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Thanksgiving dinner

Thanksgiving meal
A Thanksgiving meal in New England
Also calledTurkey dinner
TypeCultural, Western
FrequencyAnnual

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States is Thanksgiving dinner, a large meal generally centered on a large roasted turkey. Thanksgiving is the largest eating event in the United States as measured by retail sales of food and beverages and by estimates of individual food intake.[1][2]

Along with attending church services, Thanksgiving dinner remained a central part of celebrations from the holiday's early establishment in North America.[3] In a 2015 Harris Poll, Thanksgiving was the second most popular holiday in the United States (after Christmas), and turkey was the most popular holiday food, regardless of region, generation, gender, or race.[4] At Thanksgiving dinner, turkey is served with a variety of side dishes that can vary from traditional, such as mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce,[5] to ones that reflect regional or cultural heritage.[6]

Given that days of thanksgiving revolve around giving thanks, the saying of grace before Thanksgiving dinner is a traditional feature of the feast.[7] Many of the dishes in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner are made from ingredients native to the Americas, including turkey, potato, sweet potato, corn (maize), squash (including pumpkin), green bean, and cranberry. The Pilgrims may have learned about some of these foods from Native Americans, but others were not available to the early settlers. The tradition of eating them at Thanksgiving likely reflects their affordability for later Americans.[8] Early North American settlers did eat turkey, but the lavish feasts that are frequently ascribed to Thanksgiving in the 17th century were a creation of nineteenth-century writers who sought to popularize a unifying holiday in which all Americans could share.[9]

  1. ^ "What Are Americans Stuffing Their Shopping Carts With for Thanksgiving?". Nielsen. November 16, 2017. Archived from the original on October 24, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  2. ^ Huen, Eustacia (November 30, 2016). "America's 10 Most Fattening Holidays". Forbes. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  3. ^ Forbes, Bruce David (October 27, 2015). America's Favorite Holidays: Candid Histories. University of California Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-520-28472-2. However, Puritans did participate in occasional days of fasting and days of thanksgiving, sometimes declared by the Church of England but developed even further by the Puritans. ... A day of thanksgiving might be declared to celebrate and thank God for particular military victory, or good health following a wave of disease, or an especially bountiful harvest that saved people from starvation. ... The annual days of thanksgiving consisted mainly of worship services and family dinners, and this was repeated over the years.
  4. ^ Shannon-Missal, Larry (November 19, 2015). "Americans Weigh In on Their Favorite Holiday, Most Anticipated Eats, and How they Wash it All Down". The Harris Poll. Archived from the original on November 28, 2020. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  5. ^ History.com Staff (2009), "History of Thanksgiving", History, A+E Networks, archived from the original on January 21, 2018, retrieved November 12, 2017
  6. ^ Sifton, Sam (November 15, 2016), "The American Thanksgiving", New York Times, retrieved November 12, 2017
  7. ^ Newland, Mary Reed (June 15, 2007). The Year and Our Children. Sophia Institute Press. p. 325. ISBN 978-1-62282-093-1.
  8. ^ Trex, Ethan (November 25, 2013). "Why We Eat What We Eat on Thanksgiving". Mental Floss. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
  9. ^ Smith, Andrew F. (November 1, 2003). "The First Thanksgiving". Gastronomica. 3 (4): 79–85. doi:10.1525/gfc.2003.3.4.79.

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