Visions of sugar plums might dance in your head at Christmas, but this month it’s all about turkey and side dishes.
“Thanksgiving is the food holiday for the year,” according to the website Grill Cook Bake’s 2021 study. “It’s a time to gather together with friends and family to eat and celebrate being together. What’s so great about this holiday (outside of just all the delicious things to savor) is that every dinner is just a little different. Whether it’s that you serve broccoli casserole instead of green bean casserole, or you do a deep fried turkey instead of a roasted one, or if it’s because your family recipe has that special ingredient, no two dinners will look the same.
With that in mind, the site used five years of Google Trends search data to determine the most popular Thanksgiving side dish in each state. It used search interest data for the month of November 2016-2021, and examined 18 traditional side dishes and then averaged the search interest data for the five years. From that data, it determined the favorites.
The top side dish for Georgia — along with most of the East Coast — was macaroni and cheese. In all, 10 states prefer mac ‘n’ cheese, which equaled the number of states that picked mashed potatoes.
Some other interesting findings from the analysis:
- Green bean casserole was third with eight states, followed by stuffing with six.
- Rolls was an interesting one to round out the top five, with 5 states.
- Five dishes had one state each: broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, creamed corn, dressing and white gravy.
- Of the 18 dishes analyzed, 13 were a favorite in at least one state.
This is the second year in a row the Peach State has picked the orange pasta as it’s preferred holiday side dish. In 2020, the website Zippia also analyzed Google Trends and found mac ‘n’ cheese to be Georgia’s favorite.
Credit: Bert White
Credit: Bert White
If you’ve never made macaroni and cheese from scratch before — anything with a powder doesn’t really qualify — try this recipe from J. Alexander’s corporate executive chef James Filaroski. The best part is you can prepare the sauce in advance and even cook the pasta ahead of time, then assemble and bake just before you want to serve.
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