turkey

Christmas Boar’s Head, to Goose, to Turkey

The changing Christmas entrée and how Charles Dickens helped standardize the turkey.

Boar’s Head

Before a goose at Christmas, and long before turkey, boar was the star of the English Christmas feast. At the table of the rich in Medieval England a cooked boar’s head was the main attraction. It was so special that it had its own Christmas carol (the Boar’s Head Carol) which would be sung as it was paraded into the hall.

While recipes varied, any way you cooked it the boar’s head was labor intensive. The head would be removed from the body, the skin would be carefully separated from the skull, cured meats and other ingredients would be stuff into the skin, it would be sewn back together, the whole head would be covered in muslin cloth, boiled, garnished, then dressed up with an apple in its mouth and perhaps some black ash to simulate fur.

boar's head Christmas dinners — The amount of labor involved in preparing the boar’s head meant only the wealthiest could afford it.

An added bonus at the table was roasted “gilded peacock”. Since the wow factor of a peacock is its showy feathers, the peacock’s head & skin was removed, the body was roasted, then the bird was put back together to be both edible and a showpiece. Also like the boar’s head it was only found on the tables of the wealthiest elite. That said it was mostly for show since apparently it didn’t taste particularly good.

As for the common people, depending on their finances they might have salted pork of some kind but a reliable alternative was pottage. Pottage was anything cooked in a pot. Special Christmas recipes might add certain spices as a seasonal treat. The most unfortunate of society could expect some of the feast leftovers, trenchers, and other scraps given as donations at the gates of clergy and the upper class. That said after waves of bubonic plague in the mid 14th century, which killed more people than animals, there was more meat available in general for all levels of society.

Goose

The goose became the Christmas entrée of choice in the 16th century when (supposedly) Queen Elizabeth I ordered others to eat roast goose for Christmas because that’s what she was eating when she heard the news of the English victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.

As a main dish goose was a smart choice since it was something almost everyone could enjoy. Geese can be farmed (unlike wild boar), they don’t lay as many eggs as chickens so there is less reason to keep them around, they don’t provide milk like cows, they are larger than chickens so they can feed more people, and they take up less room than pigs. Geese also make exceptional guard animals (during the time you are raising them … before you cook them).

In the 19th century Queen Victoria ate the traditional boar’s head for Christmas dinner but for most people goose was the standard. A goose was relatively affordable but not cheap. Goose Clubs were layaway programs, frequently run by one’s local pub, where less affluent participants could make installment payments over time in order to have a goose for Christmas. The 1892 Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle is set at Christmas time and a goose club is a pivotal plot point.

Cooking a goose could be challenging depending on the kitchen. Too close to the fire a goose burns on the outside while being uncooked on the inside. The fat from the bird can drip into the fire causing bursts of flames. Also the size of the bird was difficult to accommodate if other things were being cooked. All of which led many Victorian Londoners to take their geese to their local bakeries who had seasonal side businesses of cooking people’s geese for them in their large bakery ovens (something Scrooge sees when he is traveling with the Ghost of Christmas Present in A Christmas Carol).

Turkey

Turkey comes from North America and some of the first turkeys to reach England were supposedly imported by William Strickland in 1526. He later had the turkey as part of his family crest. Initially turkeys were only for the wealthy since there were so few birds available. They were a status symbol and an exotic delicacy like how peacock had been, but unlike peacock a turkey tasted good.

By the Victorian era turkey was still a luxury but was no longer solely for the ultra rich. It was becoming more accessible to more people. Charles Dickens was a fan of turkey, so much so that the Cratchit family are gifted a prize winning turkey at the end of 1843’s A Christmas Carol.

The success of A Christmas Carol was so great that it not only reinvigorated the celebration of Christmas but it also popularized the idea of having a turkey for Christmas dinner instead of a goose. By the early 20th century advancements in farming both brought the price of turkeys down, and fattened the birds up, so as to make them Christmas feasts for everyone.

Tofurkey

The vegan turkey option that’s a part of the long history of meat substitutes.

Tofurkey is a plant-based meat replacement loaf. It’s typically soy and/or wheat based with a stuffing core seasoned with herbs & spices. Its name is a portmanteau of “tofu” and “turkey” and was designed as a turkey substitute for Thanksgiving. When spelled “Tofurky” with no “E” it’s the brand name version created by Seth Tibbot.

