As we all know, Thanksgiving revolves around turkey. Each year millions of turkeys become martyrs for our tradition. This November, Chicago Parent chose to give these poor birds a break and focus on the other parts of Thanksgiving that make this holiday such a warm ritual for American families. From sweet potato pie to the big game, everything adds up to deliciously satisfying statistics. To start…
1941 Year President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving.
3 Number of ingredients required to make a basic turkey stuffing: a starch, a liquid such as broth, and extras like herbs or dried fruit. Beyond that, it’s the additional ingredients that make it so special.
70 million Number of pounds of pumpkin from each of the top six pumpkin-producing states. Illinois leads the pack.
¾ Amount in cups of stuffing most recipes suggest for every pound of uncooked turkey.
27-10 Score of last year’s football game between the Miami Dolphins and the Detroit Lions. Since 1934, the Lions have hosted a home game on Thanksgiving.
150 Weight for the upper limit for a full-size yam. Imagine baking that!
7,762,194 Number of barrels of cranberry inventory harvested in 2006. Contrary to popular belief, cranberries come mainly from Wisconsin, not Massachusetts.
0 Grams of fat in¼ cup of jellied cranberry sauce. It contains a whole lot of sugar, however.
80 Number in pounds of cooked pumpkin used to make the world’s largest pumpkin pie. And you thought your Thanksgiving table was weighed down.
1874 Year the first college football game was played on Thanksgiving.
141 Number of calories in a medium sweet potato. Calorie-counters shouldn’t transfer that math to sweet potato pie, however.