Sustainable for the holidays

Holiday events are a time for cheer—and can be a huge revenue driver at noncommercial operations. Parkhurst Dining General Manager Lenny DeMartino at Highmark in Pittsburgh told FoodService Director earlier this fall that Thanksgiving dinner alone doubles his typical meal attendance with 600 additional guests, while David Hill, assistant director of culinary operations at the University of New Hampshire estimates a 20 percent bump—or about 500 additional diners—at the Durham, N.H., school.

With those additional diners, though, come additional turkeys. More than 8 million birds were killed by avian flu this year, according to the National Turkey Federation and USA Today. On the wholesale market, this means fresh turkeys were going for an average $1.60 a pound as of mid-November, with their frozen counterparts sitting slightly lower at $1.36 per pound, the Associated Press reports. Purdue University economists say that’s 20 percent more expensive than in 2014.

But there are other costs to keep in mind—the environmental ones. According to the Center for Food Safety, it takes at least 915,200 barrels of oil to produce and ship all of America’s holiday turkeys. At 42 gallons to the barrel, that’s 38,438,400 gallons of oil—just for the turkey!

One alternative for both home cooks and foodservice operators: looking to heritage breeds. For the latter, a relationship with a local farmer to make bulk purchases could pay off for both parties and help increase awareness of heritage birds. They boast such thrilling names as Bourbon Red and Narragansett, the latter of which definitely strutted around the barnyard of a local park when I was a kid. He probably knew how much he was worth.

I’ll admit that I bought my frozen, 23-pound Thanksgiving bird at a wholesale retailer for a whopping 99 cents a pound before even looking into my local options. One farmer in my area was selling 17-pounders for $169.50 and even held a pickup event at a downtown Chicago wine shop, cutting the carbon footprint even further. The farm’s website details its own struggles with avian flu—it decided to raise fewer Bourbon Reds this year to reduce the risk of the flock being wiped out. By the week before Thanksgiving, their birds had sold out for the rest of the year, news that warmed my Grinch heart.

So yes, the sticker shock of heritage turkeys can be enough to make even the pickiest eaters shy away. But sometimes a special occasion calls for a special bird. Emory University in Atlanta has hosted an annual Heritage Turkey Feast since 2008, attracting thousands of students to enjoy a sustainably sourced dinner. And one meal can be the start of something much larger.