Chef Steve Reed and the Runaway Turkey
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, in Carlisle, Iowa, Chef Steve Reed had one job: bring home the Thanksgiving turkey. After years in the kitchen and decades of perfect holiday meals, this one seemed easy. He found the bird, hauled it through a packed grocery store, and tossed it into the back of his truck for the short drive home. There was just one problem...his truck didn’t have a tailgate.
By the time he pulled into his driveway, the turkey was gone. A few streets back, a man in a tweed jacket stood quietly on the curb, staring down at the runaway bird like it had fallen from the sky. What followed was part rescue mission, part comedy sketch, and pure Thanksgiving magic.
Chef Steve joins us for the story.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.5 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:14.1 | And we return to our American stories in our Thanksgiving special. |
| 0:18.4 | Up next, a story from Steve Reed |
| 0:21.2 | about an unforgettable experience with a turkey. |
| 0:24.8 | Take it away, Steve. |
| 0:29.6 | My name is Stephen Reed, |
| 0:31.6 | and I live here in Carlisle, Iowa. |
| 0:35.3 | And I would like to share a story |
| 0:37.1 | about how I lost a Thanksgiving turkey. |
| 0:43.3 | So just a little bit of a background. |
| 0:46.3 | I am a chef, and I have worked as a chef for over 30 years now. |
| 0:50.3 | And back in 2006, I saw a job listing for a family that was looking to hire a private chef. |
| 1:02.0 | Lo and behold, I was offered the position, and I was just elated. |
| 1:07.0 | Pretty much almost immediately, I bonded with this family. And it was just a joy to show up to work |
| 1:14.5 | every day and in fact the husband of the family he gave me the name of master chef which I had to laugh |
| 1:23.1 | because I'm not a master chef at all I I mean, yes, I am a chef. |
| 1:28.0 | Yes, I am an excellent cook. |
| 1:29.9 | But I am not a master chef, at least in the official sense. |
| 1:39.2 | So I had been working for this family for two and a half years and Thanksgiving was coming up. |
| 1:46.7 | And they were trying to figure out what they wanted to do for Thanksgiving dinner. |
| 1:53.3 | This debate developed between the mother and the father of the family on what kind of turkey that they wanted to have. |
... |
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