Britons have been eating turkey as part of their Christmas dinner for nearly 500 years after King Henry VIII popularised eating the North America wild bird as part of the festive feast.
Around 10 million turkeys are eaten in the UK every year – with 25 per cent of Britons buying their Christmas birds months in advance to prepare for the big day.
But last year the Christmas turkey industry was in crisis when over half a million turkeys had to be culled or died due to due to bird flu.
At Dowthorpe Hall in East Yorkshire, John Holtby has farmed turkeys as part of the family business more than 20 years.
Food produced in the UK has some of the highest animal welfare and environmental standards in the world
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This Christmas, John, and other turkey farmers up and down the country are hoping for a better festive season.
“[Last year] people got rather spooked by bird flu so orders were very slow. They nearly caught up in the end,” John told GB News.
“We didn’t get bird flu but we had bird flu nearby, so it didn’t have an effect on us really, but this year there are recent cases of bird flu so we are worried about it as we run towards Christmas.
Food produced in the UK has some of the highest animal welfare and environmental standards in the world.
At Dowthorpe Hall, farmers rear Kelly Bronze turkeys. These free range turkeys do cost more, but John says this reflects the quality of the meat.
“Most people think of Christmas and think of turkey, so we’re trying to provide the best quality turkey for them to make their Christmas dinner the most important dinner of the year,” he said.
The turkeys arrive at Dowthorpe Hall in July every year and are reared from day old chicks
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“It’s like anything you get what you pay for, and I think when people buy these birds and the way they’ve been raised and looked after and processed, to get them ready for table they realise it’s worth their while when they actually eat the bird.”
The turkeys arrive at Dowthorpe Hall in July every year and are reared from day old chicks.
Henry Peacocke, Farmer at Dowthorpe Hall, told GB News: “We have them under a heat lamp in a stable and from there they get brought out here when they’re about a month or two and they’re brought to maturity.
“These are really the only birds that are reared to maturity, which is what gives them the flavour as well because they have natural fats which are allowed to develop.”
The turkey feed is based on locally grown cereals and vegetable protein and the Kelly Bronze turkeys are bred without additives, drugs or growth promoters. Processing methods are also traditional at the farm as the birds are hand plucked and then hung in a chilled environment for 14 days to develop a fuller flavour.
This Christmas, the NFU are want people to buy British to support UK farmers and can do so by using the NFU’s online Turkey Finder.
Jonathan Smith, NFU Turkey Group Chair told GB News: “I encourage people to buy the best turkey they can afford. Now that might be from their local farm or their butcher or it might even be from a supermarket or a frozen product.
“It’s all about creating memories at Christmas and I don’t think anyone sits back from the table and says ‘goodness me, that turkey was cheap’, but they might say ‘goodness me, that turkey was good’.”
But no matter how good the turkey, not everybody Yorkshire will be following tradition.
GB News spoke to people in Hull about whether they will be eating turkey on Christmas Day.
One man said: “I’m vegetarian so I’ll be having some form of nut roast and Quorn, so no turkey for me.”
But another man disagreed and said: One man: “Turkey is the best option. Bit of peas, bit of carrots, bit of gravy if you’re feeling daring.”
This was not the case for another man who said: “I love beef, there’s nothing better than beef to be honest.”
One woman added: “It’s my mum that buys three bird roast, so it’s just something we’ve grown up with having three bird roast instead of turkey.”
Speaking of his favourite festive feast, one boy said: “I’ll have for Christmas, prawns.”
With the amount of leftovers a turkey generates, families buying the bird this year for their Christmas dinner could also well be eating it into the New Year.