Turkey Feathers

• Native Americans first domesticated turkeys around 800 B.C.
• Turkeys weren't initially used for their meat, but rather their feathers.

Really interesting article by Jennifer Viegas on Discovery News about the domestication of turkeys. It looks like two different native American groups--in south central Mexico and what is now the southwestern portion of the U.S., were raising them around the same time and could have even been in contact with each other, sharing turkey-raising tips.

So it could very well be that those of us who eat turkey in the U.S. are eating the descendants of turkeys raised by the Aztecs!


- francine s