What is the best time to serve Thanksgiving dinner?
What time will you gather around the table for Thanksgiving dinner?
According to a 2018 survey of U.S. consumers, early afternoon is the preferred time to dig in to the turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. More specifically, 42% of respondents said they’d be sitting down between 1 and 3 p.m.
Earlier can be better than later, according to a 2018 article in The Atlantic, in order to partake of one of the singular joys that follows the annual feast. Having a midafternoon dinner gives you time to digest, and maybe even have a nap or a walk, before digging back in to the leftovers.
Football lovers might prefer to get the meal in between the early and late game broadcasts. Guests who have traveled to join in, but are not staying overnight, also can leave for home at a reasonable hour if dinner is earlier.
According to research, there is a best time to eat Thanksgiving Dinner. pic.twitter.com/1njNSDJsOH
— Ventura County Star (@vcstar) November 22, 2018
And then there is the issue of overindulgence. Going to bed on an overly full stomach can lead to gastric reflux and interrupted sleep.
This small, random, very unscientific Trib poll reveals a variety of Turkey Day meal times:
• Endy Reindl, executive director of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra, will join relatives in the Altoona area for dinner at around noon or 12:30 p.m. The large group of relatives from his mother’s side of the family will eat and visit until it’s time to head for the Holiday Lights on the Lake attraction at Altoona’s Lakemont Park.
“We hurry up and get in line at 5, and it opens at 6,” he said. “Then at the end of the night, there’s time to buy cookies in the gift shop.”
• Stephanie Reesman of Kittanning Township, Armstrong County, likes a 4 p.m. dinner time, because it gives her all day to prepare the meal. It’s also a family tradition, as that’s the time her mother would serve the meal.
She’s also taking her guests’ needs into consideration.
“Getting everyone together to eat at the same time can be difficult,” she said. “If someone has other plans at noon, they can come over for dinner or just come later for dessert.”
• Jen Costello, co-founder of You Are Here art space in Jeannette, and her wife, Deb Costello, turn Thanksgiving into a two-day affair, with big dinners served around 1 or 2 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Dinner on Thanksgiving Day is a more intimate affair for immediate family, while Friday is “literally a do-drop-in-day” for friends and relatives traveling from out of town.
Both dinners have “a strong Italian influence,” she said, with the turkey sharing space with homemade ravioli and sauce and “red soup,” made with chicken, beef and tomatoes following an heirloom family recipe.
“We have about 40 people overall over two days,” Costello said. “We cook ahead of time, because we want to enjoy the company, too.”
• Liz Clark of the Natrona Heights section of Harrison normally hosts about 12 to 15 family members for a 2 p.m. dinner. Afterward, “the guys go off to play or watch football, and (the women) do the cleanup,” she said.
Then it’s time to regroup at the table for coffee and pie.
The midafternoon meal works for both for her and her guests. She has time to relax at the end of the day, and “it gives guests the opportunity to get home at a decent time,” she said.
• Mary Ellen Raneri of Latrobe has childhood memories of eating Thanksgiving dinner at home with her parents around 2 p.m., then traveling to her grandmother’s house for another feast later in the day. This year, Raneri and her husband, Phil, will welcome three guests at about 3 p.m., but dinner won’t hit the table until around 6.
“I am hoping my husband can hold out until then without eating every drop of the relish tray and cheese and crackers,” she said.
At 10 a.m., Mary Ellen and Phil will go live on their popular “Baking With Lucy” Facebook series, which showcased recipe demonstrations from Mary Ellen’s mother, Lucy Pollock, until the latter’s death Nov. 22, 2020. The pair will prepare Thanksgiving pies, rolls and side dishes live for their followers, carrying on Lucy’s traditions.
• Greggory Brandt, producing artistic director of Saint Vincent Summer Theatre, will share dinner around 3 p.m. with his girlfriend and her mother and brother.
“It’s not too early and it’s not too late,” he said. “You have the morning to prepare, and you have some breakfast or appetizers early, and then you have more leftovers later.”
• Chrissy Hamilton of Gilpin wants her guests at the table at noon or 1 p.m.
“I like to do things in the evening, and you can’t really go out and have fun during the day,” she said. “We like to do movies or something like that in the evening.”
• Lisa Hegedus, owner of Caffe Barista in Greensburg, says she never has to cook Thanksgiving dinner.
“I can’t — I’m too busy — but I do the Christmas Eve dinner,” she said.
The task of preparing the turkey and stuffing rotates among her parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. They sit down to eat around 3 p.m. “or whenever it’s convenient,” she said.
The family has to wait for her, because Caffe Barista is open from 7- 11 a.m. Thanksgiving Day to coincide with the Greensburg Turkey Trot 5K run/walk. Afterward, catering customers will be picking up their holiday dinner orders from 11 a.m. until noon.
“Thanksgiving is our next-to- busiest day,” she said.
• Mary Briggs, co-founder of You Are Here art space in Jeannette, has dinner every year with her cousin’s family. Usual time is 3 p.m., but this year it will be at 1 to accommodate travel schedules.
Briggs said she’ll go over early to make gravy — something she only does once a year for Thanksgiving.
Her cousin and husband “put lots of love and effort into the meal,” Briggs said. “The gathering includes members of her husband’s (Turkish) family for whom the U.S. is their adopted home, so there is a mix of two cultures and two languages and two cuisines that add to the day that has a recurring rhythm of tranquility and chaos.
“That is what makes it great,” she said.
Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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