The holiday season is upon us. It's the most wonderful time of the year. Everyone gathered around to celebrate their respective holidays. You get to spend time with your loving, yet slightly judgmental families. Everything is going along wonderfully, laughter and joy in the air until your grandma hits you with the one question you knew was coming, but still hoped you wouldn’t have to answer, “Are you seeing anyone?”

Even though you know it wouldn't be the holiday season without that question, you still haven’t prepared an answer. Suddenly, your parents, your aunts and uncles, your cousins, your tipsy siblings, your grumpy grandfather, and the dog are all staring at you, waiting for your response.

Because I know you’re too tired from the semester to be able to spit off some smart remark, I’ve concocted a list of 11 foods to shove in your mouth until everyone forgets what the question was and returns to their individual tasks.

Salty Foods to Match Your Attitude

1. An Entire Turkey Leg 

pork, barbecue, chicken, meat
Photo courtesy of pixabay.com

The trick to this one is that your barbaric manners may be just distracting enough for everyone to forget their questions. Just take that leg and eat until they move on with their lives.

2. Loaded Baked Potato

ham, cheese, pizza, bacon, meat, sandwich
Maria Glander
There's nothing like the delicious combination of potatoes, bacon, cheese, sour cream, and butter to make you think about all of things you don't have in common with that guy from your English class.

3. Stuffing

chicken
Liz Kaplan

Nothing says "holiday classic" like stuffing, and nothing says "you're alone!" like all of your family picking on you for being single.

4. Popcorn

popcorn, corn, cereal, kettle corn, caramel, sweet, wheat, milk, butter
Andrea Kang

The fun thing about popcorn is that the more questions you're asked, the more pieces you can shove into your mouth!

5. Mac and Cheese

meat, sauce, macaroni, pasta
Meghan Walsh

The most classic of combos is the best thing to shove in your mouth when you're forced to deal with the fact you don't have a partner to be a classic combo.

6. Brussels Spouts

vegetable
Julianna Ruo

The only Brussels sprouts less bitter than the moment when your family asks why you're not dating anyone.

Sweet Foods because You're Sweet (Who Cares If You're Single)

7. Pumpkin Bread French Toast

Alixandra Rutnik

This twist on a seasonal classic will add just enough fun to your life to help you move on from the uncomfortable encounters.

8. Sweet Potato Casserole

dairy product, candy, cream, chocolate, cake, pastry, sweet
Hui Lin

A sweet dish that disguises itself as a savory one; just like you disguise yourself as not frustrated when someone points out that you're the only one at the dinner table without a partner.

9. Pecan Pie Bars

caramel, apple, pie, caramel apple, pecan, apple pie, cake
Rachel Dean

These delightfully sweet bars have hints of nuttiness that help mask those questions you just don't have the time or patience to answer.

10. Vegan Christmas Cookies

gingerbread, cookie, sweet, candy, chocolate, cake
Kristine Mahan

A healthy, holiday classic, these cute cookies will be adorable as you put more and more into your mouth to ignore looks from your family.

11. Cranberry Pistachio White Chocolate Fudge

chocolate, pistachio, sweet, cream, cranberry, candy, dairy product
Cassandra Bauer

A little bit nutty, super sweet, with a hint of fruitiness, this fudge is perfect for shoving your mouth because it will take your tastebuds on a journey away from the lingering questions.

Finally, here's me following my own advice after my grandma asked me when I was going to get a boyfriend 30 minutes after she arrived.

sushi
Tyndal Mitchell