We eat turkey mainly because it became a practical, symbolic, and then heavily traditional centerpiece for big feasts, especially Thanksgiving in the U.S. and Christmas in the U.K. and elsewhere.

Quick Scoop

  • Turkeys were abundant and large enough to feed a whole family or crowd, so they were an efficient choice for feast days compared with smaller birds or more valuable animals like cows or dairy-producing livestock.
  • On farms, turkeys were raised primarily for meat, unlike cows (milk) or hens (eggs), so they were the logical animal to slaughter for special occasions without sacrificing ongoing resources.
  • By the 1800s, roasted turkey had already become a popular festive dish in England (including for King Henry VIII at Christmas) and in the U.S., where it fit perfectly as a showy centerpiece for a national harvest-style holiday.
  • Writers and early promoters of Thanksgiving in the 19th century highlighted turkey as the holiday bird, and as Thanksgiving became a national holiday in the U.S., school lessons, cookbooks, and media locked in the image of turkey as the standard main dish.
  • Today, habit and nostalgia do a lot of the work: most people expect turkey at Thanksgiving or Christmas because “that’s what you’re supposed to have,” so the tradition keeps reinforcing itself year after year.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.