Turkey, the Other White Meat

A stuffed roast turkey is about as all-American as baseball and apple pie, but a report shows that Israelis lead the world in the amount of turkey consumed.

Residents of the Holy Land eat an average of 34.5 pounds of turkey per year, with Slovaks coming in second, according to a report cited by National Geographic magazine.

The United States placed third, with Americans eating an average of 16.1 pounds annually. It’s a surprising statistic, but one theory for turkey’s popularity among Israelis is that many don’t consume pork. Turkey is native to the United States; it was imported to Israel in the 1950s.

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