The feast that is Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a loaded holiday – depending on who you are, the United States’ annual Turkey Day can illicit feelings ranging from blissful gratitude to indignation (reasons for the latter including the historical mistreatment of Native Americans and the current culture of overconsumption).

Regardless of how Thanksgiving makes you feel, the fact remains that it is a singular phenomenon of food and fellowship in the U.S. This summer, Statistic Brain compiled a list of stats about Thanksgiving. Here are some of the highlights:

• As a whole, Americans spend more than $2.3 billion on Thanksgiving dinner food. The average household will spend about $54 for Thanksgiving dinner.
• The average American eats 16 pounds of turkey each year, most of which we can only imagine happens on Thanksgiving Day – a day when 51 million turkeys are consumed in the U.S.
• The day before Thanksgiving is the busiest travel day of the year, and about 39 million families will be on the road (or sky or rails) for the holiday.

Are you having turkey, cranberries and sweet potato pie on Thursday? If so, check out this interactive map showing where in the U.S. your Thanksgiving dinner could have come from.