Fruit & Vegetable Advocates Say This Thanksgiving It’s Time To Show Side Dishes Some Respect
November 22, 2016 | 2 min to read
Stating that “It’s time New Yorkers honored the produce on their Thanksgiving table with the same relish as their traditional turkey and stuffing,” D’Arrigo Brothers, the largest distributors of fresh produce in the northeast, is calling on Americans to take a moment, be thankful and recognize the fruits and vegetables that make up so much of the Thanksgiving meal.
Gabriela D’Arrigo, the company’s Marketing Director, ssays, “For far too long, some of the most exciting produce of the season has been forced to play the role of simple accompaniment to a turkey that hogs center stage on so many Thanksgiving tables and that has to stop. Americans need to realize how much of the meal is comprised of all that is NOT turkey.
Cranberries, long synonymous with Thanksgiving, enjoy an annual harvest of nearly 860 million pounds, or about the weight of five Empire State Buildings.
40 million Green Bean casseroles will be served this Thursday, or about 60 million pounds of the side dish, a little more than the weight of the Intrepid Air/Sea/Space Museum.
Our nation’s farmers will offer up more than 3 billion pounds of Sweet Potatoes this year, the equivalent weight of 36,000 NYC subway cars.
Approximately 1.31 billion pounds of pumpkin are produced inside our borders annually, which provide the key ingredient for the 50 million pumpkin pies eaten at Thanksgiving each year. Given the average eight-inch diameter of the pies, those desserts would stretch from Harlem to the Battery and back more than 315 times.
240 million—42 pound. bushels of apples are gathered annually – equating to about 5 million tons, or the weight of all the roads and sidewalks in Manhattan combined.
Brussels Sprouts have their shining moment during the holidays, making their way to thousands of dinner tables every Thanksgiving. To meet the needs of the vegetable’s holiday popularity, the U.S. produces 32,000 tons of Brussels Sprouts each year, just over the weight of 142 Statues of Liberty.
Carrots, whether found our stuffing, salads, casseroles, or allowed o stand on their own as a side dish are a must at the Thanksgiving table. Being a popular vegetable year round, the U.S. produces over 2.3 billion pounds of carrots each year – if laid out one by one they would be able to make the 24,874 mile circumference around the world.
Celery is a key ingredient to a Thanksgiving favorite – stuffing. About a pound of celery is used for most stuffing recipes. The U.S. produces about 950,000 tons of celery each year, which is equivalent to the weight of two Freedom Towers.
While Turkey is the star of the day, advocates of fruits and vegetables, say for many Americans, the key to the meal are the side dishes that stand next to that big bird and have proven year in and year out to be what Thanksgiving diners are truly most thankful for.
Source: D’Arrigo Brothers Co. of NY