Would turkey still be a favorite without its dedicated holiday?

While turkey ranks fourth among America's preferred proteins, it takes center stage on one special day each year [source: National Turkey Federation]. Every Thanksgiving Day, chicken, beef, and pork step aside for their feathered counterpart, the turkey. However, for turkeys, Thanksgiving is far from a celebration. In 2007 alone, an estimated 46 million turkeys were eaten, with some even being stuffed with a duck and a chicken to create the extravagant turducken [source: National Turkey Federation].

Elementary school students often depict the origins of Thanksgiving Day with homemade costumes of Pilgrims and Native Americans, celebrating the 1621 feast between the Wampanoag tribe and British settlers near Plymouth Rock. While the two groups did share a meal and establish a treaty lasting over 50 years, it wasn't until President Abraham Lincoln's 1863 proclamation that November 26 was declared a national day of gratitude [source: Encyclopedia Britannica]. Before this, New England colonists occasionally held days of prayer to thank God for blessings, but nothing compared to the nationwide Thanksgiving celebrations we know today.

Presidents after Lincoln continued to designate the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving until 1942, when Franklin D. Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday to slightly extend the holiday shopping season [source: Encyclopedia Britannica].

Turkey wasn't always the star of Thanksgiving. In fact, the turkeys we buy today look nothing like the ones Pilgrims and Native Americans might have eaten during their famous feast. Those were smaller, wild or domesticated turkeys that grew slowly, lived longer, and didn't look particularly appealing after being prepared.

The dark feathers of native turkeys left tiny pigment spots in the meat, which many consumers found unappetizing. This, along with disagreements over the ideal size for home and commercial use, led to a breeding effort in the early 20th century. The outcome is the broad-breasted white turkey, a larger, colorless bird with a bigger breast, far removed from its ancestors.

No matter how you cook it—roasted, smoked, grilled, or deep-fried—turkey has secured its place as the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner. But how popular would turkeys be without their starring role in this holiday feast? On the next page, we’ll explore how this humble bird rose to fame.

Crunching the Numbers: Thanksgiving Turkey

Let’s examine the golden-brown roast that appears on nearly 88 percent of American tables during Thanksgiving Day [source: National Turkey Federation]. In 1929, Americans consumed around 18 million turkeys annually, but by 1970, that figure jumped to 116 million. By 2007, U.S. farmers raised about 272 million turkeys, though this wasn’t the peak—1996 saw a record 303 million turkeys produced [source: USDA]. Of the 2007 turkeys, roughly 235 million were consumed domestically, with 10 percent exported—a significant increase from 1.2 percent in 1990 [source: National Turkey Federation].

Thanksgiving complicates the turkey consumption story. In 2007, Americans ate 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving Day, averaging 15 pounds each, totaling nearly 700 million pounds of turkey [source: National Turkey Federation]. While turkey consumption has risen over the years, with more birds being exported, the increase isn’t limited to the November holiday.

In 1970, about half of all turkey consumed in the U.S. was eaten during the holidays. Today, that figure has dropped to 29 percent, indicating that people now enjoy turkey year-round [source: National Turkey Federation]. This is evident as overall turkey consumption has nearly doubled since 1970, from 8 pounds per person annually to about 18 pounds [source: National Turkey Federation]. Whether it’s due to turkey being low in fat and high in protein, this once-seasonal bird has become a daily favorite.

The conclusion? In the 1970s, turkey was a holiday staple, but today, it’s a year-round menu item. While Thanksgiving remains a major event for the turkey industry, its popularity would likely persist even if other meats tried to claim the spotlight during the fall festivities.