Food historian Andrew F. Smith, editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, knows his turkey and struts his stuff in this fact-laden book. But it's not all scholarly palaver and footnotes; he has a dry, academic wit that spices up the data. With chapters like "The English Turkey; or, How the Turkey Cooked the Christmas Goose," the author serves up many delights: the first scientific description of a turkey was in Italy (1533, Gallo peregrino); Americans consume turkey at the rate of 240 million birds each year; Aztecs deified the turkey as Chalchiuhtotolin, the Jeweled Bird; incubators were used to hatch poultry in ancient Egypt. Who knew there was so much more to the turkey world than the Broad-breasted White? We almost lost the wild bird early in the 20th century, but Congress passed a law in 1905 to protect the sale of frozen wild turkeys between states. And next time you pull apart the wishbone, you can casually mention that the bone was originally called the bird's merrythought. Reading this book is like opening up a dictionary--you start with one word and pretty soon you're caught up in the etymology of another.Inveterate cookbook readers will find the historical recipes interesting, although not, perhaps, compelling--turkey stuffed with a pound of beef mixed with three quarters of a pound of suet? Balloons crafted from turkeys' crops? (Why?) Once you get past the usual dire warnings about maximum fowl safety, you'll find gems such as "If it be in the Raspis season, you shall put a handful of them over, if not, some Pomegranate," or instructions for the mysteriously-named "Turkey, &C. in Jelley," with the suggestion that "a few nastertium flowers stuck here and there look pretty." There's a 1909 recipe for Mock Turkey that carefully explains how to shape the vegetarian entrée, including "put a piece of dry macaroni into the leg for the bone," and except for the faux bones, it looks pretty tasty. One 1911 cookbook referred to, Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus, should be snapped up by a publisher for the title alone.
For those who love turkey and all the trimmings, or who have always wondered about the origin of "talking turkey," or pondered the beginning and eventual demise of turkey racing (you know who you are), The Turkey is just the thing. For booksellers bored with Thanksgiving displays of picture books or serious histories, here is a great display centerpiece whose cover has not just a turkey, but also a pumpkin. Easy as pie.--Marilyn Dahl