As Americans gear up for Thanksgiving later this week, many are figuring out what to prepare for the big feast. According to new data from YouGov Omnibus, Nine out of ten (90%) US adults say they enjoy Thanksgiving to some extent, while a majority (75%) who celebrate say they have a tradition of eating a special meal on Thanksgiving Day. Nearly all (95%) are planning to eat with other people — including family members (88%), friends (35%), and neighbors (7%).
One-third (33%) of people planning to celebrate Thanksgiving say that either they or someone they plan to celebrate with have a dietary restriction, such as lactose intolerance (12%), a gluten-free diet (11%), or a vegetarian diet (8%). Millennials between the ages of 18 and 34 are more likely (42%) to say someone at their Thanksgiving table has a food restriction.
Over half of all Americans celebrating the holiday with diet-restricted friends and family say they plan to make special accomodations for them. Nearly six in ten (57%) say they plan to modify recipes to accommodate certain people; 52% plan to prepare special “safe” dishes for them.
Women (59%) are considerably more likely than men (45%) to say they plan to prepare special “safe” dishes, and slightly more likely to say they’ll modify recipes.
The discrepancy between genders might be because many men aren’t planning to cook in the first place, and thus aren’t thinking about how to modify recipes or meet unique needs. Women (22%) are more than twice as likely as men (9%) to say they cook the entire Thanksgiving meal themselves. More than one-third of men (35%) aren’t planning to cook at all on Thanksgiving, while only 19% of women chose the same response.
As for the kind of food people will be eating on Thanksgiving, turkey (86%), mashed potatoes (82%), and stuffing (77%) were the most popular options. Other dishes likely to make the spread are rolls (76%), pumpkin pie (62%), green beans (61%), yams (60%) and cranberry sauce (60%). The dish option that got the least love was brussels sprouts (13%) — though people residing in the West (19%) are more likely than any other region to have it at their table.
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