NAME GAME: Ever wonder why turkeys are...

NAME GAME: Ever wonder why turkeys are called turkeys? A historical mistake, it turns out. The birds were domesticated by Native Americans and brought to Europe in the early 1500s. But Europeans confused them with African guinea hens, imported from Turkey. The name has stuck ever since.

NAP TIME: So you’ve gorged on turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, and now you just want a nice nap. Why? Partly it’s due to blood leaving your brain to work for your digestive system and partly to the meal’s high fat content. But turkey also is high in tryptophan, an amino acid that helps produce serotonin, a brain chemical that induces sleep, says Nicki Lowenstein, head of nutrition at Northridge Hospital Medical Center.

GOBBLE, GOBBLE: Tom turkeys, like this one raised by 15-year-old John Schmutz of Sylmar, don’t gobble just for their health. Gobbling is a mating call, audible to females up to a mile away. John’s family plans to eat his white turkey, but he says brown ones are more popular with the public. “Brown turkeys don’t show the dirt so much,” he says.

TA-TA, TURKEYS: When he was a boy in the 1930s, Pete Huntsinger’s family ran a turkey farm at their Reseda home. But as postwar suburbanization ate up cheap land, the Huntsingers moved first to Northridge, then to Santa Clarita and later Acton. “You won’t find a turkey farm anywhere near the Valley today,” says Huntsinger, who moved his birds to Fresno in 1970.

BIRD BUYS: Looking for a low-priced bird? Food 4 Less in Van Nuys sells frozen ones for just 18 cents a pound (if you buy $20 of other groceries). If you have extra money, you might try Mrs. Gooch’s in Reseda, which sells fresh, free-range turkeys for up to $2.25 a pound. For harried Valleyites who want to escape the daylong cooking ritual altogether, Mrs. Gooch’s also offers cooked dinners for six people for $59.99. “Each year, we sell more,” said Arlen Roth, who works the deli counter.