Why Eating Turkey Makes You Sleepy
Early during my marriage to my lovely wife, the one most folks call Mrs. Pistachio, she asked me a question that I am sure many of you have always wondered the answer to. Honestly, I don't know the answer, but on the day that Mrs. Pistachio asked me "Why does eating turkey make you want to take a nap afterwards?" Being the joker I sometimes can be, I mustered my best poker face and told her my made up on the spot answer with confidence that she would be convinced that I was well educated regarding the workings of the chemicals residing in Turkey meat.
I told her, "Eating Turkey makes you sleepy because turkeys have a special chemical in their body that induces one to sleep. This chemical is a defensive mechanism necessary for a turkey's survival in the wild because when a pack of wolves attack a herd of turkeys, after eating the first turkey, the chemical causes the wolves to fall asleep, allowing the remaining turkeys the opportunity to flee to safety."
She smiled, happy to be privy to this wonderfully insightful new information of which she had determined to be correct based on my strong delivery, and because she trusted my knowledge on the subject of turkeys.
I laughed inside, and later forgot all about it, never telling her that what I had told her, in short, was a load of bull.
Years later, while at a Thanksgiving feast at the in-laws, one of her sisters, with a mouth full of turkey and gravy, asked, "I wonder why eating turkey makes you sleepy."
Mrs. Pistachio, feeling informed and confident proudly declared, "So that in the wild, when they are attacked by wolves, the wolves will fall asleep and allow the rest of the little turkeys to get away."
The room fell silent. A few members of the family actually nodded their heads as if in full agreement with Mrs. Pistachio's explanation, while the remainder of diners either dropped their heads as they fought back laughs, or gazed at her with a look of horror and confusion.
She says, "Right, Doug?"
I didn't answer. I was laughing too hard to get a word out.
I told her, "Eating Turkey makes you sleepy because turkeys have a special chemical in their body that induces one to sleep. This chemical is a defensive mechanism necessary for a turkey's survival in the wild because when a pack of wolves attack a herd of turkeys, after eating the first turkey, the chemical causes the wolves to fall asleep, allowing the remaining turkeys the opportunity to flee to safety."
She smiled, happy to be privy to this wonderfully insightful new information of which she had determined to be correct based on my strong delivery, and because she trusted my knowledge on the subject of turkeys.
I laughed inside, and later forgot all about it, never telling her that what I had told her, in short, was a load of bull.
Years later, while at a Thanksgiving feast at the in-laws, one of her sisters, with a mouth full of turkey and gravy, asked, "I wonder why eating turkey makes you sleepy."
Mrs. Pistachio, feeling informed and confident proudly declared, "So that in the wild, when they are attacked by wolves, the wolves will fall asleep and allow the rest of the little turkeys to get away."
The room fell silent. A few members of the family actually nodded their heads as if in full agreement with Mrs. Pistachio's explanation, while the remainder of diners either dropped their heads as they fought back laughs, or gazed at her with a look of horror and confusion.
She says, "Right, Doug?"
I didn't answer. I was laughing too hard to get a word out.
Comments
Well, there is the tryptophan factor!
Happy Thanksgiving!