On Thursday, 22 November, the United States celebrates Thanksgiving.  While, I’m guessing, no other country celebrates giving thanks for what one has on the Fourth Thursday of November (Even Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in October, which I’ve always attributed–perhaps wrongly–to the shorter growing season in the Great White North.), most cultures have some sort of thanks giving holiday.

Google has published an interesting article using the plethora of data they acquire through people asking questions like, “How do I cook a turkey?” or maybe, “Where can I buy a pre-cooked turkey?”, if they were caught short with the unusually early Fourth Thursday in November this year.  However, a couple of interesting trends emerge from Google’s analysis.  First, pretty much only the northeastern US actually roasts turkey.  I grew up in Massachusetts where those religious refugees, the Pilgrims, apocryphally celebrated the first Thanksgiving, and I can’t think of preparing turkey any other way than roasting.  What Google categorizes as “Fried”, I have to think must be deep-fried, and I would like to watch that happen, if only for the potential pyrotechnics.

Apple pie, another New England tradition, falls to third place behind pumpkin and pecan.  Pecan I’ll leave to the southerners.  I don’t even like nuts in my fruit cake.  The number one Thanksgiving pie is pumpkin, which I know some people (like my wife) love.  I find the very idea of making a pie from the same slimy thing I carve up for Halloween disgusting.

All of this is a long-winded introduction to a blog post I wrote almost four (four!) years ago:  As American As Apple Pie?

Enjoy!