When I was young, someone always brought a jello mold.
I’m not really sure what the point of that map is. I’m in MD and can’t say I’ve ever heard of mac and cheese being some sort of must have favorite on Thanksgiving. We never have it but perhaps others do. I would think that would be more of a typical Easter side dish when a lot of people have ham, which pairs well with mac and cheese for some reason.
For my family, what really differentiates Thanksgiving from other meals at our house is stuffing and cranberry sauce. Of course we have mashed potatoes, and they are a family favorite, but we have mashed potatoes all year long with regular week night dinners. We don’t, however, have stuffing and cranberry sauce all year long so those are two things my particular family would consider to be Thanksgiving must-haves, in addition to mashed potatoes of course.
We never ever have green bean casserole. Dh, who is from CA, never had it at Thanksgiving, and nor did I. I know it is common on Thanksgiving tables, but we just never make it.
My funniest experience was going to Atlanta one year for Thanksgiving with dh’s aunt, uncle and cousins. Being a gracious hostess, his aunt called me and asked if we had any family favorites, to ensure she included them on her table. I said, “no, we just have the traditional Thanksgiving, you know, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy.”
Well, she put on a HUGE spread (she is MIL’s sister and grew up in NY so not native Southerner like her husband). Among the many things, there was both white rice and mashed potatoes. Dh’s cousin commented that one thing was different…the inclusion of mashed potatoes. Apparently they always had rice, not mashed potatoes! Who knew? I assumed everyone who makes a traditional Thanksgiving had mashed potatoes, but apparently not them! I wasn’t sure if that was a southern thing, or just their family!
@4kids4us the sauerkraut is probably a Baltimore thing, not Maryland. DH and my first Thanksgiving, we offfered to host. My MIL magnanimously said she would bring the sauerkraut to help me out and I was like What? That wasn’t even on my menu.
But now I LOVE it. It cuts through all the heavy, creamy carbs on the plate.
@mathmom I am Italian and I took my then boyfriend-now-DH to my aunt’s for Sunday dinner. We started out with anti pasta, then she kept bringing dishes out, turkey, manicotti, meatballs, braciole, before finishing with a green salad.
I thought my poor boyfriend would explode. He was trying to be polite by taking generous helpings but he didn’t realize the food parade would keep coming!
And this was just a regular Sunday dinner - not a holiday!
I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a jello mold except at a buffet in West Virginia.
I don’t know who they asked in TX, but green bean casserole is never a dish at TG for my family or friends.
I think everyone needs to go retro and try a jello mold for 2020. 
I don’t really choose jello - at anytime - but my MIL used to make a good cranberry one that was chock full of goodies like actual cranberries, cherries (?), celery, walnuts, - it was a nice cool side with all the hot dishes.
I bet this was it - not cherries, PINEAPPLE!!
https://www.food.com/recipe/grandmas-cranberry-jello-salad-305107
I’m in Florida which has sweet potato casserole listed. Love that! I make mine with a crumbly brown sugar/pecan/streusel-like topping - not a marshmallow in sight.
I lived in Arkansas for a long time, and I have no idea what they mean by “white gravy.” I suppose they mean milk gravy, but I’ve never had that at Thanksgiving in Arkansas or anywhere else. It’s always turkey gravy made with giblets.
I noticed that Louisiana listed cornbread dressing, which is what we have in our family. I use a mix of cornbread and French bread, but in my family dressing made without cornbread in it was referred to as “sticky dressing.” Blech. I know someone else upthread raved about stuffing over dressing, but, no thank you. My mil makes a dressing that has Jimmy Dean sausage in it.
I love cranberry anything. My mil has a recipe that can either be made as a relish or in a jello mold by adding (you guessed it!) - raspberry jello. Hers also has pineapple in it AND cinnamon. It is so good!
I would eat green bean casserole if someone made it, but I much prefer green bean bundles wrapped in bacon and topped with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, and some garlic powder. Not as much ROI in terms of quantity for the labor aspect of having to assemble them, however.
I have occasionally done this salad at Thanksgiving. It is delicious, though I do substitute craisins for the cranberries:
There are so many versions of stuffing/dressing (both types). I wonder if anyone likes them all?
I’m extremely partial to the one I grew up with that uses fresh Italian bread broken into cubes, butter, a lot of sage, some thyme, salt, pepper, onions, celery, and may or may not toss bits of the turkey liver into it pending who’s eating. That all goes into the bird, though enough it made to cook some extra outside the bird for leftovers. The stuff outside just doesn’t taste quite as good.
I can eat some other stuffings, but none even come close to topping that one for my taste buds. Then there are several I don’t like, including pretty much all that come from a box.
I think I like all types of mashed potatoes, unless people add bacon. I’ve never liked bacon added to anything except BLT sandwiches.
