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Why not skip the supermarket’s frozen poultry section and instead invest in the future of American food?

It’s no surprise that Thanksgiving is every food lover’s favorite holiday. It’s a chance to savor native American foods— turkeys, cranberries, sweet potatoes and pumpkins—and to celebrate our nation’s bounty.

Or is it? According to Slow Food, an international food education and advocacy group, many of the meats, fruits and vegetables our forefathers enjoyed, today risk extinction. By the year 2000, for example, the population of the Narragansett turkey had been reduced to fewer than 100 birds nationwide. The Jersey Buff, another historic variety from the mid-Atlantic, numbered below 500. Similar fates had also befallen other so-called heritage breeds, including the Standard Bronze, the Royal Palm, the Bourbon Red, the Slate, the White Holland, the White Midget and the Beltsville Small White turkey.

Instead of the diversity that we Americans cherish, we have ended up with conformity. Almost all of the 270 million turkeys consumed annually in the United States—more than 535-million pounds at Thanksgiving alone—are Broad-Breasted Whites, a breed that is cheap to raise but lacks the flavor of authentic native varieties.

Nor does the problem end with turkeys. Native fish, fruits, vegetables and grains are also endangered by industrial farming practices that prize profits over flavor. Just think about that other Thanksgiving staple, the apple pie. In the early 1800s, there were more than 100 varieties of apples for sale. By 1872, there were 1,100. Yet today—whether it’s store-bought or homemade—your apple pie is likely to be made from one of 10 popular varieties, selected not on taste but because they look pretty and have long shelf lives.

Unlike many advocacy groups, Slow Food is not content to just sound an alarm. It’s launched a program, the Ark of Taste, to help reverse the trend. Just as the biblical Noah took two of every animal onto his ark before the deluge, Slow Food is campaigning to save, among other things, New Mexico native chillies, white tepary beans, the American butternut, the Blenheim apricot, the pixie tangerine and, just in time for Thanksgiving, seven varieties of turkey that were once near extinction. And each year, says Makale Faber, Ark program manager at Slow Food, a committee meets to add new, endangered and delicious foods to the Ark.

Over the last several years, Slow Food has made great progress. In conjunction with organizations such as the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Slow Food has worked to preserve genetic stocks and teach farmers how to raise heritage breeds. They also provide marketing and technical assistance to farmers who want to produce Ark foods.

All this means that this year it’s easier than ever to eat real American turkey for Thanksgiving. Heritage turkeys do cost more than those you find at the supermarket—an eight-to-10 pound bird costs around $59—but the taste will astound you. There’s no need to soak your bird in brine to avoid the flavorless, dry meat we’ve become all too accustomed to. Heritage turkeys are juicy by nature—and that’s something to be thankful for.

Celebrate our history with a heritage turkey
LOCAL HARVEST
Local Harvest delivers Bourbon Red, Black and American Bronze turkeys. Shipments (along with handy cooking instructions) are sent the Monday prior to Thanksgiving. www.kclocalharvest.com

HERITAGE FOODS USA
Heritage Foods works with a coalition of farmers to deliver fresh and pre-frozen Bourbon Red and American bronze turkeys. www.heritagefoodsusa.com

DARTAGNAN
Best known for foie gras and exotic game like venison and wild duck, Dartagnan also offers organic poultry and heritage turkeys. www.dartagnan.com Or for a state-by-state list of heritage turkey farms, visit www.slowfoodusa.org

WORDS JANE BLACK

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