For centuries turkey has been the main entree for everyone’s Thanksgiving feast, but has anyone ever thought of having something besides turkey? Turkey is a food you can have anytime during the year, so why is it so special for just one day? 

Personally for me and my family, we don’t eat turkey on Thanksgiving because of the long cooking time and for its plain taste. While turkey is good on a classic turkey sandwich, it’s not something I would consider a “holiday food.” Surprisingly, many people don’t share this opinion with me, as the majority of people say that turkey is too “iconic” to remove from the table. 

“I love turkey for Thanksgiving, it’s better than ham and it goes perfectly with all of the other food you eat,” says CHS sophomore Heidi Nitter. 

While I understand that people don’t want to ruin traditions, there are many reasons why turkey is so overrated. For starters, it takes way too long to cook. Turkeys can take anywhere from 1 ½ to 3 ½ hours to just cook, when unstuffed. It typically takes close to the entire day to cook with stuffing, and families still have to cook all of the side dishes. It is just not worth the time to cook, when the meat itself is ultimately dry when your family sits down to eat it. 

Another downside to turkey is its taste. Not only is turkey super dry, but it is also very bland. While seasoning can be added to it, I think it still doesn’t make much of a difference, and could make the turkey even dryer. Some may argue that turkey does have a lot of flavor because of the other side dishes included or different sauces to put on it. But the only main thing that can be added to turkey to make it somewhat bearable is cranberry sauce, yet you have to add the entire jar to get the dry turkey taste out of your mouth. 

The last reason turkey is overrated is because there are so many other meat options that are better in taste for this holiday. One of my favorites that I definitely recommend is steak. Not only does it have a very good rich taste, it also goes very well with all of your classic Thanksgiving sides like mashed potatoes, stuffing and bread rolls. 

I highly recommend people to think about a different meat opinion for this Thanksgiving and maybe to even consider ruling out turkey entirely. Happy Thanksgiving to anyone who celebrates!