Martha Stewart Settles the Debate on When to Eat Thanksgiving Dinner

Martha Stewart is adamant about the best time to serve a Thanksgiving feast.

The lifestyle expert spoke about her Turkey Day timeline to Today on Thursday, Nov. 13, and was very confident when asked about when dinner should be served.

“2 o’clock in the afternoon,” the cookbook author said definitively while wearing a sash that read “Thanksgiving.” “People are hungry! And they’re starting to circle the kitchen.”

The 84-year-old continued, “You know, if you have a bunch of guests, you don’t want to wait until nighttime. You can eat, and then watch the big game, and then have more drinks and have fun, and eat dessert later.”

Stewart typically keeps fans in the loop on her Thanksgiving plans. Last year, she “opted for a European trip instead of hosting at her New York farmhouse.

“We’re going to Rome,” Stewart told PEOPLE at the time. “We decided the kids wanted to go away, the grandchildren, and so we’re all packing up and going to Rome for a few days to visit the sites.”

Stewart is grandmother to Jude, 14, and Truman, 13, the children of her only daughter, Alexis Stewart.

Before heading abroad, she prepared a vegetarian meal instead of the usual poultry as she “pardoned” her home-raised turkeys.

“Although I raise my own turkeys, they have been pardoned this year. We’re going to eat only vegetarian,” said the celebrity chef during a Today segment, explaining that she has “a lot of vegetarians in [her] family.”

The year before, she baked 30 pies over two days ahead of the holiday. The dozens of treats were made for “employees and their families,” according to an Instagram post shared about the baking extravaganza.