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Thanksgiving—like baseball, “the cloud,” and your nephew’s can’t-miss crypto investment—is packed with data. Some of it’s boring—especially the stuff about calories. But many of the stats, facts and figures behind Thanksgiving are, at worst, interesting enough to serve as a life-raft during a wayward chat with your most conversationally-challenged relative. Point being: There’s value in big, turkey-backed data—and I’d like to share it with you.
What Number Is Greater: The total number of turkeys Americans eat during Thanksgiving OR the time (in seconds) it takes to watch Wicked in theaters?
Somehow, turkeys. Per the USDA, on the fourth Thursday of November, Americans typically consume roughly 46 million turkeys—a quantity just slightly larger than the 9,600 second eternity (2 hours and 40 minutes, not counting the line for popcorn) you’ll spend in Oz.
What’s Older: Campbell’s recipe for green bean casserole or Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin?
Born in 1924, Pure Pumpkin was likely married and busy raising their one-and-a-half children by 1954—the year Campbell’s debuted their cream-of-mushroom-soup-having green bean casserole recipe.
True or False: The number of Spotify users listening to the Cranberries every month is greater than the number of pounds of cranberries eaten across the U.S. during Thanksgiving.
I swore I would be true—but this one is false. Despite owning nearly 26 million monthly listeners, the United States’ annual Thanksgiving cranberry consumption is much, much greater—coming in at a hefty 80 million pounds.
What’s Greater: The amount of sweet potatoes consumed on Thanksgiving OR the number of articles we could write about Thanksgiving pies?
Impossible to say. Sure, we know that Americans consume roughly 50 million pounds of Sweet Potatoes, Yams, & Associates. But, the detailed recipe selection and quality of writing in this pie article and this pie article and this pie article makes me think the numbers are likely equal.
What’s Greater: The number of side dishes better than these scalloped potatoes with caramelized onions OR the quantity of enjoyable Thanksgiving songs?
Tie. The answer for both: Zero. I’ll keep this short: There is not a single dish I’d recommend introducing to your Thanksgiving spread these scalloped potatoes. They’re great during the feast, lovely hours later, and perfect the next morning alongside these crowd-friendly scrambled eggs. Also, what even is a Thanksgiving song?
What other Thanksgiving insights should we know about? Let us know in the comments below!