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Our listener question this week is from China. Jaetyn Wang wants to know if Americans eat turkey at times other than Thanksgiving. The answer is: Yes! Americans eat turkeys and many foods made with turkey meat all year.

Most of the turkeys eaten in the United States are raised on farms. These are called domesticated turkeys. Americans buy these birds at supermarkets. Some are fresh but most have been frozen. They all need to be cooked in an oven for several hours.

Most domesticated turkeys are grown in the state of Minnesota. The National Turkey Federation says that more than ninety percent of Americans eat turkey at Thanksgiving in November.

Forty-five million birds are sold for that holiday. The average weight is about seven kilograms. Twenty-two million turkeys are sold at Christmas and nineteen million are eaten at Easter.

Seventy percent of an average turkey is white meat while thirty percent is dark meat. In general, Americans like the white meat better than the dark meat.

Twenty years ago, turkeys were thought of as mainly a holiday food. But the turkey-growing industry has changed that. They point out that turkeys are high in protein and low in fat. In nineteen seventy, the average American ate almost four kilograms of turkey a year. In two thousand eight, that increased to almost eight kilograms a year.

So now you can find turkey meat in many different products. Most American markets sell turkey white meat that is cooked and thinly sliced for making sandwiches. There is also ground turkey that people cook like hamburgers. Turkey is also used instead of beef to make the traditional American hot dog. Turkey meat can also be cut into small pieces and added to vegetables and liquid to make soups and stews.