Turtle Island Foods is a vegetarian food company started by Tibbot in 1980 in Forest Grove, Oregon. By 1995 Tibbot (who had been living in a 3 story treehouse of his own making) teamed up with vegetarian caterers Hans & Rhonda Wrobel to create a vegan alternative to the Thanksgiving turkey, and the tofurky was born. That first Thanksgiving they produced 500 tofurkys but by 2023 an estimated 5 million had been sold.

meat replacement ideas over the years — Meat replacement options have been around for thousands of years.

Substitute

The tofurkey is a part of the long history of meat replacement foods. Tofu (made from soy beans) has been eaten in China for at least 2,000 years. As Buddhism spread around Asia, preaching non-violence, it gradually converted more and more people to meat substitutes as killing animals and eating meat was strongly discouraged (that said it is unlikely the Buddha was a strict vegetarian). Wheat gluten based food (seitan, “wheat meat”, etc) was also invented in China, around the 6th century CE.

Seventh-day Adventist (a religion started in 1863 from the failed Second Coming predictions of William Miller) encourages a healthy vegetarian diet. Headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan they opened their Sanitarium in 1903 which was a “premier wellness destination” and became famous under the direction of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. A strong proponent of vegetarianism, Kellogg (who created the Kellogg Company with his brother William Kellogg in 1906) promoted around 100 food items aimed at living a healthy meat-free lifestyle. Kellogg’s Corn Flakes still exist today but one of his other big hits was Protose, a very successful fake meat that (at least texturally) resembled veal or chicken.

While vegetarianism has waxed & waned over the years the world is currently in a boom of plant-based meat replacement options. Beyond Burgers, Gardenburgers, Impossible Foods, MorningStar Farms, No Evil Foods, Quorn, and scores of others have all given people meat alternatives, and the tofurkey is a seasonal part of it all.

Seth Tibbot talks about inventing the tofurky.

the First Thanksgiving Menu

Lacking key ingredients, the menu at the first Thanksgiving of 1621 was a bit different than the traditional turkey dinner of today.

In the fall of 1621 the English Pilgrims and the Wampanoag came together in Massachusetts for, what has subsequently become a much mythologized, 3 day harvest festival. The pilgrims had a lot to be thankful for — that they were still alive following the deaths of half their fellow pilgrims the previous winter, that they had their supplies fortified by the Wampanoag, and that they had completed a successful summer growing season. What they ate as they gave thanks is debatable.

Definitely on the Menu

One food that was definitely served was venison. Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag, had 5 deer brought to the event. Another meat on the menu was “wild fowl”, but exactly what kind of birds these were is unknown. It’s possible that there was turkey at the first Thanksgiving but more likely it was goose or duck (or a combination). Other regional bird options at the time would have been swan and passenger pigeon.

Also definitely present was corn. The Wampanoag, who used the Three Sisters method of farming, had taught the pilgrims how to grow corn. As the pilgrims had grown a successful crop of Flint corn (aka “Indian corn”) it was cooked into a porridge, a bread, and/or with beans.

Maybe on the Menu

Given that the Plymouth Colony was by the water it’s very likely that seafood was also served. Eels, clams, muscles, cod, bass, and/or lobsters were very likely a part of the meal. It’s worth noting though that, unlike today, lobster was considered a food of last resort.

There were certainly vegetables & fruits on the menu but which ones were never specified (other than corn). Chestnuts, walnuts, beans, onions, carrots, cabbage, pumpkins, and various squashes were all grown in the area. Blueberries, plums, grapes, and raspberries were also grown in the area and could have been present. While cranberries might have been served cranberry sauce definitely was not since the colonists lacked the necessary sugar (and that cranberry sauce didn’t exist for another 50 years).

Not on the Menu

Even though pumpkins may have been present, pumpkin pie definitely was not. The pilgrims had neither the butter nor the flour necessary to make pumpkin pie – they didn’t even have an oven in 1621. Something pumpkin pie-esque that may have been prepared is a spiced pumpkin soup/custard cooked directly inside a pumpkin which was roasted on hot ashes.

There was no stuffing because, again, the colonists lacked the necessary flour. There were also no potatoes (mashed or otherwise). Potatoes came from South America and, while they had made their way to Europe by the late 16th century via the Spanish, they had yet to make their way to New England. There also weren’t any forks on the table since they too hadn’t made their way to North America yet (but on the upside nobody present had an overbite).

A historical reenactment of how to cook some of the foods present at the first Thanksgiving.