Why do we eat turkey on Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is a national holiday that we celebrate every year. It began as a day where everyone gives thanks for the harvest. Nowadays everyone gives thanks for many things in their life like family, friends, and jobs. Synonymous with providing thanks is the feast that goes along with it.

Pilgrims did not traditionally eat turkeys on Thanksgiving. Instead, this tradition began after President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. This was due to colonist William Bradford's journal, where he noted that the colonist hunted for turkeys during 1621. He also noted that turkeys are a traditional North American bird.

It is believed that turkey was the food selected for the 3 day feast held back in 1612 between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. It is also stated that the Pilgrims had turkey when they came to America none of but these is the reason why turkey is eaten during thanksgiving.

Turkey is a unique American bird; this made the bird a suitable national bird for thanksgiving. It was apparent that wild turkey was easy to access. Turkey gained traction as the thanksgiving meal of choice for Americans after thanksgiving was declared a national holiday in 1863.

It used to be a popular belief that the Pilgrims had turkey when they came to the US. They decided to dedicate a day to the celebration and the feast of a turkey. There is also a belief that the Pilgrims sat with the Wampanoag Indians and had turkey during the three-day feast. This was adopted to Thanksgiving and turkey turned into a feast. Unfortunately, thispopular theory is entirely wrong.

Why we have turkey on Thanksgiving has a much simpler reason. According to food historians, Thanksgiving wasn’t celebrated until the early 1900s. Since turkeys were abundant in the states, it was easy to find them. They also served as food for increasing population. When immigrants came into America, cooking turkey was taught to the new immigrants as a way to ‘Americanize’ them. The immigrants thought that these dishes were American. When these immigrants became citizens they cherished at the opportunities to cook turkey and with a day being given specifically to a festival, it slowly became commonplace to feast on turkey over the years.