These Regional Thanksgiving Traditions Might Shock You

We’ve all had this moment: You ask your waiter for a soda and he stares at you blankly. Ok, you’ll get more specific: You want a Coke. Oh. He smiles. "What kind?" "What kind?" you say. "Sure, we have Sprite, Pepsi, Root Beer, Coke, Diet Coke, and 7UP." Your server isn’t insane, he’s probably just from the south. And you just experienced a classic moment of proof that regions still do matter, at least a little. Thanksgiving is a holiday so steeped in tradition that it seems impossible that anyone do it differently than you’re accustomed to. But that’s not always the case. 538 broke down some regional differences in how Thanksgiving was prepared and found some fascinating stuff, and some real oddities. Highlights of their findings include: 82% of those surveyed say that eat turkey for Thanksgiving. No surprise there. 56% of New Englanders say they eat squash every Thanksgiving, compared to just 18% for the rest of the country. Regional pie breakdown: The Midwest and West like cherry, New England and the Mid-Atlantic like apple, and the South prefers pecan and sweet potato. Everyone agrees that pumpkin is the best though. 17% of the Mid-Atlantic likes cauliflower on the side, versus just 9% of the rest of the country. I personally didn’t even know that was an option. A whopping 23% of Americans say they do Black Friday shopping the day of Thanksgiving — anything to get out of the house — and 37% say they’d ditch family after dinner to hang with high school friends. There’s plenty more on the site, we highly recommend checking it out.