Thanksgiving is one of the biggest holidays of the year that is primarily dedicated to food with turkey being the most common dish. If it’s the first time you’ve tried to cook a turkey without the help of your family, you can call the Turkey Talk-Line.
The turkey company Butterball had the idea for the Turkey Talk-Line starting 40 years ago in 1981, for the first holiday season a team of six home economists answered 11,000 turkey-related questions. The service has grown in popularity and accessibility annually during working holiday seasons through November and December.
What first started as a simple talk line 40 years ago has expanded to offering some wise turkey talk by online chat, e-mail, phone, and text. The Turkey Talk-Line also has a new feature that users can request help on the Butterball Skills available on Instagram, Amazon Alexa, TikTok, and Facebook. The Turkey Talk Like is also bilingual offering advice in Spanish and the number for the Turkey Talk-Line is 1-800-BUTTERBALL (1-800-288-8372) or you can text for expert advice at 844-877-3456.
Now the Turkey Talk-Line has expanded to over 50 food-related experts, answering thousands of calls during the holiday season with over 10,000 calls on Thanksgiving Day alone. Each of the experts giving advice for the Turkey Talk-Line has at a minimum a four-year degree in food-related fields such as home economics, nutritionists, nutrition dietetics, public health workers, dieticians, chefs, and more.
- The experts working the Turkey Talk-Line have to go through training starting as freshmen at Butterball University completing a one-day training seminar annually for the first three years. Each student is assigned a specific method of preparing a turkey, spending the day cooking in the Butterball office kitchen.
- Students of Butterball U have also tested a variety of cooking methods using appliances like sous vides, deep fryers, and charcoal grills. On the Butterball website, you can check out the new Turkey Talk-Line Test Kitchen for some delicious recipes.