Falling on the last Thursday of November each year is a special holiday filled with different foods and ways to celebrate. First celebrated in 1621 by the Pilgrims, the tradition has been going on for 400 years. Thanksgiving is a holiday where you celebrate the harvest and other blessings of the past year, but students may just know it as the holiday filled with delicious dishes. 

From turkey to mashed potatoes to pumpkin pie, there are hundreds of dishes people consume on Thanksgiving. However, not everyone consumes the same dishes. Each family has their own menu for the holiday, and each individual person has their own favorite dish.

Senior Ted Otengo’s family ate turkey, fries, salad and mashed potatoes for their Thanksgiving dinner. The variety of dishes didn’t stop Otengo from listing turkey as his favorite food. “My favorite Thanksgiving dish was turkey because it’s a yearly tradition and I haven’t eaten it in a while,” Otengo said. 

Junior Rose Adkins’ family had a slightly different menu for their Thanksgiving dinner. “My family ate turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, bread, sweet potato casserole and salad,” Adkins said. “My favorite dish was cranberry sauce because it tastes good and I love its sour flavor.” 

Senior Shane Miller’s family kept it simple with their dinner menu. “We ate turkey, ham, cornbread, rolls and gravy,” Miller said. “My favorite dish was ham since I don’t get to eat it that often.” 

However, not everyone had traditional Thanksgiving dishes for the holiday. Junior Brandon Hsu ate kimchi along with a plethora of typical Thanksgiving dishes such as turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese and more. “My favorite dish was the mac and cheese as it just turned out to be the best out of all the dishes this year,” Hsu said.

Otengo enjoyed his meal so much that he went as far as saying that there wasn’t a single bad bite taken. “I enjoyed every part of my meal and nothing stuck out as bad to me. Every dish was flavorful and delicious,” Otengo said. 

However, most people aren’t as lucky as Otengo and they have that one dish they absolutely despise for whatever reason. This is especially true in Adkins’ case. “My least favorite Thanksgiving food is sweet potato casserole since I absolutely hate sweet potatoes,” Adkins said. 

For Hsu it was the mashed potatoes that failed to please his taste buds. “The mashed potatoes were my least favorite dish this year as they just didn’t turn out as good as in years past. Typically I’m a mashed potato fan, so this year was disappointing,” Hsu said.

Although turkey is one of the most popular and recognized Thanksgiving dishes, it failed to please Miller. “I strongly disliked the turkey as it was dry, no matter how much gravy I put on it,” Miller said.