Turkey Day Trivia: 5 Things to Discuss at Dinner

In honor of Thanksgiving, we present five things you may not have known about the holiday we're celebrating today:

1. It's a myth that it's the turkey eaten during Thanksgiving dinner that causes you to feel sleepy after the meal. Instead, you should credit the carbohydrate overload -- mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, corn, dessert, etc.
2. The average Thanksgiving turkey weighs about 15 pounds, but the heaviest ever raised tallied in at 86 pounds -- the size of a large dog.
3. Commercially raised turkeys cannot fly but wild turkeys can fly short distances at up to 55 mph and can run at 20 mph. Wild turkeys sleep in trees at night.
4. The average American ate 17.6 pounds of turkey in 2008, which is up 108 percent since 1970. Israelis eat the most turkey of any nationality -- 28 pounds per year per person.
5. The United States produced 271 million turkeys in 2008, 45 million of which were eaten at Thanksgiving, 22 million at Christmas and 19 million at Easter. The National Turkey Federation says 88 percent of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.

Source: The University of Illinois Extension