The turkey gets one week a year of national attention, and Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, 26 November 2026. The White House has taken delivery of a live tom from the turkey growers' trade group every November since 1947, and George H. W. Bush turned the handover into a formal pardon in 1989.1 The rest of the year the same bird is split in two: a wild animal of the American woods and a roast that 87% of celebrating households put on the table most years.2
That split is what this page follows, across 13 rankings about food, birds, symbols and holiday habits.
Benjamin Franklin wanted Americans to respect the turkey, and 242 years later the lists still treat it as dinner first and a bird second.
Roast Turkey vs Pumpkin Pie: the Thanksgiving table
The best Thanksgiving dish ranking puts Roast Turkey against eleven rivals, including Gravy, Cranberry Sauce, Pecan Pie and a Glazed Ham.
The bird has the volume on its side. The National Turkey Federation estimates that nearly 30 million turkeys are eaten over the holiday, and 74% of the families it surveyed plan to serve a whole one.2 Sixty-five percent roast it in the oven, which is why this option carries that name.
Pumpkin Pie is the dish people talk about afterwards. The turkey is the reason the table is set at all, and the sides are the reason people come back for seconds. Mac and Cheese and Green Bean Casserole both have fans who would trade the bird for another scoop.
Wild Turkey vs Bald Eagle: Franklin's complaint
The best symbol of the United States ranking holds the Bald Eagle, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Uncle Sam. The Wild Turkey is on it because of one letter.
In January 1784 Benjamin Franklin wrote to his daughter Sarah Bache that the eagle had a low moral reputation, and that the turkey was "in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America."3 He also called it "a little vain & silly". He never asked Congress to put it on the Great Seal, where the eagle had already appeared since 1782, two years before the letter.
The eagle won the official contest outright. Congress passed a bill naming the bald eagle the national bird without opposition, and President Biden signed it on 24 December 2024.4 On this list the turkey leans on Franklin, the Thanksgiving story and the same homegrown appeal that keeps Apple Pie in the field.
Northern Cardinal and the best bird in North America
The best bird in North America ranking is a continental field, and the Wild Turkey shares it with the Northern Cardinal, the Snowy Owl, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird and the California Condor.
The wild turkey is the heaviest bird on that list that spends its day on the ground. It is also faster than it looks: PBS Nature puts its running speed at up to 25 mph and its flight at up to 55 mph in short bursts.5
The cardinal has the opposite claim. It is small, red and at a backyard feeder in a large part of the eastern US, and seven states have made it their state bird.
Roast Goose vs Roast Turkey: who owns Christmas dinner
The best main dish for Christmas dinner ranking sets Roast Turkey against Roast Goose, Prime Rib, Beef Wellington, Glazed Ham, Tamales, Lasagna and Lutefisk.
Christmas is a second holiday for the turkey, and a contested one. In Britain and Ireland it is the standard centerpiece. In the United States it competes with ham and beef, families who just ate a turkey four weeks earlier often skip it, and in the Southwest the Christmas table belongs to tamales made by the dozen.
Roast Goose is the bird the turkey replaced. It was the traditional Christmas bird in Germany and in Victorian England, and in Dickens's A Christmas Carol the Cratchits sit down to a goose until Scrooge sends round the prize turkey.
Turkey Breast vs Pastrami at the deli counter
Turkey Breast is the lean option in the best deli meat ranking, next to Pastrami, Corned Beef, Roast Beef, Ham, Prosciutto, Mortadella and Bologna.
"Is turkey the best deli meat" is a phrase people type into Google, and the answer depends on what "best" means. On fat and calories it beats nearly everything at the counter. On flavor it starts behind meats that are brined, smoked or dry-cured for weeks.
Pastrami is the opposite case: navel or brisket brined, crusted with pepper and coriander, smoked and steamed, then piled high on rye. Turkey Breast is the meat people order on a weekday; pastrami is the one they cross town for.
Beef Brisket vs Smoked Turkey: barbecue's outsider
The 14 best American barbecue dishes ranking is a beef-and-pork list. Smoked Turkey is listed with Beef Brisket, Burnt Ends, Pulled Pork, Baby Back Ribs and Whole Hog.
Turkey is a regular on Texas barbecue menus, sliced like brisket. At home, smoking it is the second most common way Americans cook the holiday bird: 10% of Thanksgiving cooks smoke it, and another 7% fry it.2
Brisket is the measure everything else on this list is held to.
Turkey Leg vs Corn Dog: state fair food
The best state fair food ranking is full of things fried on a stick: the Corn Dog, Deep-Fried Oreos, Deep-Fried Butter, Fried Cheese Curds and a Cotton Candy Taco.
The Turkey Leg is the one item eaten off the bone. The ranking describes it as a whole smoked leg big enough to need both hands, and walking the midway with one is as much of the fair tradition as the food itself.
The Corn Dog is the classic it has to beat, and it has the easier job: one hand, no napkin.
Presidential Turkey Pardon vs Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
The best Thanksgiving tradition ranking holds the Presidential Turkey Pardon, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, NFL Thanksgiving Football, the Turkey Trot, Friendsgiving, the Leftover Turkey Sandwich and Black Friday Shopping.
