It’s a festive favourite as traditional as hanging up stockings for Santa to fill. But three-quarters of young adults are now giving turkey dinners the bird – in favour of pizza or a curry.

Amid a shortage of turkeys due to avian flu, 77 per cent of Generation Z 18- to 25-year-olds don’t fancy roasting one anyway, a poll shows.

And a third of all adults plan to take the bird off the menu, with 90 per cent of pensioners sticking with it but 44 per cent of millennials (aged 26 to 41) giving it a miss, found Sainsbury’s.

Other popular alternatives include lasagne and roast chicken.

Ben Collins, 23, of Harrow, north west London, said he will make curry for Christmas with five housemates.

He said: ‘I’ve had enough turkey to do me a lifetime as we always had it at home for Christmas. This year we’re having what we want – a curry.’

Appetite for a bird that needs to be cooked for hours in the oven has been hit by soaring fuel prices.

Meanwhile, the price of a turkey has risen by 50 per cent, stuffing by 59 per cent and cranberry sauce by 22 per cent, Good Housekeeping’s Cost of Christmas Dinner survey found.

Even spuds are more pricey. Analyst Richard Caines, of Mintel, said the summer drought hit harvests.

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