This is New Jersey’s favorite Thanksgiving side dish
Well, it’s November, which means it’s time to start planning for the big Thanksgiving feast. And since there’s a list for everything, someone decided to track each state’s most searched-for side dish.
Make of it what you will, but, according to this study, New Jersey’s most popular Thanksgiving side dish is: stuffed mushrooms?!?
The research was done by Zippia, a jobs/career website and they scoured Google Trends to look at 20 typical Thanksgiving side dishes and looked at which states had a disproportionately high number of searches for any of the dishes.
They looked at November 2020 for the data: They found that searches for side dishes skyrockets on Thanksgiving Day itself because apparently people wait until the last minute to prepare side dishes.
By the way, Alaska is like New Jersey in at least one respect: they’re the only two states who picked stuffed mushrooms.
Some of the more unusual (at least to my way of thinking) favorite side dishes:
Cauliflower mashed potatoes (Delaware)
Collard greens (Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina)
Hash brown casserole (Kentucky, Tennessee)
And a charcuterie tray (Minnesota, Missouri).
Rhode Island picked glazed carrots and Texas and Kansas both searched the most for creamed corn!
Montana’s is plain old turkey gravy while Arkansas chooses white gravy.
Mashed potatoes was the runaway favorite nationally, with nine states picking that. Rolls, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce also did well.
If your family’s favorite side dish didn’t make the list, well, I guess your choice is less popular than glazed carrots (or it wasn’t one of the 20 they included in the list).
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.