. Other Holiday Gobbles

It isnt just Thanksgiving — roast turkey is popular on other holidays too, especially as a Christmas dish in many European countries. Americans also frequently consume turkey on Christmas and Easter — in 2007, to the tune of 22 million and 19 million birds, respectively [source: National Turkey Federation].

Why do we eat turkey for Christmas (and Thanksgiving)? | Episode 8 | BBC Ideas