Jenny Luciano, director of communications for the food bank, said that this year, due to factors that include cooking facilities and cultural preferences, the bank is asking people not to donate large turkeys but to bring in chickens instead.

Luciano said that the bank makes requests for foods based on the needs of the many agencies they supply food to, including Sunnyvale's Community Services.

The primary reason for this change in bird requests is that a turkey takes extensive cooking time and facilities to prepare. For low or fixed-income families, large ovens and hours of cooking time may not be available.

By comparison, chicken can be prepared on a hot plate or in a crock-pot in a fraction of the time.

And because chicken is the most common poultry used in cooking worldwide, the families in Silicon Valley, many of whom come from around the globe, are more inclined to use a chicken than they are a turkey. Most turkey dishes at Thanksgiving originated with the European pilgrims.