October 28, 2009
Turkey stars on the holiday dinner table of nearly 88 percent of Americans at Thanksgiving, according to the New York-based National Turkey Federation. This translated into a whopping 46 million turkeys or 690 million pounds of turkey last year.
Thankfully, the centerpiece of this historic meal is one healthful and nutritious bird.
The turkey is a true North American native. Native Americans in New England and on the Plains captured the bird in the wild and made it a regular part of their diet. The Aztecs in Mexico were so fond of turkey that they domesticated these birds so as to have a steady supply of meat.
Early European explorers took the turkey back home where it was quickly incorporated into the diet. Meanwhile, the first European inhabitants to the New World relished turkey as a food to stave off starvation.
There is controversy as to whether turkey was served at the first Thanksgiving in 1621. In “The Dictionary of American Food & Drink,” author John Mariani writes that one description of the feast, written by Plymouth Colony Gov. William Bradford did not mention the turkey.
However, another account, by dinner guest Gov. Edward Winslow, clearly describes how settlers were sent to go “fowling” and who “killed as much fowle as, with a little helpe beside, serve the Company almost a weeke.”
Today, Americans still eat turkey. Per capita consumption was 17.6 pounds per person in 2008, making it the No. 4 most favorite protein choice by American consumers after chicken, beef and pork.
Turkey is good for you, too. It’s low in fat and cholesterol while at the same time rich in high-quality protein. In fact, nutrition experts from the Harvard School of Public Health who created the Healthy Eating Pyramid group turkey with other lean proteins such as fish and egg whites. This differs from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Pyramid, which places turkey with higher fat foods such as red meats.
However, turkey isn’t all the same animal when it comes to fat, depending on what part you choose. For example, there’s the white meat and the dark meat. White meat has fewer calories and fat than dark meat.
There’s a biologic reason behind this and it’s due to the bird’s muscle make-up. Slow-to-contract muscle fibers – such as the kind turkeys use in their legs to run – need fat for fuel. Oxygen, which is required to burn fat, is stored in a red muscle pigment called myoglobin. Muscles that have a high concentration of slow-to-contract fibers will naturally be reddish in color. This is why leg and thigh meat in turkey is dark and breast meat is white.
What about skin? Eating your turkey skin-on can add substantial calories. For example, a palm-size serving (about 3 ounces) of roasted dark meat with the skin provides 221 calories. However, eating roasted white meat without the skin is only 157 calories.
Turkey products aren’t all created equally. Turkey breast that you roast in the oven, turkey breast cutlets and turkey tenderloins are all the best bet nutritionally. From there, fat and calories go all the way up to a ground turkey product that is 13 percent fat. This product contains up to 10 times the fat in roast turkey breast and nearly double the calories.
The healthfulness of turkey is also dependent, of course, on how you prepare it and what you eat along with it. For example, Thanksgiving turkey often swims in gravy. This adds 20 to 30 calories per two-tablespoon serving.
Turkey is also sided by heaping helpings of side dishes. There are mashed potatoes, candied yams, bread stuffing, coleslaw, broccoli and cheese, rolls and butter, and pecan pie.
You really can’t blame the lean little turkey on your plate when you waddle away from the table after a meal like that.
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