Turkey
Meleagris gallopavo
Turkey
and corn (maize): native Americans
Benjamin
Franklin preferred the turkey over the eagle for the national
emblem of the USA. He wrote: " I wish the eagle
had not been
chosen as the representative of our country. He is a bird of bad
moral character, like those among men who live by sharping and robbing,
he is generally poor, and often very lousy. The turkey is a
much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of
America."
( January 26, 1784 letter to his daughter, Sarah Bache) He even advocated putting the big bird on the flag.
Whether Franklin was joking or not, the turkey is all-American, if you consider the America beyond the current boundaries of the USA. The bird most likely originates in Central America/Mexico along with corn (maize), one of its favorite foods. Wild turkeys were a fixture of native American diets. Early European colonists found them plentiful in the land.
Turkeys and thanksgiving rituals of some sort or another have been celebrated since pre-Columbian times. Wild turkeys certainly held off starvation at the Jamestown, Virginia colony. Turkey was a part of the Plymouth, Massachusetts second thanksgiving feast in 1621 and may have been eaten at the first in 1620.
Europeans enthusiastically accepted turkeys after they arrived from the Americas after the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. Naming the bird was another matter. They called the bird after where they thought it originated. So we have "coq d'Inde" (the cock of India) which became the French "dinde" or "dindon." The English may have received the first birds from Turkish merchants and thus they were called "turkey-cocks."
Quoting from The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson on the origin and types of turkeys:
"Wild turkeys of North America are much leaner and more streamlined birds than their modern descendants. In their natural state they live in flocks, roosting in swampy areas and feeding on woodland berries and seeds. They are awkward in flight but run fast. Two distinct races of wild turkey are known---one whose range originally covered eastern N. America from Canada to Texas, and another from further south, around the Gulf of Mexico. The Mexican variety may have been more important. They appear to have been more adaptable and easily domesticated, but the pre-Columbian history of the turkey is obscure. It is thought to have been domesticated late in the 2nd millennium BC, somewhere in Central America. By the time of the Spanish Conquest, it was reared as a table bird and eaten by royalty. The earliest full description of turkeys in Europe was given by Bernardino de Sahagun (1529), who recommended the meat of the hen as fat and savoury, and recorded several modes of preparation, incluing in "tamales."
Turkey prices were fixed in London markets by mid-1550's. In France, Queen Marguerite of Navarre is recorded to have raised turkeys at Alencon in 1534; and 66 turkeys were served at a feast for Catherine de'Medici in 1549. In Belgium, turkey prepared in three different ways (boiled with oysters, roasted and served cold, and in a pasty) was served in 1557 at a banquet held in Liege."
Back in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, turkey began to replace the traditional Christmas goose. Flocks of turkeys were herded into London on foot starting in late August from Suffolk and Norfolk destined to arrive for the holidays.
Turkey breeds, top; Bronze below; White Holland
(Source: Farm Animals in Colour by H. Clausen, Blandford Press, London, 1970)
Wild turkeys in Missouri, USA
(Photo by Jim Rathert and published in Missouri Conservationist magazine April 2003)
Turkey Caller #105
Made of Cypress Sassafrass wood by Curtis Lawrence, Elizabeth, Louisiana, USA
The turkey hunter scrapes the cover over a chalked edge making
a squeaking sound that imitates the male turkey call.
Turkey Chase Thanksgiving greeting postal card, circa 1920's USA
Cover of New England Cook Book
Artist unknown, 1936
No-Sew Fowl Lacer needle and string, circa 1950's USA
Turkey farm, 1920's photo, USA
Click here for an exhibit about Thanksgiving with more turkey images.
( January 26, 1784 letter to his daughter, Sarah Bache) He even advocated putting the big bird on the flag.
Whether Franklin was joking or not, the turkey is all-American, if you consider the America beyond the current boundaries of the USA. The bird most likely originates in Central America/Mexico along with corn (maize), one of its favorite foods. Wild turkeys were a fixture of native American diets. Early European colonists found them plentiful in the land.
Turkeys and thanksgiving rituals of some sort or another have been celebrated since pre-Columbian times. Wild turkeys certainly held off starvation at the Jamestown, Virginia colony. Turkey was a part of the Plymouth, Massachusetts second thanksgiving feast in 1621 and may have been eaten at the first in 1620.
Europeans enthusiastically accepted turkeys after they arrived from the Americas after the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century. Naming the bird was another matter. They called the bird after where they thought it originated. So we have "coq d'Inde" (the cock of India) which became the French "dinde" or "dindon." The English may have received the first birds from Turkish merchants and thus they were called "turkey-cocks."
Quoting from The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson on the origin and types of turkeys:
"Wild turkeys of North America are much leaner and more streamlined birds than their modern descendants. In their natural state they live in flocks, roosting in swampy areas and feeding on woodland berries and seeds. They are awkward in flight but run fast. Two distinct races of wild turkey are known---one whose range originally covered eastern N. America from Canada to Texas, and another from further south, around the Gulf of Mexico. The Mexican variety may have been more important. They appear to have been more adaptable and easily domesticated, but the pre-Columbian history of the turkey is obscure. It is thought to have been domesticated late in the 2nd millennium BC, somewhere in Central America. By the time of the Spanish Conquest, it was reared as a table bird and eaten by royalty. The earliest full description of turkeys in Europe was given by Bernardino de Sahagun (1529), who recommended the meat of the hen as fat and savoury, and recorded several modes of preparation, incluing in "tamales."
Turkey prices were fixed in London markets by mid-1550's. In France, Queen Marguerite of Navarre is recorded to have raised turkeys at Alencon in 1534; and 66 turkeys were served at a feast for Catherine de'Medici in 1549. In Belgium, turkey prepared in three different ways (boiled with oysters, roasted and served cold, and in a pasty) was served in 1557 at a banquet held in Liege."
Back in England in the 17th and 18th centuries, turkey began to replace the traditional Christmas goose. Flocks of turkeys were herded into London on foot starting in late August from Suffolk and Norfolk destined to arrive for the holidays.
Turkey breeds, top; Bronze below; White Holland
(Source: Farm Animals in Colour by H. Clausen, Blandford Press, London, 1970)
Wild turkeys in Missouri, USA
(Photo by Jim Rathert and published in Missouri Conservationist magazine April 2003)
Turkey Caller #105
Made of Cypress Sassafrass wood by Curtis Lawrence, Elizabeth, Louisiana, USA
The turkey hunter scrapes the cover over a chalked edge making
a squeaking sound that imitates the male turkey call.
Turkey Chase Thanksgiving greeting postal card, circa 1920's USA
Cover of New England Cook Book
Artist unknown, 1936
No-Sew Fowl Lacer needle and string, circa 1950's USA
Turkey farm, 1920's photo, USA
Click here for an exhibit about Thanksgiving with more turkey images.