Goose and duck, foods which were traditional European centerpieces of Christmas dinners before being displaced by hamcitation needed, are now sometimes served in place of the Thanksgiving turkey. In a few areas of the West Coast of the United States, Dungeness crab is common as an alternate main dish, as crab season starts in early November. Sometimes a variant recipe for cooking turkey is used; for example, a Chinese recipe for goose could be used on the similarly-sized American bird. Vegetarians or vegans may try tofurkey, a tofu-based dish with imitation turkey flavor. In Alaskan villages, whale meat is sometimes eaten. Irish immigrants have been known to have prime rib of beef as their centerpiece as beef was once a rarity back in Ireland. In the United States, a new globalist approach to Thanksgiving has become popular due to the impact of immigration on the country. Some take the basic Thanksgiving ingredients, and reinvent them using flavors, techniques, and traditions from their own cuisines, while others celebrate the holiday with a large festive meal with or without turkey .

Side dishes:Many other foods are served alongside the main dish—so many that, because of the amount of food, the Thanksgiving meal is sometimes served midday or early afternoon to make time for all the eating, and preparation may begin at dawn or on days prior.Traditional Thanksgiving foods are sometimes specific to the day, and although some of the foods might be seen at any semi-formal meal in the United States, the meal often has something of a ritual or traditional quality. Many Americans would say it's "incomplete" without cranberry sauce, stuffing or dressing, and gravy. Other commonly served dishes include sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes or rice (in the South), dumplings, corn on the cob or hominy, deviled eggs, green beans or green bean casserole, peas and carrots, wheat flour bread rolls, cornbread (in the south), or biscuits, rutabagas or turnips, and a Waldorf salad. For dessert, various pies are often served, particularly apple pie, mincemeat pie, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate meringue pie and pecan pie, with the last three being particularly American.

There are also nontraditional regional differences as to the stuffing or dressing traditionally served with the turkey. Southerners generally make their dressing from cornbread, while those in other parts of the country make stuffing from white or wheat bread as the base. One or several of the following may be added to the dressing/stuffing: oysters, apples, chestnuts, raisins, celery and/or other vegetables, sausages or the turkey's giblets. The traditional Canadian version has bread cubes, sage, onion and celery. Rice is also sometimes used instead of bread in Canada.Other nontraditional dishes reflect the region or cultural background of those who have come together for the meal. For example, many African Americans and Southerners serve baked macaroni and cheese and collard greens, while Italian-Americans often have lasagna on the table and Ashkenazi Jews may serve noodle kugel, a sweet dessert pudding. It is not unheard of for Mexican Americans to serve their turkey with mole and roasted corn.

Vegetarians or vegans have been known to serve alternative entree centerpieces such as a large vegetable pie or a stuffed and baked pumpkin or tofurkey. Many Midwesterners (such as Minnesotans) of Norwegian or Scandanavian descent set the table with lefse and green bean hotdish.

Thanksgiving

The centerpiece of contemporary Thanksgiving in the United States is a large meal, generally centered around a large roasted turkey. The majority of the dishes in the traditional American version of Thanksgiving Dinner are made from foods native to the New World, according to tradition the Pilgrims received these foods from the American Indians. However, many of the classic traditions attributed to the first Thanksgiving are actually myths introduced later.A very similar dinner is often served on Christmas and New Year's Day. Historical Menus:The use of the turkey in the USA for Thanksgiving precedes Lincoln's nationalization of the holiday in 1863. Alexander Hamilton proclaimed that no "Citizen of the United States should refrain from turkey on Thanksgiving Day", but turkey was uncommon as Thanksgiving fare until after 1800. By 1857 turkey had become part of the traditional dinner in New England.A Thanksgiving Day dinner served to the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 included: Pickles, green olives, celery, roast turkey, oyster stew, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, dressing, creamed asparagus tips, snowflake potatoes, baked carrots, hot rolls, fruit salad, mince meat pie, fruit cake, candies, grapes, apples, French drip coffee, cigars and cigarettes.

Customs:Normally a Thanksgiving dinner in the United States bears a good deal of resemblance to another feast served at Christmas: the centerpiece at both is most often a turkey. However, the spirits of these occasions are usually different: the family and friends present at a Thanksgiving table are not expected to give gifts to each other, for example, plus the point of the meal is to reflect upon/be thankful for the things that have passed over the last year, not the celebration of the birth of a religious figure. Guests may be asked to say grace or if not of the same religion as the host to bow his head in respect. Turkey:Because turkey is the most common main dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, Thanksgiving is sometimes colloquially called Turkey Day or poultry day. The USDA estimated that 26 million turkeys were raised in the country in 2003, about one-sixth of which were destined for a Thanksgiving dinner plate. The average cost of an entire Thanksgiving feast was approximately $41 in 2007 .

It has been estimated that 16-20 percent of annual turkey consumption in the US is attributed to Thanksgiving and as much as 30 percent of consumption occurs during the combined Thanksgiving to New Year holiday season .Most Thanksgiving turkeys are stuffed with a cereal-based stuffing and roasted. Sage is the traditional herb added to the stuffing (also called dressing), along with chopped celery, carrots, and onions. Turducken, a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken, is becoming more popular, from its Cajun base in Louisiana. Deep-fried turkey is rising in popularity as well, requiring special fryers to hold the large bird, and reportedly leading to fires and bad burns for those who fail to take care when dealing with a large quantity of very hot oil. In more recent years it is also true that as the wild population of turkeys has rebounded in most of the US, some will hunt and dress their turkey in the woods and then freeze it until meal preparation. Alternatives to turkey:Nontraditional foods other than turkey are sometimes served as the main dish for a Thanksgiving dinner.