Is it time to can the canned cranberry sauce?

Nearly half of Americans say canned cranberry sauce is "disgusting," a survey found.

November 20, 2019 at 6:39PM
A close up horizontal photograph of some commercially canned cranberry sauce on a small white plate surrounded by fresh cranberries and a can.
A third of those who serve canned cranberry sauce preserve the can shape. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Thanksgiving dinners are all about tradition: turkey, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce.

Spoiler alert: It turns out that a lot of people actually hate one of those things, and it's not the turkey or the pie.

But we keep eating it, anyway.

The folks at Harris Poll, who normally focus their surveys on weighty political issues, turned their attention to Thanksgiving dinner. To wit, what is the least-liked item on the menu?

The results weren't even close. Least liked? Try detested.

"Nearly half of Americans (46%) say canned cranberry sauce is 'disgusting,' " the survey found.

A third of the respondents said they don't even bother to disguise the source of the congealed clump of cranberries. They plop it on a serving plate, still in the cylindrical shape, complete with the indented ridges from the can.

The cranberry haters even have their own Facebook page (bit.ly/2QwqBqg) that includes such postings as: "I've been sitting on the basement shelf for 10 months waiting for this week."

None of which seems to stop people from gobbling it up. Americans consume 80 million pounds of the stuff during the holiday season, according to cranberry producer Ocean Spray.

The second least-liked Thanksgiving dish is green been casserole (24% thumbs down), with sweet potato casserole (22%) third. For those who like raw data along with their steamed vegetables, the poll of 2,000 people was conducted in October.

The pollsters didn't explore why we're eating so much of the stuff we say we don't like. But the findings do offer a clue: Two-thirds of us consume alcohol during Thanksgiving dinner. Apparently if we have enough booze, we can eat just about anything.

about the writer

about the writer

Jeff Strickler

Assistant Features Editor

Jeff Strickler is the assistant features editor for the Minnesota Star Tribune. He has spent most of his career working for the Variety section, including reviewing movies and covering religion. Now he leads a team of a reporters who cover entertainment and lifestyle issues.

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