13 Turkey Trivia Tidbits
It’s November! For many Americans, November is a special month to show gratitude and celebrate Thanksgiving.
Here’s some fun turkey trivia.
1-Male turkeys (tom) gobble. Female turkeys (hen) click.
2-Wild turkeys can run 20 miles per hour and fly up to 55 miles per hour. Domesticated turkeys can’t fly.
3-Turkey’s zinc and niacin rank it as a Top 10 food for eye health.
4-According to fossil evidence, turkeys have wandered America for 10 million years.
5-The US raised an estimated 242 million turkeys in 2014. Around 46 million turkeys were eaten for Thanksgiving dinner.
6-Americans generally prefer white turkey meat. About 70% of a turkey is white meat. White meat has less fat and fewer calories than dark meat, but dark meat is a better choice for soups and grilling.
7-Benjamin Franklin thought the turkey should be America’s national bird and told his daughter, “I wish the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country! The turkey is a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America.”
8-Pardoning Thanksgiving turkeys became official in 1947. However, the first turkey pardoning occurred in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln pardoned Jack, his son’s pet turkey.
9-Three small US towns are named after the famous bird–Turkey, Texas; Turkey, North Carolina; and Turkey Creek, Louisiana.
10-Frazee, Minnesota, boasted the world’s largest, man-made (paper mache) turkey and itself as Turkey Capitol of the World. In 1998, Big Tom, the paper mache turkey went up in flames and burned to a crisp, but was promptly replaced by an improved version later that year. The new version is made of fiberglass, weighs 5,000 pounds and is over 20 feet tall.
11-In 1968, Apollo 8 astronauts opened their Christmas Eve meal rations and enjoyed a dinner of thermo-stabilized turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce. They didn’t have to re-hydrate the food and could eat it with a spoon.
12-Swanson successfully launched their frozen TV dinner in 1953. The contents? A Thanksgiving meal of turkey, stuffing, frozen peas and sweet potatoes. A surplus in frozen turkeys inspired the idea.
13- Thanksgiving meal calories tend to hover around 3,000 for the meal (not including drinks, samplings or snacks.) So, most people probably do gain weight on Thanksgiving Day since 3,500 calories equals a pound of body weight.
Cedric Bryant provided a caloric breakdown of your Thanksgiving day plate
Turkey (dark meat with skin): Serving size: Two – three slices (8 oz.), Calories: 430
Stuffing: Serving size: 1 cup, Calories: 320
Green bean casserole: Serving size: 1 serving, Calories: 160
Mashed potatoes: Serving size: 1 cup, Calories: 240
Gravy: Serving size: 1/4 cup, Calories: 205
Cranberry sauce: Serving size: 1 slice, Calories: 85
Cornbread: Serving size: 1 piece, Calories: 175
Sweet potatoes with marshmallows: Serving size: 1 heaping scoop, Calories: 610
Pecan pie: Serving size: 1 slice, Calories: 505
Pumpkin pie: Serving size: 1 slice, Calories: 320
Total Calories: 3,050