The Turkey: AN AMERICAN STORY

1. The Prehistoric Turkey; or, How the Turkey Conquered North America

1 THE PREHISTORIC TURKEY; OR, HOW THE TURKEY CONQUERED NORTH AMERICA More than twelve thousand species of birds are dispersed throughout the world, and virtually all of them are edible. Fowl were an important part of early human diets.Their eggs were easily gathered, but the fowl themselves were more difficult to procure . Because it is not easy to hit birds on the wing, hunters devised methods of capturing them with traps, nets, and snares. Land or gallinaceous birds—heavy-bodied fowl that roost and largely feed on the ground—were easier to catch, especially when humans joined in group efforts. Some flushed birds from thickets while others clubbed, hit, or netted them. Once acquired, the flesh was prepared in many ways—from raw and roasted to boiled, baked, fried, and braised when these cooking techniques developed. In addition to eating their flesh and eggs, humankind has used birds in many practical, artistic, social, and symbolic ways. Chickens , doves, ducks, geese, and storks, for instance, have all borne religious symbolism. Chicken entrails have been used for divination and magic. Many cultures and religious groups have imbued eggs with special significance, such as fertility, and some vestiges of these ancient traditions have survived in modern Easter and Passover celebrations. Roosters or cocks have been set against one another in cockfights, providing an opportunity for gambling and a source of entertainment for millennia. Cockscombs have been used for medical purposes, and feathers have been fitted on arrows, sewn into blankets, and woven into clothing, while birds’ bones have been fashioned into tools, buttons, and ornaments. In all, humankind has greatly benefitted from birds.  . the turkey the americas The Americas were particularly well endowed with edible wildfowl. At the top of the list were migratory ducks, geese, partridges, pheasants, and carrier pigeons, which were numberless according to many early European observers. Nonmigrating land birds such as ruffed grouse and turkeys were also plentiful in parts of North America and especially important from a culinary standpoint after migratory birds departed during the winter and other game and edible plants were scarce. Only two fowl were domesticated in the New World in pre-Columbian times. One was the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), which originated in tropical South America. Precisely when, where, and how it was domesticated is unknown. By the time Europeans arrived it was an important part of the diets of people inhabiting the tropical regions of Central and South America. During the sixteenth century Europeans widely disseminated the Muscovy duck, but it never became an important food source anywhere. Today, its culinary contribution is insignificant except to subsistence farmers in tropical areas of the world.1 The other fowl domesticated in the Americas was the turkey—a large, nonmigratory land bird. Turkeylike birds have inhabited North America for several million years, but the earliest archaeological evidence for the modern turkey dates back only about fifty thousand years. The turkey’s closest living relatives are the Asian pheasant and the African guinea fowl. The American turkey and the Asian pheasant are close enough genetically so that they can be mated through artificial insemination and produce offspring. Researchers have proposed that these two species evolved from a common ancestor, but if so, no intermediate fossils have been found in Asia or North America. Fossils of various turkey species have been unearthed, but only two survived into historical times. The ocellated turkey (Meleagris ocellata, formerly Agriocharis ocellata) and the common turkey (Meleagris gallopavo).2 The ocellated turkey is found today in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, and Guatemala. It is slightly smaller and has shorter legs than the common turkey. The male ocellated turkey has no beard—coarse, long, black hairs that protrude from the upper part of the breast—but it does have large spurs—strong, sharp, and pointed appendages that protrude from the back of legs. Its head feathers are blue or white, and it has wattles, the pouchlike appendages that descend from the neck. Its body plumage is copper or bronze-green, and its tail feathers have The Prehistoric Turkey .  a purple cast with blue-green eyespots. Its snood—the floppy growth on the front of the head that flops over the beak—has a roundish protuberance tipped with yellow.3 Stylized figures of ocellated turkeys have been found in Mayan manuscripts and codices, which suggests that ocellated turkeys were consumed by Mayan priests and aristocracy.4 Although easily tamed...