The Most Popular Thanksgiving Side Dishes in All 50 States
Way to be predictable, Iowa!
The website Zippia recently did a study to figure out the most popular Thanksgiving side dishes in all 50 states, and you can probably guess Iowa's pick before you hear the results! Before we get to those, though, we need to know how they came up with their list. According to the study, they used data from November of 2019. The article reads:
"Using Google Trends, we determined what Thanksgiving side each state eats a disproportionate amount of. We examined over 20 Thanksgiving classics. Some controversial decisions were made, including counting gravy as a side."
Not surprisingly, the top side in Iowa is corn. Since we're known as the corn state, it wouldn't make much sense to choose anything else. Not one other state had corn as their number one answer, but Kansas was close with creamed corn. Three out of the six states that surround us had mashed potatoes as their top answer (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois), South Dakota's favorite is crescent rolls, Missouri went with plain-old rolls, and Nebraska's answer was green bean casserole.
Overall, the most popular Thanksgiving side dish across the U.S. was mashed potatoes, coming in first place in ten states, followed by mac & cheese, which earned the top spot in seven. It just so happens that those are my personal favorite Thanksgiving sides! We've always had mashed potatoes at our family meal, but I just started making a Crock-Pot mac & cheese last year. It was a big hit, so I plan to keep making it for years to come!
What's your favorite Thanksgiving side? Let us know in the comments!
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