NEWS: Thanksgiving Gobbling Saddens U.S. Turkey Lovers

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http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/11/11232001/reu_45658.asp

 

Thanksgiving gobbling saddens U.S. turkey lovers

 

Friday, November 23, 2001By Reuters[iNLINE]

 

WASHINGTON - Nearly 100 million turkeys winged their way to

Thanksgiving tables as part of the annual American feast this year -

but not Florence.

 

She lives in a Virginia-based sanctuary whose owner, Karen Davis, has

spent the past 10 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, Va. " 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 sauted

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.

 

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