Talking Turkey

Being a bird, turkey has the delicious taste of soft meat. Turkey is fed with a diet of mainly corn and soybean meal along with a supplement of vitamins and minerals. It is a healthy food choice, and rich source of minerals and energy. People believe that turkey has more carbs, whereas turkey has more protein as compare to chicken and duck.

Cooking and eating turkey is associated with festivities like Thanksgiving and Christmas especially in America and many parts of Europe. In India, the fowl finds its way mostly into restaurant menus.

Turkey has nothing to do with India, it has more to do with America, but still few other call it with varied names thus confusing its origin to India. In France it is called 'poulet d'Inde' translated as, chicken from India. The Dutch call it 'kalkoen' i.e. hen from Calicut or Kolkata.

Turkey is popularised by the ancient Aztec and Mayan civilisations. Aztecs honoured wild turkey, and believed it to be a manifestation of Tezcatlipoca, the trickster God. The Mayans also revered and honoured turkeys in similar ways.

Turkey is a gaming bird and traditionally it was hunted to be served on the table for Christmas and Thanksgiving festivities in the West. Even in Europe turkey is not the first choice of meat to be served on these occasions. In America Thanksgiving and Christmas are mostly celebrated between family and the entire bird is cooked whole and served with vegetables and sauces.

Turkey is a big bird and now it is also reared on farms rather than only being hunted.

In India, a Southern tradition that has gained national attention in the last few years is deep frying turkey. The trend has increased popularity because the deep-frying process seals the outside while the interior remains very juicy and the skin develops a crisp texture.

Commercial catering operations offer deep-fried turkey and restaurants feature the golden crisp bird during the holidays.