Reuters -- Thanksgiving Gobbling Saddens Turkey Lovers.
November 21, 2001
Thanksgiving Gobbling Saddens Turkey Lovers
By REUTERS
Filed at 2:30 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 100 million turkeys are winging their way to
Thanksgiving tables, as part of the annual American feast -- but not Florence.
She lives in a Virginia-based sanctuary whose owner, Karen Davis, has spent the
past ten years trying to persuade the American public that turkeys are ``more than
a meal.''
``Turkeys are too neat to eat,'' said Davis, founder of the nonprofit group, United
Poultry Concerns.
Thanksgiving, a fun-filled day off work for many, is one of Davis' busiest and
saddest times.
``I am aware of what turkeys are being put through in order to have these few
hours on Thursday,'' she said in a telephone interview from her home in
Machipongo, Virginia.
``The birds are forced to grow too fast and too large. Their skeletal systems
cannot accommodate the demand of their overly heavy body.''
Last Friday, Davis and 30 other poultry activists staged a candlelight vigil in the
suburbs of Washington, waving photographs of turkeys ``in winning poses'' to
counter the caricature that the birds are ugly.
``They have a side that's cute and appealing. It's important that people see who
they are, and ask why there is so much disparagement surrounding the turkey in
the build-up to the dinner,'' she said.
Turkey has been the staple of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, which falls on the
last Thursday in November, since the early 17th century when English settlers
gave thanks for their survival in the new American colonies.
Following a tradition begun in 1947, President Bush granted clemency to a plump
Thanksgiving turkey called Liberty earlier this week.
Davis dismissed this as a token gesture and said the public needed to change their
Thanksgiving diet. She said she would attend a vegetarian society dinner whose
menu offered butternut squash baked with leeks and vanilla beans, followed by
wild mushroom ravioli with saut Deed spinach.
But changing holiday eating habits may be an uphill struggle for Davis in a
country which has designated hotlines helping wannabe chefs with their
Thanksgiving culinary conundrums.
One popular brand of turkey has 45 trained dietitians manning the phones of its
help-line, which solves about 2,000 turkey troubles a day.
The most common question is how to thaw a turkey. But one of the more
unusual queries came from a man, who was seeking to impress by cooking the
holiday bird. Having run out of cooking oil, he asked if motor oil would suffice.
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd. |