The pardon is the only one where a live turkey is the guest of honor. Harry Truman received the first bird from the National Turkey Federation in 1947. In 1989, the 200th anniversary of George Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation, George H. W. Bush announced that the tom in front of him would not end up on anyone's table, and every president since has repeated it.1
The Macy's parade is older and much bigger, with giant balloons over Manhattan every Thanksgiving morning since 1924. Plenty of families would rank the Detroit Lions game or the Turkey Trot above both.
The gobble vs the Common Loon's wail
The most recognizable bird call ranking pits the Wild Turkey's gobble against the Common Loon, the Laughing Kookaburra, the Rooster, the Mallard's quack and the Bald Eagle.
The gobble belongs to the male. He uses it in spring to announce himself to hens and rival toms, and it is the noise most people make when asked to do an impression of a turkey.
The loon's call is the sound film editors reach for whenever a scene needs a lonely northern lake. Recognition, though, is a different test from beauty.
Wild Turkey vs Indian Peafowl: the strut
The most impressive courtship display ranking includes the Indian Peafowl, the Greater Sage-Grouse, the Magnificent Frigatebird, the Satin Bowerbird and the Red-capped Manakin, a bird that moonwalks backward along a branch.
The Wild Turkey's entry is the strut. In spring a tom puffs out his body feathers, fans his tail into a wheel and drags his wings on the ground, with the bare red skin of his head and the fleshy snood over his beak on full show.5
The peacock does the same thing with a bigger budget: a train of eye-spotted feathers raised into a fan and shivered at the hen. The two displays are close cousins, and the turkey is the one most Americans have actually seen.
American Bison and the wild turkey's comeback
The greatest wildlife comeback story ranking is a list of animals hunted or poisoned close to the edge: the American Bison, the Gray Wolf, the California Condor, the Bald Eagle and the American Alligator.
The Wild Turkey belongs on it. Market hunting and logging had wiped it out across much of its range by the early 20th century. States then traded live birds with each other to restock empty forests, and the National Wild Turkey Federation now counts about 7 million wild turkeys across 49 states.6 Alaska is the only state without them.
The bison's story is the more dramatic one, a species of tens of millions reduced to a few hundred animals. The turkey's is the one people can watch from a car window.
Ground Turkey vs Ground Beef: the burger patty
The best meat for a burger patty ranking holds Ground Beef, Wagyu Beef, Bison, Lamb, Salmon, Venison and Ground Turkey.
This is the turkey's hardest list. Ground turkey is lean, and lean is a problem in a patty: without added fat, oil or a binder it cooks dry and crumbly. Ground beef, usually chuck at around 80% lean, is the standard because its fat does the work.
The turkey burger's real constituency is people who want a burger on a weeknight without the beef, and the industry behind it is enormous. US farms raised 216.5 million turkeys in 2021, with Minnesota the top state.7
Avocado Toast vs Thanksgiving Turkey: most overrated food
The most overrated food ranking is where a celebrated dish goes to be doubted: Avocado Toast, Truffle Oil, Foie Gras, the Cronut, the Pumpkin Spice Latte and now the Thanksgiving Turkey.
The complaint against the holiday bird is familiar to anyone who has carved one. The breast dries out before the legs are done, the meat needs gravy to taste of much, and the sides get more praise than the main course. Brining, spatchcocking and the deep fryer all exist to fix the same problem.
Avocado Toast has the opposite profile: cheap ingredients, a brunch-menu price and a decade of jokes.
Respectable bird, ordinary dinner
The turkey's strongest cases come from its wild side: the strut, the gobble, a population restocked state by state into the millions. Its weakest come from the kitchen, where it is the lean, dry, slightly dutiful option. Franklin's letter called it both courageous and silly, and the lists agree with him on both counts.
All thirteen lists work by pairing two options per vote, so the turkey meets every rival face to face. Know a list where the bird deserves a seat? Build that ranking yourself and add it.
More rankings, more angles
- Where Does the Bald Eagle Rank Among Birds? 14 Lists — the bird that beat Franklin's favorite to the Great Seal
- Alligator vs Crocodile: Who Would Win? 15 Lists — another American animal off the comeback list
- Is Secretariat the Greatest Racehorse of All Time? 15 Lists — an American animal famous for one afternoon in 1973
Sources
- National Turkey Federation — history of the White House presentation: Truman 1947, the first pardon by George H. W. Bush in 1989: eatturkey.org (checked 2026-11-09)
- National Turkey Federation — 2025 Thanksgiving consumer polling: 87% serve turkey most years, 74% a whole bird, nearly 30 million turkeys, 65% roast, 10% smoke, 7% fry: eatturkey.org (checked 2026-11-09)
- Great Seal of the United States (greatseal.com) — text of Franklin's 26 January 1784 letter to Sarah Bache on the eagle and the turkey: greatseal.com (checked 2026-11-09)
- NBC News — the bald eagle becomes the official national bird after President Biden signs the bill, 24 December 2024: nbcnews.com (checked 2026-11-09)
- PBS Nature — wild turkey fact sheet: running speed up to 25 mph, flight up to 55 mph, the male's strut, snood and wattle: pbs.org (checked 2026-11-09)
- The Boston Globe (AP) — how trading wild turkeys restored the species to about 7 million birds in 49 states, per the National Wild Turkey Federation: bostonglobe.com (checked 2026-11-09)
- National Turkey Federation — industry statistics: 216.5 million turkeys raised in 2021, top producing states led by Minnesota: eatturkey.org (checked 2026-11-09)