I’m definitely not a fan of the sweet things like sweet potato casseroles or candied yams. Plain sweet potatoes with butter and salt are fine. Cranberry sauce is fine, but I don’t take a lot and I prefer the whole berry versions - even canned.
I never cared for green bean casseroles of any sort.
Pies can’t be too sweet for me either. Pumpkin is usually fine. Apple/cherry or anything else depends upon how sweet they make it.
I don’t have a sweet tooth and it’s been that way since birth, so no mental dilemma at all saying no to most sweet things like donuts, ice cream, and candy. Salt is my downfall. Fortunately, I’m allowed to (need to) eat more of that than most people. Even my doctor agrees. If I don’t, I get severe headaches. According to him the “less salt” mantra out there applies to most people, but not all. There’s a segment of us who need more and it doesn’t raise our BP. Mine is quite in the normal range. If anyone makes a salty side, chances are good that I’ll like it.
Okay, not a Southerner myself, but my understanding about mac and cheese is that it is/was an African-American TG tradition. I think the “I never heard of this” comments speak more about cultural division than that the list is totally wrong.
I mean, any time my students at the majority AA college I used to work at wrote about TG, it was full of foods with southern roots (as their families were usually originally from the South), and they always listed M & C prominently.
@4kids4us Rice is a very common side dish in the deep south. My parents both had roots down there and we only had rice for occasions where anyone else would serve mashed potatoes.
A basket, that’s it!!! That’s exactly what my mom’s looked like.
We also had types of sweet potatoes—the one with little marshmallows and the cut up pieces, browned
@abasket that jello mold gives me the chills!
^^^ in a good or bad way?!!! 
I’m from PA and currently live in MN and I love both their favorite sides- mashed potatoes are my favorite food, period, and stuffing is my favorite thanksgiving-specific food.
In SC, I would have guessed cornbread dressing. Growing up for big family get togethers (25-30) at thanksgiving and Christmas we would have mac and cheese - kid favorite. Don’t tend to do for Thanksgiving because with dressing and sweet potato casserole (which mainly just have at Thk) and then rice for picky eaters we just don’t need another starch.
My dream left overs is dressing with gravy and mustard greens, with or without leftover turkey. Could eat it every day for weeks.
Im a midwest mashed potatoes girl. I too prefer a garlic smashed type.
One of my favorites is sour creme crust mushroom pie (recipe from Bon Appetit magazine).
We have family members who are diabetic (they wont do certain veggies because too high in sugar), some are vegan, and a couple are super picky and wont barely eat anything (he brings his own sausages to grill or fry up).
Oh and Kings Hawaiian dinner rolls are popular here as well.
If you like mushrooms, try
https://www.copymethat.com/r/aegmycN/mushrooms-on-toast-recipe-nyt-cooking/
I use whatever combo of mushrooms
Family traditions are based on ethnic backgrounds, location and finances. Growing up we always had a jar of red cabbage on Thanksgiving, never any other time of the year. My father’s like, none of the rest of ours. Finances tough but canned asparagus made the table- again, only then. Those were the sixties. Jello salad of course. Decades later one year old son wouldn’t touch the Jello offered the morning after a surgery- went straight to other foods. It was not part of our eating habits, unlike the sixties.
Fast forward to my adulthood. Married an Indian and so have done two entrees- one vegetarian dal and one fowl (neither of us fond of turkey so never that) plus various sides. Sort of two meals in one- it’s a feast so the more the better. I like stuffing (Stove Top to be exact) and rice needed for the dal so skip the mashed potatoes. I dislike sweet potatoes but H likes them so the brown sugary ones. Fresh green beans my favorite- no need to disguise canned ones with soup and onion topping.
We typically over decades would host friends and strays (many I met that day- H invited them with my approval) including Indians so providing both cultures’ comfort foods became more than just for H. Last year I decided that next year we would go to a restaurant instead of my doing all those dishes even for the two of us. Perhaps a buffet. Guess what. I’m cooking for the two of us. Carryout meals from places are typical fare- most of which (especially the turkey) are not what we want. H small and eats less as he ages. I’m debating the fowl for me- not Cornish game hens as too much work getting the meat off the bones I’ve decided. H says the sides alone are good enough. However, this year I plan on decreasing the variety- too many leftovers that will last too many days. We’ll see.
Retired and well off we can have anything to eat anytime. Therefore no reason to have everything all at once.
Pumpkin pie a must. A few years ago had an older neighbor for the dinner who does not like pumpkin pie- she was a child in postwar Germany and food was meager, including a lot of pumpkin. She brought an excellent cranberry salad- that’s another must for our table. But two cans (jellied and whole) mean sooo much. Hopefully the local grocery store will have their cranberry salad we both like. Wisconsin is the # 1 producer of cranberries in recent years (not MA) but we never used fresh like I’m sure so many did/do.