By Jason Bittel
This week, (click here) about 46 million turkeys will appear on tables across the United States. As families give thanks and try to steer conversations away from politics, they should also give a nod of appreciation to the ancient Mayans, who were the first to domesticate that bird on their plate.
That’s right, the iconic American turkey dinner is from Mexico. Meleagris gallopavo gallopavo—also referred to as “White or dark?”—is a subspecies now extinct in the wild. Early European explorers shipped the bird all over Europe and the Middle East, and in an ironic twist, the Pilgrims are even thought to have brought a few live M. g. gallopavos back to the New World on the Mayflower.
But the true American turkey is Meleagris gallopavo—a sleek, fleet-footed rendition of the Butterball, an animal that soars down out of the trees like a B-52 bomber and makes a hell of a ruckus in the woods as it claws through leaf litter looking for insects and acorns. Seeing one in the wild makes me feel lucky and grateful to American conservationists who stopped these gobblers from going the way of another American staple, the extinct passenger pigeon....
