In these very strange times, it is only fitting that today’s topic be about Thanksgiving. As you all know a holiday celebrated by our friends in the USA, a holiday to commemorate a difficult time and a plentiful harvest in 1621. You would think that this humble and momentous occasion be something that everyone would want to celebrate, however it took 168 years before President Washington proclaimed the first Thanksgiving Day as the 26 Nov 1789 but even then it wasn’t a nationwide affair. It wasn’t until 1863 when Sarah Hale, a prolific women’s right activist, influencer, editoress, poet and author of “Mary had a Little Lamb”, managed after 17 years of petitions to persuade President Lincoln to make it a nationwide national holiday, dubbing her “the Mother of Thanksgiving”.
A decision that the American economy has a lot to be thankful for, with a consumption of 2.39 billion kg of turkey per year, a fifth of which is consumed on this day alone. Thanksgiving has created a multi-million turkey farming industry with 224 million birds reared per year. Then let’s not forget the side consumables 36 million kg of cranberry jelly, 28 million ready-made pumpkin pies, 96 million kg of potatoes and 23 million kg of sweet potatoes…. Talk about a plentiful harvest!
