All about turkey >Origin & Traditions

Fowl of the gallinaceous order. Originally from North America, the turkey was introduced into Europe by the Spanish. Later, Christopher Columbus, believing he had discovered the Indies, named the fowl "polletz d'Inde" (Indian chicken), which in French became shortened to "dinde". Similarly, in English the word "turkey" came into being because of confusion in the 16th century between species of fowl from America and others from Africa, which at the time were called "Turks."

In 1518, Jesuit missionaries accompanying Cortez to Mexico grew so fond of the birds that they brought them back to Spain where they became so adept at raising them that, for a time, turkeys were called by the same name: Jesuits!

According to tradition, the first turkey eaten in France was served at the wedding of Charles IX in 1570. This noble bird was so rare in that era that it was included in Louis XIV's menagerie at the chateau of Versailles.
Over the centuries, producers have crossed different varieties to obtain birds with more meat and with whiter plumage. Why white? Because coloured birds have pigments on their skin, and consumers prefer plump turkeys with a nice uniformly pink skin… though in France, you will find the Ardennes red variety and few black varieties from Le Gers in Gascony and from Normandy.

This large wildfowl was hunted by native North American tribes. The aboriginal women would cook them with corn, lima beans and tomatoes. The dish now known as "Brunswick stew" follows the same recipe served by the Cherokee, Powhatan and Chickahominy tribes to the Jamestown settlers.