Designer turkeys fly off the shelves in anticipation of Thanksgiving - at up to $14 per pound

[The Straight Story]

Designer turkeys fly off the shelves in anticipation of Thanksgiving - at up to $14 per pound

Hold onto your giblets: Designer turkeys are flying off store shelves - even at prices as high as $14 a pound.

That's a $168 dent in your Thanksgiving budget if you're hunting a tasty 12-pounder.

Manhattan architect Stephen Alesch dished out more than $200 Sunday for a pair of Good Shepherd Poultry Ranch Heritage free-range turkeys, priced at $11 a pound and dubbed the "Mercedes-Benz" of birds by Dean & Deluca staff.

"They hang out in open fields," Alesch, 45, said in defense of his three-figure fowl.

"It's all about what it's been like for them for their one or two years of life."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/11/22/2010-11-22_designer_turkeys_fly_off_the_shelves_in_anticipation_of_thanksgiving__at_up_to_1.html

[ReverendDeuce]

1. Trader Joe's turkeys... $1.79/lb... kosher for $2.29/lb

May not be free range, but they're hormone-free vegetarian fed...

[madrchsod]

8. vegetarian turkeys? now that is funny...

people fall for the most ridiculous things.

[KittyWampus]

13. You want meat that's been fed ground up meat? You know how madcow happens, right?

Same issue with chickens, except their lives are a lot shorter so the prions don't show up.

Chickens are fed cow remnants.

[madrchsod]

28. my ducks,chickens ,and geese eat grains,grass,and- bugs

factory foul feed is shit and the birds taste almost as bad.

prices like those i should`t have moved to town

[ET Awful]

15. Little tip for you:

If you buy your turkey, chicken, beef, pork, etc. at your local grocery store, odds are the animal you're eating didn't have a vegetarian diet.

It was likely fed a highly unnatural blend of ground up animal remnants mixed with corn, etc.

This is how mad cow is spread. The corn feeding of cattle is also a huge part of why resistant strains of e-coli have become so prevalent in recent years. Corn is not a natural feed for cattle, it creates more acids in the stomach which helps to create more acid resistant strains of e-coli (which if the cattle were fed naturally would be killed off in the stomach).

People do fall for ridiculous things . . .

[somone]

2. Of course, rich people eat special turkeys with special powers

that help them rule over us.

[madrchsod]

3. idiots with money....

there`s a flock of free range turkeys in the field across the street from my house!

[ReverendDeuce]

4. That could be either good or bad...

I am sure you're actually talking about a rural area, but I live in the city so I get these crazy pictures in my head... The image that comes to mind is a bunch of street turkeys dining on plastic scraps, fast food wrappers, and rotten produce from garbage cans.

[Kalyke]

20. I live in a medium-sized city and see flocks of wild turkeys everywhere.

LOL...funny story:

About six years ago, my son and I were driving past a local cemetery on our way to my mother's house for Thanksgiving and we saw a whole flock of wild turkeys trotting through the graves. I guess they were paying respects to their fellow turkeys who fell for that day's meal. :)

[Richardo]

5. As God is my witness, turkeys *can* fly

...I guess. :)

[pinboy3niner]

14. LOL--if they're Gucci turkeys, apparently

Les was right: "Oh, the humanity!" :)

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[BolivarianHero]

7. For Republicans and Hollywood Democrats...

Perfect for the stupid and the snobs alike. I'll stick with the wild turkey Poppy hunts and throws in the deep frier.....mmmmmmmmm

[WhiteTara]

11. just don't burn the house down!

;)

[WhiteTara]

9. free range can be dry and tough

it can't be cooked like a butterball. I wonder how many will be aghast at their choice. BTW here, they are usually about $3.00 a pound.

[Xenotime]

10. must be rethuglican turkeys

[xchrom]

12. I order Heritage turkey sometimes and I'm not rich.

But I do have a thing about food and cooking.

[Fleshdancer]

16. A fool and his money are soon parted

There are plenty of free range options that don't cost this much. If you feel compelled to turn your Tday turkey into a status symbol, then it's time to seriously re-evaluate your life.

[Toucano]

25. But not always fast enough.

;-)

If we could just accelerate the parting of the fool and his money!

[Frustratedlady]

17. Our organic store has free range turkeys at $1.99/lb.

They should put a fancy title on them and raise the price. Wow!

[NotThisTime]

27. Wow! Lucky you, I just paid 3.29 lb. for ours... a 1.99 is great!

[pipi_k]

18. Screw that...

I get designer turkeys for free...

[frylock]

23. that's a funny lookin dog

[Denninmi]

19. I hatched and raised six Royal Palms this year.

Beautiful birds. Just for pets, I have various chickens, ducks, quails, and the turkeys. I do use the eggs.

They have a lot to be thankful for, IMO, on the big day, they will get an extra special dinner full of treats, whereas many turkeys will be the dinner.

Oh, I bought an "all natural" turkey, albeit frozen, for $0.89 a lb. NOT pre-basted or anything.

[AngryAmish]

21. I tasted one of these last year

We went a-visiting after dinner and one of the visits was one of these fancy birds cooked by a Michelin-starred chef (member of the family, not hired for the occasion). It tasted like...turkey, a touch gamier than usual but nevertheless turkey. Not sure if it was better than the bird cooked by myself. Oh, but the gravy was amazing. I think he snuck some demiglace in, I'm not sure.

[Javaman]

22. Mine has sequins. nt

[tabbycat31]

24. My parents ordered a Heritage turkey this year

Not sure if it's worth the extra $$$--- I will tell you after Thursday.

[kenny blankenship]

26. Organically killed.

"They hang out in open fields," Alesch, 45, said in defense of his three-figure fowl. "It's all about what it's been like for them for their one or two years of life."

Some turkeys bum around Europe for a year or so, smoking in hash bars and discussing Wittgenstein. Others hang out in open fields - you know: getting "back to the land", because anything else involves like succumbing to the artifice of modern civilization and capitalism. They lived their own dreams, they did it their way. You can't really put a price tag on that. Aside from 14 dollars a pound.

[Toucano]

29. Give that man a tax cut, for godsake!

The $14/pound turkey farms will create millions of jobs!