Gobble, gobble

By R.L.W. and L.P.

TODAY Americans will gorge themselves silly in celebration of Thanksgiving. Though each on average will ingest some 3,000 calories at dinner, the plates around the country—brimming with turkey, potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce and pies—will actually look quite different. Based on over 200m page views from last November on Allrecipes.com, a website that crowdsources and rates recipes, different regions have diverse tastes. The country is split between roasting and brining turkeys. Potatoes are less controversial: most prefer mashed (though Louisiana favours au gratin, perhaps a vestige of its French roots). Pies in the south are made with sweet potatoes, a soul food staple, while blue states seem to have a taste for apple pie. At a time when America is bedevilled by divides and political polarisation, the Thanksgiving Day preferences follow no discernible pattern. And if there is one thing that all Americas can agree on, it is cranberry sauce.

(This chart was inspired by an interactive one produced by Jewel Loree of Tableau Software, available here.)