Turkey dinner

(CC) Image: Ben Franske
Turkey or Thanksgiving dinner.

A turkey dinner is a popular variant of the roast dinner (also called baked dinner, Sunday dinner or Sunday roast), a meal served at family gatherings and celebrations in the West.

While there is no rule against eating turkey at any time (and at one time, wild turkeys were so commonplace in North America that they were hunted and eaten often), in modern times its limited availability, relative expense and involved preparation has led to a situation in which turkey dinners are, for most people, a "special" meal. Turkey dinners are particularly popular as the main meal of Christmas and, in the US, especially for Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving dinner is even more significant because many more Americans celebrate Thanksgiving than Christmas. In both of these cases, turkey replaced other meats as the special food of the day: goose was once the UK Christmas meal and contrary to popular belief, turkey is a relatively recent newcomer to Thanksgiving Day tables as well.

In popular culture

In a popular episode of the britcom Dad's Army, titled Turkey Dinner, Captain Mainwaring observes that the platoon will find it a challenge to put on a full turkey dinner in wartime. He delineates the elements of a proper turkey dinner:

• turkey
• stuffing
• bacon
• onions
• gravy
• bread sauce
• potatoes
• vegetables

The turkey dinner was of enough cultural significance that Cole Porter wrote in You're the Top:

“

You're sublime, you're a turkey dinner You're the time of the Derby winner...

”

Towards the end of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge sends the 'prize turkey' to the Cratchits on Christmas Day; presumably the turkey dinner will be more special that one with goose.