The Quad Cities Favorite Thanksgiving Side Dishes
Now that the election is (kind of) over, we can focus on the holiday season. Contrary to popular belief, there is a holiday before Christmas and that is called Thanksgiving. You know, the first holiday where you gain all of that holiday weight?
I absolutely love Thanksgiving because that means my birthday is coming up soon, but also it's the best holiday to pig out on the best homemade food and eat all of the carbs. Sure, you'll find your typical main dishes like turkey and sometimes ham, but sides are the best to load your plate up with.
Honestly, if I could just eat sides for all of my Thanksgiving meals, I would. Actually, I think I do. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, mac n' cheese, and so many other sides make that Thanksgiving meal so amazing. But depending on what state you are celebrating turkey day in will depend on what side you see more of or go the fastest.
To figure out what sides each state prefers the most, we turn to our friends at Zippia. To find what each state's favorite Thanksgiving side dish is, Zippia used Google Trends and looked at over 20 Thanksgiving classic side dishes. They looked a Google Treands from November 2019 to determine what hungry people were searching for the most in each state.
Here are a few key things they found in their search:
- Mashed potatoes are loved the most
- 10 states prefer mash potatoes
- Mac n’ cheese is the second favorite
- 7 states prefer mac n' cheese
- The Midwest is a big fan green bean casserole
- Only New Hampshire likes cranberry sauce.
- 47 states like sides full of carbs, cheesy, with potatoes and very filling.
- 3 likes veggies as their side
What sides does the Quad Cities prefer to to have with their turkey? That depends on what side of the Mississippi you're on.
According to Zippia, if you are on the Iowa side, you like corn as your side dish. That sounds very... typical. No offense Iowa, corn isn't my first choice of a Thanksgiving side dish.
On the Illinois side, mashed potatoes are the favorite side dish. They join 9 other states who love mash potatoes plated next to their turkey.
For the rest of the results of the each state and more key findings, you can check out Zippia's study here.