Why do we eat turkey for Thanksgiving? (Non-Survey Blog)
Why do we eat turkey for Thanksgiving?
Hasn’t anyone ever wondered why we eat Turkey for Thanksgiving? When did it become a tradition for Turkey to be at the dinner table? I have a feeling that it has to do with one more thing history tried to cover up. We all know that Thanksgiving is not about the Native Americans and Europeans coming together. In fact, there was a massive genocide that had killed approximately 95% of the Native American population when the Europeans came over following the year 1492 (Trabich). They brought in much diseases and materials that would disrupt much of their economic and social structures (Trabich).
Apparently some of the reasons why Thanksgiving adopted the Turkey as a main dish were because of their affordability and the fact that they were big enough to feed a crowd (Tsai). There was no huge economic sacrifice behind slaughtering a turkey as opposed to chicken (Tsai). Turkeys are native species to North America. They are well spotted because they are the largest birds in the wild open spaces of forests. Chicken in the late 19th century was also more valuable to people because they laid eggs more than turkey would (Tsai). Traditions from British holidays would also fit more appropriately in the “New World” since big birds were used on special occasions (Tsai). It wasn’t until 1540 that the Turkey was brought over to England (Tsai). Turkeys are also more abundant in the fall feast because they had matured (Tsai). Turkey usually produced offspring in the spring and those offspring would be ready by November. Generally, before we had the technology to preserve food for long, people during the fall months would back pies and meat for the winter months (Tsai).
Turkey became very popular by the time Lincoln had proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863 (Tsai). Charles Dickens in his book, “A Christmas Carol,” has helped popularized Turkey as the main dishes for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas (Tsai). Since to the wealthy, Turkey was associated to the working class and poor, only the wealthy changed their main Christmas dishes to more expensive meats (Tsai).
Works Cited
1. Trabich, Leah. "Native American Genocide Still Haunts the United States." End to Intolerance. 5.June (1997): Print.
2. Tsai, Michelle. "Wherefore Turkey?." Slate. Washington Post. Newsweek, 25 Nov 2009. Web. 16 Dec 2010. <http://www.slate.com/id/2236440/>.