WHY DO WE EAT TURKEY ON THANKSGIVING?

Chuck Morgan, Crime Fiction Author

So, in keeping with the spirit of Thanksgiving, I thought I would step away from my usual weekly blog about self-publishing fiction books and ask a question that many people might be thinking this morning.

WHY DO WE EAT TURKEY ON THANKSGIVING?

We are all aware of the story of the first Thanksgiving that we are taught in school. The pilgrims and the indigenous people and the feast they shared. Now, whether you believe the whole story, the question remains. Why do we eat turkey now?

Earlier this week the Vice President asked a military gathering. Who likes turkey? Most of the crowd raised their hands. Some because they like turkey and some because it was the Vice President asking the question. When they lowered their hands, the Vice President told them they were full of shit. Nobody likes turkey. That might be a bit of an overstatement because I think there are some people who actually like turkey, but he had a point. I have never agreed with anything the VP has said, but he may be on to something. So, after a discussion around the dinner table yesterday, we came to the same conclusion. Most of us don't really like turkey. So why do we eat it?

Turkey is a pain in the butt to be honest. No matter your choice of cooking methods, turkey is dry and has little taste. It takes too long to cook and takes up too much room in the refrigerator. And we seem to have leftovers for weeks. I'm sure my family is a lot like yours. We eat the same food every week. Steak, chicken, pork chops, pizza, pasta or some variation. No one ever asks if we can have turkey for dinner, to change things up. And let's look at the sides. Stuffing can be made in 5 minutes and comes out of a box, yet we never have stuffing for a change of pace. Cranberry sauce is available year-round on the grocery store shelves. My son loves cranberry sauce. He ate almost an entire can yesterday, by himself, yet we never buy it for a change of pace, and he does the grocery shopping. Then we come to Green Bean Casserole. I find it hard to believe that anyone in the world likes green bean casserole. How often do you make green bean casserole other than Thanksgiving? I'll bet not much, yet green beans are available all year round.

So, on a holiday, when we are supposed to be thankful for everything and everyone we have in our lives. Why do we eat food we don't eat at other times and probably don't really like?

I think we have been programmed from birth, by generations of parents and grandparents that eating turkey on Thanksgiving is what we do, and we don't really think about it. It's almost patriotic. By eating turkey, we are honoring our forefathers and the sacrifices they made. I'm not sure I buy that. I think it's more primal. I think we eat turkey and all the fixings because we believe we have to. That not eating turkey would violate some secret rule that no one has ever seen, but we all know exists. Because our parents said so.

Turkey is a $4 billion industry, with about $1billion in sales occurring over Thanksgiving. If you look at those numbers, a lot of people must be eating turkey during the rest of the year. But who are they? The industry even makes it simple for us. You don't need to buy the whole bird. You can buy breasts, wings, thighs or legs. All individually wrapped and ready to defrost and cook. It couldn't be simpler, but in my family. We don't do it.

Many people go to festivals and events and walk around all day chewing on a turkey leg. Why? I think it has to do with our ancient ancestors. When we see a roasting turkey leg at a festival, our tiny speck of Neanderthal gene kicks in and takes over the rest our gene pool. It's our chance to go caveman and we chow down. Besides, who can resist a pretty girl or a tall strapping guy in a period costume munching on a huge turkey leg and knowing that we can be part of the club?

Bottom line, it comes down to us. What do we want? Do we want to eat turkey because we always have and it's what we are supposed to do or do we want to eat something we are truly thankful for. Our conclusion. Next year we are probably going to go Italian.

Happy Thanksgiving.