Best Thanksgiving Side Dish

The turkey gets the credit and the sides do all of the work. Almost everybody knows this, and the table is arranged every year as though nobody does.

What makes the sides interesting is that they are the only part of the meal carrying regional variation and family law. Stuffing is different in every household and every version is correct according to that household.

Green bean casserole was invented by a food company in 1955 to sell more soup and is now defended as heritage. Cranberry sauce splits families along the single question of whether it should still hold the shape of the tin. Mashed potatoes exist largely as a delivery system for gravy and everyone has agreed to pretend otherwise.

Thirty-two sides qualified, competing for one table with strictly limited real estate.

The bracket has a habit of exposing which dishes people actually eat and which ones they merely serve out of obligation. Several entries appear on nearly every table in the country each November and then lose in the first round to something almost nobody makes any more.