The Geography of a Thanksgiving Meal

Where does your Thanksgiving dinner come from?

Linda Zellmer, Government Information and Data Services Librarian at Western Illinois University, has used data from the 1997, 2002, and 2007 Census of Agriculture to develop a set of maps showing where the foods consumed at the traditional Thanksgiving dinner (e.g., turkey, cranberries, squash, and green beans) are grown. Amaze your Thanksgiving guests with answers to such questions as which state produces the most cranberries or which state has the fewest turkeys.

Or perhaps you want to have a locally grown Thanksgiving? For information about local foods, see Gleeson Library’s Sustainable Food guides.

Find out more about Gleeson Library’s government information collection by visiting our homepage or contacting Carol Spector (the Government Information Librarian) at csspector@usfca.edu.

Happy Thanksgiving!