Joanna Eberts

Every year, just as the weather grows cold and the year draws to an end, Thanksgiving swings through town, and with it comes a warm camaraderie as millions of Americans unite over mountains of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. The steady march of technology, along with sudden flares of progression made possible by times of war, has changed how we celebrate Thanksgiving, and possibly why we celebrate.

This may not be the common idea of technology — there are no robots, no crazy computerized machines or mad scientists involved. But real life often fails to fit into the mold of science fiction, and although these advancements may not be as glorious as their sci-fi counterparts, they are nonetheless worthy of acknowledgement.

Turkey

Turkey is generally considered to be a staple of any Thanksgiving meal, as well as the food most commonly associated with the holiday. Yet, the birds currently adorning kitchen tables are barely related to their wild ancestors.

Wild turkeys come in a variety of sizes and colors, many native to North America. Unlike their domesticated cousins, they can fly and contain considerably less meat. By the dawn of the 20th century, however, overhunting left numbers dwindling. And slowly, wild turkeys were replaced by their domesticated peers.

Joanna Eberts

Then, after World War II, there was something of an agricultural boom. As farms commercialized, farmers experimented with various methods of efficiently raising turkeys, typically through a process known as selective breeding. Essentially, if two turkeys display favorable traits (i.e. meatier, less susceptible to disease) then they were bred together, potentially leading to their offspring with similar traits.

Large-scale selective breeding only kicked off in the 1950s when farmer, George Nicholas, pioneered the large-scale industrial turkey farms of modern times. Most of these massive farms produce a variety of domesticated turkey known as the Broad-Breasted White, which accounts for the majority of U.S. turkey consumption. Bred for food, these turkeys are massively overweight, plagued with health problems, and even require artificial insemination because their size and lack of mobility prohibits mating.

However, many consider the rise of these farms a technological waste, citing an ethical priority over a technical one. These people are part of a growing contingency known as the “slow food” movement which advocates more natural and humane farming processes. Many smaller farms are bringing back varieties of wild turkey in response to this movement, citing both ethics and taste; wild turkeys are known to have a “gamier” flavor.

Regardless of breed, massive amounts of turkeys being processed leads to massive amounts of leftover feathers. Although these were previously ground up into animal feeds, recent studies (especially those linked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Philadelphia University) have been searching for textile applications. Techniques have been devised to remove the stems effortlessly, and experimentation is being performed on nylon-turkey feather hybrid threads. Currently, there are problems with the threads being too weak when large amounts of turkey feathers are used, yet the turkey feathers added increased insulation and warmth, opening possibilities for future applications.

Joanna Eberts

Cranberries

Somehow turkey goes hand in hand with the slightly bitter taste of cranberries, balancing the earthy flavors of stuffing and bird. It’s not surprising that cranberries have their origins in the original Thanksgiving; they were widely used by the Native Americans, and these small red berries quickly gained popularity with the Pilgrims.

Yet, for all the ways to eat cranberries, one of the most popular is cranberry sauce, which was popularized as the result of a wartime food shortage. At the tail end of the Civil War in 1864, Union troops surrounded Petersburg, Virginia in what later become known as the Siege of Petersburg. To feed the massive numbers of troops, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered cooks to prepare oversized vats of cranberry sauce. As cranberry sauce entered the public consciousness, the Cape Cod Cranberry Company saw the potential market for it, releasing the first canned cranberry sauce under the Ocean Spray brand in 1912.

In the same vein, canning was a relatively recent development beginning in the early 20th century. By canning a food product while it is being heated, bacteria will be effectively sealed out, and the product will be stored in a safe and sterile environment.

Joanna Eberts

Microwaves

When Thanksgiving is over and the guests have left, there is always a plethora of leftovers that the holiday is infamous for. Whether it’s turkey soup, sandwiches, or some more bizarre Thanksgiving garbage plate concoction, chances are it’ll have to be heated.

The year was 1945, and WWII was in its final stages. Engineer Percy Spencer was experimenting with a magnetron, a device used to generate microwaves for use in radar, when he noticed a chocolate bar in his pocket melting. Lining up popcorn kernels in front of the magnetron, he watched as they popped. Further experimentation with this particle speeding technology eventually led to the development of the microwave oven, allowing generations of Americans a quick and easy way to heat their bird meat.

So as we gather from around the country, transported by exploding pieces of metal and chairs that fly through the air, we will give thanks by consuming an animal inflated with drugs and other turkey bits. Later we’ll accelerate some particles and enjoy some more. I doubt the first Americans would have conceived of our modern thanksgiving, a certain sci-fi departure from the days of Plymouth Rock. But sitting together over dinner, considering what we’ve been through to get to this point, it almost seems worth it.