Let’s Talk Turkey

A few facts about turkey, from Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Attack of the Factoids.

Ben Franklin despised eagles and lobbied hard to name the turkey our national bird. (He lost.)

There are about 4.5 million wild turkeys living free in the United States. They can fly 55 mph and run 25 mph. Domesticated turkeys, however, have been bred to be so overweight and front-heavy that they can’t build up any significant speed, loft, or distance.

For more than 100 years Massachusetts had no wild turkeys. But thanks to a reintroduction program in nearby New York in the 1970s, more than 20,000 now roam the state.

Most American ice-cream trucks play a song called “Turkey in the Straw.” (British trucks play “Greensleeves.”)

Big Bird’s costume includes about 6,000 turkey feathers dyed yellow.

The first in-flight meal: turkey and vegetables, served aboard the luxury 16-passenger Russian Ilia Mouriametz biplanes in 1914. The meals stopped later that year when the large airplanes were converted into heavy bombers for World War I.

First Swanson’s TV Dinner, released in 1954: turkey, cornbread dressing, frozen peas, and sweet potatoes.

Turkeys originated in Mexico. Introduced to Spain in the 1500s, Turkish merchants sold the birds all over Europe (one theory as to how they got their name). The turkeys we eat today are descendants of those European birds.

The Pilgrims were familiar with turkeys before reaching the New World— they brought them in 1620.