A list of the 50 most distinct Thanksgiving dishes to be Googled, one for each state, reveals some very interesting gastronomical results indeed.
From frog eye salad to vegan mushroom gravy, Thanksgiving spreads are surely different in each U.S. state.
"The researchers didn't focus on the most popular dish in every state, because that would be 'turkey' in all 50 states," said the report. "They instead looked for the most distinct... You should not interpret the dishes here as the most iconic Thanksgiving recipes in each state, or even a state's favorite dish. It's possible that some dishes are so central to a state's culture that people there don't need to search for them on the web, for instance."
To put together the report, Google researchers looked at the most distinct dishes searched for in each state during the week of Thanksgiving over the last 10 years.
As it turns out, "funeral potatoes" are very popular in Utah and "sweet potato dumplings" are popular in Alabama, commonly searched for 40 times more than in other states. That was nothing, however, to the popularity of maple walnut pie in Vermont, which was searched for a whopping 239 times more commonly than in other states.
As far as desserts go, those from Texas and Oklahoma enjoy a good sopapilla cheesecake, while those from Kentucky prefer a chess bar. In Arkansas, the preferred dessert is the "4 layer delight," which is searched for 74 times more in the state than other states. In Hawaii, pumpkin crunch was the preferred dessert, being searched for 145 times more than in other states.
Frog eye salad was a very popular dish in the West, appearing in the top 10 results of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.
The report by the New York Times is careful to point out that these dishes don't necessarily reflect the most iconic dishes in each state.
"It's possible that some dishes are so central to a state's culture that people there don't need to search for them on the Web, for instance," says the report. "But academic research -- on everything from voter turnout to flu epidemics -- has found that Google searching can be a meaningful indictor of behavior and attitudes."
No matter what your state's favorite dishes are, the common theme is that Thanksgiving is a time to overeat. Another recent report shows Thanksgiving meals can often result in intakes of between 2,000 and 4,500 calories. Yikes!
