GAINESVILLE, Ga. — When people think of Thanksgiving, the first thing that comes to mind is turkey, the symbol of the holiday. The National Turkey Federation estimates that nearly 30 million turkeys will be eaten across the country this year for the holiday. Also, 87 percent of people planning to celebrate Thanksgiving say that turkey is part of their holiday meal most years, NTF adds.
But have you ever wondered how or why turkey became synonymous with Thanksgiving?
Interestingly enough, turkey wasn’t actually served at what is now known as the “first Thanksgiving” in November of 1621. The three-day feast was a celebration between the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians after the Pilgrims’ first successful corn harvest.
In preparation of the celebration, colony governor, William Bradford, sent four men on a “fowling” mission, according to History.com. However, historians believe that the fowl was duck and/or geese, not turkey. In addition to the waterfowl, they feasted on lots of fruits and vegetables, including the corn the Pilgrims harvested.
Culinary historians believe that seafood was the original centerpiece for the holiday meal. Mussels were abundant in New England and easy to harvest, according to History.com. Also, the colonists often served mussels with curds, which have a similar consistency to cottage cheese. Other seafoods options might have included lobster, bass, clams and oysters.
According to Pilgrim chronicler, Edward Winslow, the Wampanoag also brought an offering of five deer, so there was plenty of meat but no solid evidence that turkey was served. So, it begs the question: how did turkey become such a big part of Thanksgiving?
There were plenty of turkey in the area at the time. Estimates put the total number of wild turkeys at more than 10 million before European settlers arrived, the USDA reported. Also, turkey would have most likely been eaten by people wealthier than the Pilgrims, so they would have known about the bird already.
In fact, by 1789, Americans were eating a lot of turkey. However, it didn’t become a staple until the mid-19th century due to the dedication of Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor and writer. While some people credit Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in 1843 with suggesting the idea of turkey as a holiday meal, according to Britannica.com, the credit really goes to Hale, the mother of Thanksgiving.
In 1827, Hale launched a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. For 36 years, she published multiple editorials and sent numerous letters to politicians, trying to make the holiday official.
Turkey was a key part of Hale’s perfect Thanksgiving. During this time, she wrote a novel, Northwood, that had an entire chapter dedicated to a description of a New England Thanksgiving, turkey included.
Drawing inspiration from Bradford’s history of the Plymouth Plantation, Hale used Bradford’s mention of the abundance of turkeys at the time to build the mythology around the meal and make turkey the centerpiece. Although Bradford never specifically mentioned turkey in his description of the Pilgrims’ feast with the Wampanoag, Hale used creative license to put the poultry at the center of her holiday.
Aside from Hale’s dedication to a perfect Thanksgiving, turkey was also a practical option for the holiday feast. According to History.com, farmers began domesticating wild turkeys for food in the 18th and 19th centuries, but it wasn’t until the 20th century that there was a shift due to the rise of a newly industrialized agricultural sector.
Also, while hens were useful as long as they produced eggs, turkeys are generally only raised for their meat, so they were always available for slaughter on family farms.
“The turkey became the symbolic food that it is now through this combination of cultural advocacy and technological innovations that made shipping frozen large animals across the country possible,” Elan Abrell, a cultural anthropologist and assistant professor in animal studies at Wesleyan University, told History.com. “If we didn’t have that technology, [turkey] would still be a much more regional cuisine.”
So, when you sit down with your Thanksgiving turkey this year, remember to thank Sarah Josepha Hale for her persistence which led to the official federal holiday. However, also remember that if it weren’t for her, we would likely be eating seafood instead of turkey to celebrate this fall holiday.
