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Thanksgiving 2010 Myths and Facts

Thanksgiving Dinner: Recipe for Food Coma?

U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and family tuck into Thanksgiving dinner in 1953.

Before the big dinner, debunk the myths—for starters, the first "real" U.S. Thanksgiving wasn't until the 1800s—and get to the roots of Thanksgiving 2010. Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu are a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.

Some 242 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. in 2010 for slaughter, down 2 percent from 2009's total, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. Last year's birds were worth about U.S. $3.6 billion.

About 46 million turkeys will end up on U.S. dinner tables this Thanksgiving—or about 736 million pounds (334 million kilograms) of turkey meat, according to estimates from the National Turkey Federation.

These "big six" states produce two of every three U.S.-raised birds, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. farmers will also produce 735 million pounds (333 million kilograms) of cranberries, which, like turkeys, are native to the Americas. The top producers are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

The U.S. will also grow 1.9 billion pounds (862 million kilograms) of sweet potatoes—many in North Carolina, California, and Louisiana—and will produce 931 million pounds (422 million kilograms) of pumpkins.

What Was on the First Thanksgiving Menu?

Little is known about the first Thanksgiving dinner in the Plimoth (also spelled Plymouth) Colony in October 1621, attended by some 50 English colonists and about 90 Wampanoag American Indian men in what is now Massachusetts.

We do know that the Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot wild fowl—which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. Some form, or forms, of Indian corn were also served.