"It's a very stupid animal."
A stuffed roast turkey is about as all-American as baseball and apple pie, but a report shows that Israelis lead the world in the amount of.
Residents of the Holy Land eat an average of 34.5 pounds of turkey per year, with Slovaks coming in second, according to a report cited by National Geographic magazine.
In a country where red meat is expensive and pork is not kosher, turkeys provide a lot of meat that can be served a lot of ways including as schnitzel, kebabs and even faux lamb chops. Ironically, the birds were first brought over to Israel from the U.S. back in the '50s.
Some other fun facts from the article:
*The U.S. raises 272 million turkeys a year.
*Hens are the usual holiday birds, harvested at about 15 pounds, while toms hit 40 pounds and look forward to a destiny as deli meat.
*Turkeys are so big they must be artificially inseminated.
*And if that isn't insult enough, Silver ends by addressing the turkey's IQ, which is nearly as non-existent as its sex life. As Silver quotes Israeli poultry geneticist Gaddi Zeitlin: "It's a very stupid animal."
The United States placed third, with Americans eating an average of 16.1 pounds annually. It’s a surprising statistic, but one theory for turkey’s popularity among Israelis is that many don’t consume pork. Turkey is native to the United States...
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