FOOD & FEASTING
Early settlers often used what fruit (not pumpkin) for their first “pies”?
Answer: Apples — which were easier to store and grow.
What is the term for the first full moon closest to the autumnal equinox?
Answer: The Harvest Moon
Which popular cartoon dog has famously ruined Thanksgiving dinner multiple times?
Answer: Snoopy.
What fruit is most associated with the Canadian Thanksgiving harvest?
Cranberries
What’s the official term for the sound a turkey makes?
Answer: A gobble (made only by males — females cluck).
Question: Turkey wasn’t always the centerpiece. Which North American game bird was more common on early tables?
Answer: Duck or goose.
What bird is known for migrating south in a V-formation each fall?
Answer: Canada goose
Which Canadian city hosts the longest continuously running Thanksgiving parade in North America?
Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
What was the original color of pumpkins?
Green.
What’s the average lifespan of a wild turkey in nature?
About 3 to 5 years — unless it crosses a busy road at Thanksgiving.
What traditional Indigenous ingredient is often used in both Canadian and American harvest celebrations and is known as “the Three Sisters”?
Answer: Corn, beans, and squash
What is the term for animals that gather and store food for winter?
Answer: Caching/hoarding
What is the Pumpkin Capital of the World and where is it?
Answer: Morton, Illinois
Question: What Thanksgiving food was once so valuable that it was used as currency by early colonists?
Answer: Corn.
What ancient civilization started the tradition of breaking wishbones for luck?
🏛 The Romans.
Question: What now-traditional Thanksgiving dish was once nicknamed “funeral potatoes”?
Answer: Hash brown or cheesy potato casserole (Utah & Midwest origins).
What natural process causes leaves to change color in fall?
Answer: The breakdown of chlorophyll, revealing carotenoids and anthocyanins
In the TV show Gilmore Girls, how many Thanksgiving dinners does Lorelai attend in one episode?
Answer: Four.
How many pumpkin pies can you make from one standard pumpkin?
About 3–4.
What’s the average number of feathers on an adult turkey?
🦃 About 5,000–6,000 feathers.
Question: What traditional Thanksgiving dish was invented by Dorcas Reilly in 1955 at the Campbell Soup Company?
Answer: Green bean casserole
Which insect famously migrates thousands of miles from Canada/US to central Mexico every fall?
🦋 Monarch butterflies.
Which celebrity chef is famous for her Thanksgiving recipes and annual televised holiday specials?
Answer: Martha Stewart
How many pounds of turkey does the average North American eat per year?
Answer: About 15–17 pounds.
What’s the main difference between wild and farm-raised turkeys regarding flight?
🦃 Wild turkeys can fly; farm turkeys cannot.