It's time to talk turkey

To buy a more expensive locally raised turkey or a cheaper bird injected with hormones and antibiotics? That may be the question for some cash-strapped consumers this Thanksgiving.

Although price will always be the deciding factor for some, area butchers say they are busy taking orders for local turkeys that can cost in the neighborhood of $4 a pound.

"The demand is there," said Mike Smollon, owner of My Butcher & More butcher shop on Forest Drive in Annapolis, who typically takes 80 percent of his turkey orders the week before Thanksgiving.

But customers have already placed 60 orders for the vegetarian-fed turkeys he orders from a Delaware farm, Smollon said. They will spend $3.69 a pound for those turkeys, while some grocery stores are offering frozen turkeys for less than $1 per pound.

"I buy from farms that actually raise and do the whole process themselves, so it's a lot more expensive," Smollon said.

Steve LeBarron, owner of The Butcher's Block on Harry S Truman Parkway who orders local turkeys from Hillside Turkey Farms in Thurmont, expects to sell about 200 of them - the same number as last year.

Customers have already placed about 20 percent of those orders, LeBarron said. He expects the birds to cost around $2.79 a pound.

"I think customers like the idea of fresh, they like the idea of local," he said.

The local buying movement coupled with growing environmental concerns have led consumers nationwide to think more about what they're ingesting at the big Thanksgiving table - and beyond.

"I think the local food movement is spreading all over the United States," said Craig Sewell, owner of A Cook's Cafe and president of the Annapolis Sustainable Business Alliance. "If you would go to Philadelphia, Washington and New York, there's even greater demand."

Sewell said that he's delighted about the demand for locally raised turkeys. Local free-range turkeys are flavorful and moist and contain less sodium than their traditional grocery store counterparts, he said.

He's noticed the demand himself. Of the 150 families signed up for his program for baskets full of locally raised and grown food, 50 have ordered free-range turkeys, Sewell said.

"They come from Springfield Farm in Baltimore County, and I've been to the woods where the turkeys run around," he said.

Sewell said that he has booked 60 carryout Thanksgiving dinner orders, and expects to top out at 100.

Though the turkeys are pricier, people are willing to pay a premium for freshness, said Smollon from My Butcher & More.

He said he's seeing a greater response to local foods in Annapolis than in Gambrills, where his store was formerly located.

"In Gambrills, about 40 percent cared about the all-natural products," he said. "But since moving to Annapolis, about 70 percent of the customers are very concerned about what they eat."

Claire Owens is one of those customers. She said she ordered a 26-pound turkey a few weeks ago from My Butcher & More to feed about 40 people.

Owens, also the owner of Claire Owens Catering, said she strives to buy only local and organic products.

"It's all about sustainable living," she said.

Leaner locally raised turkeys do need to be brined, but "the ultimate taste is that it tastes like turkey," Owens said. "It's a little bit gamier. It doesn't just taste like a large chicken."