PrintIncredibly Cool: NYT Infographic Shows Where Thanksgiving Food Searches Come From
OK, this is awesome. The New York Times (whose infographics really are second to none) put together an index of searches from Allrecipes.com that maps out where queries for different Thanksgiving foods come from. Look at "green bean casserole" or "pumpkin cheesecake" and see exactly which states are searching for that dish.
Things to learn?
"Sweet potato casserole" was the most-searched term nationwide, but concentrated heavily in the South; Californians want to know how to make mashed potatoes; it's the Northerners who want to know how to brine a turkey. Of course, this raises the question: If something isn't highly searched in a given area, is that because fewer people are making it? Or because they already know how? It probably goes both ways. In any event, it's quite fun to scroll through.
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16 Comments:
I think it reflects that more people eat out for Thanksgiving in the Northeast than in the Midwest and South!
HeartofGlass at 8:56AM on 11/26/09
So glad to see corn pudding in there. Mid-Atlantic states, represent!
cdp1223 at 9:03AM on 11/26/09
Very cool. And yes it was fun to scroll through. The most surprising to me was how many southerners searched for mac&cheese. I've lived in the south all my life and have never heard of a single person who said (admitted?) they were having mac&cheese for Thanksgiving. But sure, why not?
Rocquie at 9:41AM on 11/26/09
I thought it was fantastic. Particularly fascinating was a side-by-side comparison of those who spelled it "sweet potato casserole" (#1) and those who typed "sweet potatoe casserole" (#40).
shoneyjoe at 10:29AM on 11/26/09
As a Michigander (or Michiganian, if you prefer), I was disheartened when I saw the screaming purple mitten under "green bean casserole." Thankfully, we regained status with a lighter color for "cheese ball." It was great fun to scroll through, having seen many a green bean casserole and cheese ball in my lifetime here. And like @rocquie, I have never seen mac&cheese on a Thanksgiving table.
smallkitchen at 11:18AM on 11/26/09
Mac 'n' Cheese is an African-American tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you remember Run-DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis' they mention what is served including "Ma's Mac'n'Cheese'.
It's not a tradition on my family (Mom can be a snob a times), but our extended family does.
jerseygirlinSC at 11:52AM on 11/26/09
It's interesting that Utah is often an anomaly in the west...
justaneater at 12:58PM on 11/26/09
Do we know if this is adjusted for population?
And why in the world is Maine so interested in butternut squash?
awordforthat at 1:43PM on 11/26/09
Growing up, we didn't do m&c, but I've certainly heard about it since, and many Italian and Greek families have baked cheesy things on the table as well.
HeartofGlass at 1:53PM on 11/26/09
I live in the South...macaroni and cheese is a staple at all of our family gatherings (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc.) and has been as long as I can remember. It's not Easy Mac or any of the other crap that comes out of a box, but Grandma's homemade custard-style kind.
MMH003 at 3:52PM on 11/26/09
I am little bit disappointed that my state (California) is in the lead on mashed potato-related searches. Are we a state of people who can't mash potatoes?
CatBoy at 1:38AM on 11/27/09
@shoneyjoe. you beat me to it.
@awordforthat: I think it is adjust for population, because the searches are listed as "per 10,000 searches" (I think that was the number).
We grow a lot of butternuts in the northeast. But traditionally it's just been served as pureed squash, maybe with butter, maybe with cinnamon. So I'm thinking more people were wondering if they could do something else with it. And as for Maine being more than the other NE states, we're not talking about a lot of searches, I expect. I or 2 more people could have made a difference.
lemonfair at 8:25AM on 11/27/09
This is interesting for the reason that the results could be interpreted in so many different ways and raise so many further questions. You definitely hit one on the head when you queried whether some regions don't search much for a particular dish "because they already know how." These stats would also have been interesting to see about 20 years ago (had the Internet as we know it existed). In the past 20 years or so, we've seen the rise of foodie-ism, which has probably gotten people interested in dishes that are not traditional in their own area of the country. Population shifts, too, may have some effect. For example, young Easterners who have moved to the West and Pacific Northwest to work at the Microsofts and Googles may be interested in recreating dishes they remember from back home. Fascinating.
Lorenzo at 9:41AM on 11/27/09
@xiaoou: your jewelery is more beautiful than KONA COFFEE.
people don't know how to make mashed potatoes? seriously?
gastronomeg at 10:23AM on 11/27/09
"And why in the world is Maine so interested in butternut squash?"
I'd be willing to bet that it's because this past summer was a bumper crop for butternut squash...lots of rain = big, fat squash.
I harvested lots and served lots yesterday.
EatOneCookToo at 11:42AM on 11/27/09
I think in some cases it's seasonality and availability, and in others it's food culture and regional terminology.
I'm in New England and butternut squash is everywhere this time of year and there are a hundred ways to prepare it, so that may explain why it was so widely searched in the northeast.
I'd never heard of green bean casserole until I got to college and met people from other parts of the country. I think because green beans come up in the summertime here and are no longer available this late into the season.
Deviled Eggs are more of a summertime/ barbecue thing in NE for some reason, so that may explain why it wasn't searched as much.
No matter - or as some say here "irregahdless of" - whether it's in or out of the bird, people call it "stuffing" in New England. So that may explain fewer searches for dressing. And it also explains why New Hampshire was purple for "Cornbread Stuffing" and orange for "Cornbread Dressing"
yayfood at 9:46PM on 11/27/09