A map of America’s favorite Thanksgiving side dishes is going viral thanks to a small change that’s leaving Missourians as steamed as a veggie medley.
The original map (below) from fivethirtyeight, a statistics-based news site, shows which Thanksgiving side dishes are disproportionately common in the U.S. based on a survey of 931 people. For example, in New England, 56 percent of people said Thanksgiving isn’t complete without squash on the table, compared to only 18 percent of people nationwide.
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In Missouri, as in six other north-midwest neighbor states, the most disproportionately popular side dish is green bean casserole. Whether you mix your beans with cream of mushroom soup, top the casserole with french fried onions or just add in a (un)healthy dose of bacon, green beans are a deliciously traditional Thanksgiving side.
But if you’re like us, the map you’re seeing on social media isn’t fivethirtyeight’s map showing Missouri’s green bean predilection. A similar map (top) is going viral thanks to a tiny tweak that shows the Show-Me State’s most disproportionately consumed Thanksgiving side dish is meth.
Kansas radio station 105.5 FM shared the map on Facebook on Friday, and by Monday morning it had more than 2,200 likes and 9,300 shares. More than 900 people have commented on the post, including Missourians debating whether the state deserves its longtime nickname, Meth Capital of the U.S.
“For real. I live in the 417 and I wish I could say that it’s a false stereotype,” one Springfield-area commenter wrote on the viral Facebook post.
Technically, Missouri hasn’t been the meth capital of the U.S. since last year, when the state dropped behind Indiana and Tennessee in the number of meth busts. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the number of seizures of labs and dumpsites dropped 25 percent in 2013.
Contact Lindsay Toler by an email at [email protected] or on Twitter @StLouisLindsay. For more from St. Louis Magazine, subscribe or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
