Turkey Day . . .

This post begins a series of blogs about the different foods that we consume during the holidays.  Being the centerpiece and the alternate name for one of our nations most treasured holidays I thought it a good starting point to begin with turkey.  Most every family in the country will buy a grocery store bought turkey to cook for their Thanksgiving feast, whether it be Butterball, Tysons or some other astronomically huge food company.  I wonder, however, how we might rethink what we are thankful for during this great holiday if we knew a bit more about the food to which we are giving our thanks.
  Industrial turkey operations are abominable and contribute to our unhealthy populous.  Don't get me wrong, I'm  not a big animal right's activist but the living conditions of the turkey contribute to the unhealthiness of the meat.  Turkeys are raised on giant farms (similar to chicken farming) mostly in the midwest and the south.  They never see the outdoors in their short lifespan unless it is in the truck ride to the slaughtering plant.  They are kept by the tens of thousands in enclosed houses with no natural light, wood chips covering the floor to absorb their waste (which isn't cleaned out until the turkeys are removed to the plant, a period of 12 - 14 weeks) the ammonia fumes given off by this waste is enough to burn your eyes and throat (imagine what it's doing to the birds) they are so cramped they can't move to develop good muscle for meat and their beaks are snipped so they can no longer peck and choose what to eat but are only able to shovel mass amounts of antibiotic laden corn into their stomachs.  To increase the amount of food the turkeys eat lights are kept on 24 hours a day to keep the turkeys awake and continually eating to gain weight.  Wild turkeys eat a varied diet of bugs, grass, and seeds which give them rich flavor and varied meat (white and dark).  The mono-diet of corn that industrial birds consume gives them very little flavor so at the processing plant all the birds muscles are injected with saline solution and vegetable oil to bulk them up and add flavor.  Hence the ginormous task of the home cook to keep the turkey moist, flavorful and edible.

                              Industrial white breasted turkey house.                             

Naturally raised organic turkey farm. . . you choose what looks healthier!

   Before industrial farming, it was no culinary feat to cook a turkey - just place it in a roasting pan with some stuffing, salt and pepper and it came out wonderfully flavorful - not so with industrial turkey.
  There is the huge issue of cost, however.  I've been receiving lots of emails from my local pasture-raised organic meat coop to pre-order my turkey for the holidays.  I believed that was a great idea and I love to jump at any chance to provide good wholesome food for not just my immediate family but the extended family as well - that was until I saw the prices.  For a naturally raised no antibiotic fed turkey in Northern California it's about ten dollars a pound, that's seventy dollars for a seven pound turkey!  Knowing that my mother-in-law usually gets at least a fifteen pound turkey if not larger I understood there was no way an average American household could afford this and we certainly could not.
  Here are the alternatives I came up with:  go for a traditional old-world style Thanksgiving and negate the leftovers (after all, the pilgrims certainly weren't putting leftover bird in the fridge or freezer for black Friday) therefore we would need a much smaller bird and compensate with more side dishes.  Non-traditionally we could cook Cornish game hens or any birds that the family had recently nabbed (i.e. ducks, quail, wild turkey, etc.).  For those families that hunt this is a great alternative but for those who don't organic game hens run about $3.15 a pound and can be cooked just like a turkey but in less time!
  Looking forward to any comments from you on alternatives to the industrially produced turkey feast . . . Happy Thanksgiving!