It looked like an undercover cop video – shot in some meth lab or crackhouse. A long thick needle + fat syringe, a pyrex measuring cup, a nefarious bottle of green-absinthe-ish liquid and a raw naked turkey all sat on a vacuous table. Under cold lighting, the words “Olive Oil Injection” faded in and out just as a disembodied voice took over from there..."A flavor injector allows you to insert extra flavor and moisture deep into the turkey..."

Oh my...the things we do to turkey in order to undo the things we’ve done to the turkey...

Of the estimated 45 million turkeys that are eaten across the country on Thanksgiving – just about all are broad-breasted whites, a domestic bird that’s now the industry standard. Americans love their breasts and this bird grows them into an astonishing ratio: 70% of its body weight is pectoral muscle — white meat. They've been bred for lots and lots breast — and not at all for flavor. Consequently, these animals cannot in any way reproduce on their own. The males are simply too top-heavy to successfully mount the females. So in order to fulfill our ever-increasing appetite for turkey (“American per capita consumption of turkeys has soared from 8.3 pounds in 1975 to 18.5 pounds last year” according to the New York Times) every tom must first be milked for his semen and then, every hen must be artificially inseminated. If people stopped doing that — the broad-breasted white domestic turkey, would be no more.

So do we soak our butterballs in brines scented with herbs + sea salt, massage them with aromatic oils and stuff them with citrus, rosemary, sage, sausage or oysters...all for love? For appreciation? Well, no, not exactly. We do it to flavor, fatten and moisten up those massive hooters so they’ll taste as glorious as they look + smell when the turkey is served up for the family feast.

You can fill up a big syringe with olive oil, sit back and watch how to shoot up your dinner at www.epicurious.com. Or consider your options. Find a local bird that was raised by a local farmer at www.localharvest.org. Chances are those turkeys led a life of turkey-ness – their pectoral muscles were used to flap their wings. Or try a heritage breed like the American Bronze or the Bourbon Red. The meat is succulent, old-fashioned, genuine. They live long turkey lives, scratch + peck at the earth for their food and actually still do ‘It’ with no help from us. www.heritagefoodsusa.com.