This bird with gorgeous coat was seen by Europeans the first time when Spanish conquistadors conquered another Aztec town. In spite of the fact that this bird had strange appearance for Spaniards they finally decided to try it. The conquerors cooked it on a bonfire, then tried it and they were so enthused by the unusual taste of lean, slightly hardish meat. It is no surprise that several pairs of birds were brought by Spaniards for breeding to the Peninsula.
This bird gained the great popularity in the countries of Old world but for some reason the motherland of it was forgotten and some new funny fallacies appeared. The English called it “Turkey cock” because this bird was brought to British isles by Turkish merchants. In other European countries gastrologists called it “an Indian hen” and thought that it was brought from the country of maharajas. It is still called “a cock from Calcutta” in Danish, Dutch, Finnish and Norwegian.
It is curious that turkey was brought to India a century later after Europe. In very India it was called “a bird from Peru” because that bird was brought there from the South America by Portuguese people. It is also very interesting that turkeys are not breeded in Peru.
The final Curious © phrase:
“Much water runs by the mill that the miller knows of”
(English saying)
