Let's Talk Turkey

With less than two weeks til Thanksgiving, I know a handful of cooks/hostesses who are giving much thought to what will be the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving meal. Well, thanks to that wonderful book I've been reading, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (by Barbara Kingsolver), let me enlighten you about your bird. Why is a non-meat eater fascinated with turkey? Read on, kind blog reader . . . read on.

Ninety-nine percent of the 400 million turkeys consumed in the US each year are the Broad-Breasted White. Yes, that is the name of the breed and it was specifically bred for our American fascination with all things 'chesty' and 'well endowed' (turkey boobs, included). I'd be OK with this if it wasn't for one thing. These turkeys would not survive in the wild. Should a bird escape the 'block,' it would collapse. Literally. When full grown, their legs collapse, unable to carry their feathered buxom burden. Can they fly? No. Can they forage for food? Nope. They have to be fed from a trough; necks don't reach the ground. Can they knock feathered boots in the hopes of producing the next generation of buxom birds? NO! These poor birds are wing to wing in floor-to-ceiling stacked cages where there is no hope for fresh air or natural sunlight or sex (had they the capability to indulge in the act)! It takes a special (I'll say) turkey sperm-wrangler to harvest sperm so the females can be artificially inseminated for next year's turkeys.

Now, how natural is that? Do you think that is what the Native Americans had to do to produce birds for the first Thanksgiving? Can't ladle the cold hard truth with any amount of gravy. Your bird on the table in not natural. Go organic, go free-range, go heirloom bred (try Slow Food USA or Local Harvest for information). Me? I'm sticking with something from the sea for Thanksgiving.

Author's note: Don't even ask about the weather or my mood. It is not that I have a ton of things to do outside, I'm just irritable that I don't have outdoor activity as an option should I choose to exercise it. Oh! And up top? Not my picture. Got it from the web to show y'all broad-breasted whites.