The Least Popular Thanksgiving Foods, Ranked (2024)

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The Least Popular Thanksgiving Foods, Ranked? ›

For the third year in a row, cranberry sauce takes the cake as the least favorite Thanksgiving food. It is disliked by more than 31 percent of respondents, according to a survey conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of The Vacationer, a travel and vacation content site.

For the third year in a row, cranberry sauce takes the cake as the least favorite Thanksgiving food. It is disliked by more than 31 percent of respondents, according to a survey conducted by SurveyMonkey on behalf of The Vacationer, a travel and vacation content site.

And the least favorite side dish for Americans on Thanksgiving is -- green bean casserole. 31.4 percent of people surveyed do not like it.

It is also worth noting what was not present at the first Thanksgiving feast. There were no cloudlike heaps of mashed potatoes, since white potatoes had not yet crossed over from South America. There was no gravy either, since the colonists didn't yet have mills to produce flour.

Unhealthy: Stuffing

“Bacon, sausage, mince meat, giblets, and a variety of similar ingredients find their way into many a stuffing, which takes an already unhealthy dish — often topping 500 calories per serving, depending on the recipe — to an entirely new level of unhealthy,” she said.

Mashed potatoes are a traditional Thanksgiving side dish for a reason, and we definitely look forward to serving up this delicious dish every November. Click here for the recipe!

A 2018 Business Insider survey found that the top 20% of earners — a household that makes $127,000 per year or more — are more likely to enjoy prepared cranberry sauce, in-bird stuffing and butternut squash. The wealthy eat most of the same things, but some are willing to spend thousands of dollars to dine in luxury.

What are 3 main foods on Thanksgiving? ›

But according to the two only remaining historical records of the first Thanksgiving menu, that meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, cod, bass, and flint, and a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

Thomas Jefferson was famously the only Founding Father and early president who refused to declare days of thanksgiving and fasting in the United States.

Turkey was not on the menu.

Instead, it is believed the pilgrims feasted on things such as lobster, rabbit, chicken, fish, squash, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits, maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and goat cheese.

Although turkeys were indigenous, there's no record of a big, roasted bird at the feast. The Wampanoag brought deer and there would have been lots of local seafood (mussels, lobster, bass) plus the fruits of the first pilgrim harvest, including pumpkin. No mashed potatoes, though.

Thanksgiving didn't become an annual tradition until 200 years after the pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving. Venison was the meat of the first Thanksgiving feast, not turkey. Pumpkin pie and potatoes were not a part of the first Thanksgiving feast.

It's estimated that 300 million pounds of food are wasted during the Thanksgiving festivities every year. Not only is throwing away food a waste of precious resources, but it also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions when food rots in the landfill.

For many of us, Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and other festive sides. When you don't have the food you need to thrive, however, celebrating the holidays can be tough. Consider that nearly 34 million people faced hunger in 2021, averaging 1 in 7 adults.