Here it comes, folks… Another holly-jolly season right around the corner, ushering in the best and brightest social moments that help deflect this gloomy time of year. With that in mind, here’s my latest list of fast food facts that might serve you well by sparkling up a conversation or two in the social daze to come.
But first, a tip of my newsboy cap to Harper’s Magazine, published since 1850, making it the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in North America. It’s one I’ve subscribed to for decades. It’s also the source of the much-loved Harper’s Index, which inspired the format below and was created by the inimitable Lewis Lapham, who died earlier this year.
Rightfully praised by The New York Times as an “unexpectedly excellent magazine” due in part to its wide-reaching range “amid a homogenizing media landscape,” you can’t go wrong giving Harper’s Magazine—or any number of good publications, including Pique Newsmagazine—to friends and family, near and far.
What better way of staying connected while supporting solid, independent journalism in these times of politics and threats to democracy as dark as a winter’s night?
There’s nothing like cozying up with a beautiful paper copy of a top publication as the weather outside grows frightful. No hideous LED-blue light screens glaring in faces. And no wrapping required! Just pop a note into a holiday card, and the rest will take care of itself all year as you support thoughtful publications we need in our cultural landscape.
In the meantime, have fun with these little tidbits below.
FESTIVE FOOD FACTS
• Number of sub-species of wild turkeys found in North America: 6
• Number of those sub-species found in Canada: 2; the Eastern wild turkey, found in Ontario and Quebec, and Merriam’s wild turkey, found in B.C. and across the prairies to Manitoba.
• Weight of the average male wild turkey in Canada: 8.1–13.6 kg
• Weight of the average female wild turkey: 3.6–6.3 kg
• Weight of the average turkey on a Canadian Christmas table in the 1970s: 5.6 kg
• Average weight in the 2020s: 8.0 kg, or about the size of a wild male turkey in Canada (at the small end of the scale). If your store-bought turkey is on the bigger size, say 7 to 11 kg, it’s a male or tom turkey. If it’s on the smaller size (4 to 7 kg), it’s a female or hen.
• Average age when a turkey reaches the size commonly sold in Canada: 12 to 21 weeks
• Amount of turkey Canadians consumed in 2023: 134.2 million kg
• Average per cent of a typical domesticated turkey weight that is breast meat: 70
• Country that ranks as the biggest per-capita consumer of turkey meat worldwide each year: Israel, at 28 lb (12.7 kg) per capita
• Amount of required food aid that’s not making it into Gaza these days due to Israel’s invasion: 83 per cent, up from 34 per cent in 2023
• Average impact the latest food aid decrease has meant for the people of Gaza: Eating one meal every second day versus the previous average of two meals per day
• Amount of feed, which includes grain and oilseeds like corn, soya, wheat, barley and canola, that a domesticated turkey eats to put on a kilogram of weight: 6.6 kg
• Amount of grain in a well-balanced diet for poultry (chickens and turkeys): 75 to 90 per cent
• Amount of potatoes available annually per person in Canada: 70 kg
• Amount of wheat flour: About the same, 70 kg
• World rank of Ukraine in select food exports before Russia’s invasion: Largest exporter of sunflower seeds; 7th largest exporter of wheat; 4th largest of barley
• Amount that Ukraine exports are estimated to have declined due to Russia’s invasion for wheat, corn and barley, respectively: 32, 27 and 37 per cent
• Amount of water needed to grow a kilogram of cranberries: About 1,000 to 1,250 litres
• Average amount of water needed to grow a kilogram of squash: About 333 litres
• Number of litres of water an elephant requires per day: 200
• Number of litres of water an average (240-kg) black bear needs per day: about 11
• Number of calories a black bear needs to eat per day to pack on the required amount of weight for hibernation: 15,000 to 20,000
• Number of black bears that live around Whistler: 50
• Estimated age of the oldest known proto-wine, which was found in China and made without grapes: 9,000 years
• Year of origin of what’s considered to be the first cocktail, the Sazerac—a blend of cognac or whiskey, absinthe, bitters and sugar—created in New Orleans: The mid-1800s, with some pegging it at 1838
• Number of candy canes sold each year: 1.76 billion
• Percentage sold between Thanksgiving and Christmas: 90
• Weight of world’s biggest candy cane: 318,267.3 kg
• World record for number of candy canes stuffed in a beard, set by Joel Strasser in Meridian, Idaho, December, 2023: 187
• Size of world’s biggest gingerbread house, created in Bryan, Texas, in 2013: 18.28 m (60 ft) long, 12.8 m (42 ft) wide and 3.07 m (10.1 ft) tall at the highest point.
Thanks to these good sources: Canadian Encyclopedia; CBC News, Dec. 24, 2016 and July 17, 2018; Turkey Farmers of Canada; USDA; Norwegian Refugee Council; Province of Manitoba; BBC April 2, 2024; CSIS report May 2, 2024; World Population Review; World Wildlife Fund; Naked Scientists; Yellowstone Bear World; Port Hardy Bear Smart Committee; Bear Smart Whistler; Statista.com; Food in Canada; Wikipedia; Chivas.com; Old Time Candy.com; KTLA.com; Time Magazine, Dec. 20, 2017; Guinness World Records.
Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning journalist who still has a handmade candy cane left over from last year.
