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It’s called Turkey Day for a reason, pilgrims, and this year you want an organic one. First of all, you know how much better they taste (it’s true). Second, it’s Thanksgiving, and it just seems right to eat a bird that saw sunlight and walked outside like they did in 1621, not pumped with hormones and antibiotics by someone not wearing flannel.

What exactly is an organic turkey? To settle the free-range vs. organic question, which wasn’t easy, here’s a helpful document explaining the USDA’s rules, which say that in addition to not being fed drugs, plastic pellets, hormones, manure, etc., livestock must be raised with “access to the outdoors, shade, shelter, exercise areas, fresh air and direct sunlight suitable to the species, its stage of production, the climate and the environment.” Michael Pollan says poultry farmers have all kinds of ways of getting around USDA regs, one reason why more people are opting for free-livin’ heritage turkeys, which can cost up to $14.99/pound. (Brooklyn Based has a list here.) For the purposes of our research, we kept it simple: called a whole bunch of markets and a few online vendors to get prices on a 13-pound organic bird, which serves eight to 10 people. (more…)