Nils-Gerrit Wunsch
Research expert covering foods trends in North America, Europe, and the global food system
Holiday season food in the United States - statistics and facts
Christmas is one of America’s favorite holidays. Even more popular is Thanksgiving. Both holidays are notably more popular than the remaining big two holiday occasions, Halloween and New Year’s Eve. The latter two are popular with about two-thirds of Americans, while Christmas and Thanksgiving are popular with over three-quarters of Americans. One thing both holidays have in common is that Americans like to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas at home. For both of these occasions, the centerpiece is the holiday dinner.
Thanksgiving: Breaking out of the shadow of inflation?
Thanksgiving hosts have had to deal with significant inflation, making the beloved tradition an expensive undertaking. The cost of a full Thanksgiving dinner for ten people peaked at 64.05 U.S. dollars in 2022. Since then, dinner costs have fallen to 58.08 dollars. This however is still a far cry from the 48.91 U.S. dollars that consumers had to pay in 2019 before the recent price spike. It remains to be seen if 2025 will bring a further easing of dinner costs. While total dinner costs are down, turkey prices are still up.What Americans like to see for Christmas dinner
America’s most popular dish is a side dish. Mashed potatoes are the most common denominator in American Christmas dinner plans. About 57 percent of all Christmas tables are going to have some mashed potatoes. It is probably the most popular as it goes together with many main dishes. Turkey and ham are the most popular main dishes. Each is served during half of the U.S. Christmas dinners. In contrast, fish only is served on eleven percent of dinner tables. These figures are hardly surprising. Holiday dinners in the United States remain full of very popular traditional staples. Occasionally, Christmas dinner gets shaken up by less conventional choices. Those who have eaten something non-traditional and those who want to try different foods for Christmas agree on the number one alternative: pizza.
