Kmflett's Blog

Turkeys & the rich: 1844-2022

We have a Government that sees itself firmly in the mould of capitalism, times past, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the question of turkeys and class has arisen again.

In the Christmas Carol published at Xmas 1843 Dickens had the distinctly not well off Cratchit family provided, after some ghostly interventions, with a top of the range turkey for Christmas lunch by Bob Cratchit’s employer Scrooge.

This didn’t go down well with the neo-liberals of the day. Commenting on the book in passing in the Westminster Review in 1844, a reviewer noted that since there weren’t enough top notch turkeys to go round if the lower orders like the Cratchits got one, than others- the deserving rich-would not.

Who went without turkey and punch in order that Bob Cratchit might get them – for, unless there were turkey and punch in surplus, someone must go without – is a disagreeable reflection kept wholly out of sight.”

William Bridges Adams, Westminster Review 1844

In 2022 there remains a turkey shortage based on wealth. Avian Flu, itself not unrelated to market capitalism, has seen up to 50% of turkeys destroyed (although not apparently the ones Eddie Grundy markets in Ambridge) particularly free range birds.

This has led to supermarket prices for turkeys increasing broadly in the 20-25% range against the context of a cost of living crisis. Clearly this won’t concern those members of the Tory Party who enjoy talking and eating turkey. Others may not be so well off.

There are of course alternatives to turkey at Christmas including vegetarian and vegan ones

Update

The Times (26th December) reports that researchers think Henry V111 was responsible for bringing the turkey to Britain. Its Editorial rightly notes that it is the bird of choice for those who eat poultry and that it features in Dickens Christmas Carol. It misses the point perhaps deliberately about why Dickens had Scrooge buy the Cratchits a turkey. The poor in the 1840s would eat goose at Christmas if they could afford it. Turkeys were unaffordable except for the rich. Dickens was attacking a market system that rationed food by class. The Times does however admit that turkey only became the Christmas bird after 1945 when production techniques in the farming business allowed for a vast expansion of availability