My contribution to the Thanksgiving meal is a Cranberry chutney. Surprisingly, even our Millenial kids enjoy this homemade side–no canned stuff for us!
By Dwight Widaman, Editor
It’s a versatile dish. After Thanksgiving, it can be used as a topping on ice cream, as a jelly with peanut butter or just spread on toast, and as a topping for breakfast waffles.
I can, however, understand why the canned stuff is the least popular dish.
A decent portion of Americans continue to dislike the most famous dishes associated with the holiday and only eat them out of obligation (or hide them under their napkin when no one is looking). The website Mental Floss surveyed 1,000 people about their least favorite Thanksgiving foods. Nearly one-third said they dislike cranberry sauce. The survey didn’t differentiate between the homemade version and the canned stuff with the ridges on the side.
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Cranberry sauce is notoriously divisive, but some of the other takeaways might come as a bigger surprise. More than 27 percent of survey respondents said they don’t like turkey, the star of the traditional Thanksgiving feast. That list includes our oldest daughter. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you will win guests over by serving a different protein on the big day. Ham also ranks high on the list of unpopular Thanksgiving foods, falling right behind stuffing (or dressing, if you prefer).
When our younger daughter was pregnant and wanted to be closer to her delivery hospital, our oldest daughter hosted the gathering. As the host, she could choose the meat. We enjoyed fried chicken!
Its often difficult to please everyone at the dinner table. We were informed yesterday that one of our son-in-laws prefers white gravy to turkey gravy. Oh, well.
So here’s the least favorite and most favorite Thanksgiving foods:
- Cranberry sauce 31 percent
- Sweet potatoes or yams, 29 percent
- Green bean casserole, 28 percent
- Turkey, 28 percent
- Stuffing or dressing, 27 percent
- Ham, 26 percent
- Coleslaw, 26 percent
- Pumpkin pie, 24 percent
- Mashed potatoes, 19 percent
- Macaroni and cheese, 17 percent
- Carrots, 17 percent
- Apple pie, 16 percent
- Corn, 15 percent
However, several of these items also are among America’s favorites. A survey by Campbell’s Soup found that the five most popular holiday side dishes include:
- Mashed potatoes
- Stuffing or dressing
- Macaroni and cheese
- Yams or sweet potatoes
- Green bean casserole
I was dishearted to see that broccoli casserole wasn’t on the favorite list. I’ll have to wait until my sister-in-law Vanna comes up for Christmas.
–Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice
Photo: Famartin Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0