Does It Always Have To Be Turkey?

Thanksgiving is an important holiday to us Americans. It’s a day set aside for us to celebrate family, patriotism, religious values, and everything that we love and are thankful for. We typically celebrate Thanksgiving by holding a feast with our family and friends. 

We decorate with many symbols such as fall colored leaves, pumpkins, and cornucopias, but the mascot of Thanksgiving has always been the turkey. Not only that but it always seems to find itself as the centerpiece of most Americans’ Thanksgiving feast. Many people might argue that it’s just not Thanksgiving without the turkey. 

Now this all might just seem trivial to the average reader, but I am here to raise an important question that all Americans have considered at some point; why turkey? What makes turkey so special that we have to eat it every single year? It seems to be quite a common consensus that Turkey just doesn’t taste all that great. It’s dry and lacking in flavor, and you always end up with way too much leftovers that nobody wants to eat. Most people that I know have a strong preference for ham or roast beef as the main course, instead of boring old turkey. To me it just seems like the only reason we even keep up this tradition is because people aren’t ready to stop holding on to something so sacred to our American culture.

I’m not calling for the abolition of the Thanksgiving turkey. Some people actually do like eating turkey, and I think it’s fine to have at your feast, just don’t make everyone else feel obligated to eat it.