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Despite turkey being on the menu for the majority of us on thanksgiving, in actual fact historians and scientists now believe that there probably never was any actual turkey when the pilgrims and Indians first sat down together all those years ago. This being the case there are plenty of viable alternatives to turkey that might be closer to the actual events of the first thanksgiving, as well as being a lot cheaper and easier to prepare in many cases.

Most of what was on the original Plymouth Rock table is now thought to have consisted mainly of sea food and deer meat, rather than turkey as the tradition had become. The fact is that turkeys are a lot harder to shoot than many animals, such as deer for example. This being the case veal, lobster, seal and swans are all thought to have been eaten, and also there weren't many vegetables at the actual event. This is mainly due to the fact that many of those that we eat today would have been out of season, and so unavailable to anyone back then.

Keeping with poultry, chicken seems to be the easiest and closest switch to make from turkey, and is a lot easier to cook as well. Not only this but most people tend to prefer the taste of chicken to turkey because turkey often tends to be quite dry, despite having been prepared correctly. The price of chicken will also tend to be a lot cheaper than turkey, particularly around the thanksgiving season. As a last bonus, chickens are of course a lot smaller than turkeys, so there will tend to be a lot less wastage after the meal if finished. Also there is more that you can do with left over chicken that with turkey cuts.

If chicken seems a little too tame and unoriginal for you, then you might want to try to get hold of a goose or duck instead. Goose and duck meat are not only vastly different from each other, but to both turkey and chicken as well. Goose meat tends to be more gamy and fattier than duck, as well as having a stronger taste than either turkey or chicken. It is also dark meat not white, so that is a consideration to bear in mind before deciding one way or the other. Geese tend to be fairly expensive to buy at any time of the year, although some butchers stock a small quantity of them from time to time, which can make them cheaper.

Duck for many people tends to be inextricably linked with the crispy duck they might have tried at their local Chinese takeaway, although this isn't the way most duck tends to taste. Duck meat is also dark, although there are several different

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